Education
1 March 2012
Speaking at a seminar in Brussels yesterday, EHF president David Pollock suggested that all states in Europe were progressing, from different starting points and at different speeds, towards secularism. He was commenting on part of an EU-financed study on Identities and Modernities in Europe, a collaboration between several universities across Europe, part of which had looked at religion in schools in Bulgaria, Croatia, France and the United Kingdom – see here. He said: “From the time of… read more »
9 November 2011
Anti-clerical party wins 10% of vote in general election An anti-clerical party named Palikot’s Movement after its founder won third place with just over 10% of the vote in the election on 9 October. See Reuter’s report here and a Guardian (UK) feature article by Aleksandra Szyllo, the online editor of Gazeta Wyborczathe, here. Commenting on the latter article, Andrzej Dominiczak of the Polish Humanist Association writes: Despite the propaganda by the right wing media, Palikot’s party… read more »
Norwegian Humanists host World Humanist Congress IHEU’s 2011 World Humanist Congress was held in Oslo from 12 – 14 August, excellently organised by Human-Etisk Forbund, the Norwegian Humanist Association. Extracts from the speeches can be viewed on line on their website. (31 August 2011) ______________________________________________________________________________ Norwegian lesbians celebrate “first” humanist marriage ceremony Humanists in Norway have conducted their first legal same-sex marriage ceremony. Cecilia Patricia Stensland, 24, and Janne Lemvig Abrahamsen, 38, wed in Oslo… read more »
6 November 2011
Bill introduced defining ‘family’ in narrow terms This comes from a correspondent in Hungary: The bill on family protection was submitted to the Parliament on Friday [December 2]. It was submitted by four Chirstian Democratic MPs and not the government. This way they could submit the bill without any social consultation about it. Also, the bill was submitted on Friday, and Monday morning the relevant Parliamentary committee decided to debate the bill the same day… read more »
21 October 2011
Eytan Reif of Initiative Religion ist Privatsache in Austria has informed us of a new case about crucifixes and other religious practices in kindergartens that it is hoped will partially counter the effect of Lautsi v Italy. He writes: A new complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) was filed a short while ago in a new attempt not only to free Austrian public kindergartens of crosses or crucifixes but also to put… read more »
14 October 2011
For humanists education a matter of high importance. On this page we set out our fundamental policy and provide links to some pages dealing with the matter in more detail. General principles Education should fit the individual for life as a full participant in society, and teach self-respect and respect for the dignity of others. Education should promote intellectual honesty. It should foster a love of learning and an appreciation of the supremacy of reason… read more »
2 October 2011
Remus Cernea of the Asociaţia Umanistă Română informs us of a new case from Romania to the European Court of Human Rights regarding religious symbols in schools (case number 54529/09, Moise (3) c/Romania). He writes that it is quite different from the Lautsi case for at least three reasons: – the Lautsi case was lost in the Italian courts, whereas the Moise case was successful in the Romanian National Council for Combating Discrimination. The… read more »
22 December 2010
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) held a special conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief in Vienna on 9-10 December 2010. The EHF was represented at this Special Human Dimension Implementation Meeting by Vera Pegna and by Hans Christian Cars, who is taking over from her as our permanent representative with OSCE. They have recorded their impressions of the meeting. Also linked from here is the full text of the interventions they… read more »
30 June 2009
‘Teaching religious and convictional facts – a tool for acquiring knowledge about religions and beliefs in education: a contribution to education for democratic citizenship, human rights and intercultural dialogue’ Report by Andrew Copson on the Council of Europe 2009 ‘San Marino’ colloquium I attended this exchange on behalf of the European Humanist Federation. Also attending as representatives of non-religious convictions (which, strangely, is the phrase the council is using in English rather than ‘beliefs’, even… read more »
6 June 2009
Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1E 6HD This conference was jointly sponsored by the EHF, the British Humanist Association (BHA), the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) the South Place Ethical Society (SPES) to celebrate ‘Darwin 200’ – the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of ‘On the Origin of Species’. See here an enthusiastic report on a blog about the conference. PROGRAMME 10.00 Welcome from… read more »