Last Friday saw the society president James Murray, along with Leeds Atheist Society representatives Chris Worfolk, Nicola Jackson and Elina Leinio, head down to London for a drinks reception with British Humanist Association. The occasion was to celebrate Polly Toynbee‘s time as BHA president. The event was initially planned to mark the beginning of Prof. AC Grayling presidency of the BHA. However the negative press surrounding the £18000-a-year private university he had set up led him to resign, as he felt this would be in the best interest of the BHA. He also didn’t attend the BHA conference in Manchester, where he was billed to keynote, due to a planned protest.
On to the evening itself, it was held in the Scott room of the Guardian offices. Some of the more distinguished guests in attendance included human rights activist Maryam Namazie, former Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris (or Dr Death to Daily Mail readers) and philosopher and writer Peter Cave. Polly give a stirring speech warning humanists that there are many battles still to be won particularly with the resurgence of religious politics in the last decade. In particular she talked about the increased influence that faith-based organisations are having in education due to the amount of free schools that are being built. The abortion debate is once again being discussed in politics, and conservative Christian views are strongly influencing government policy. Finally end-of-life care is a major area in which reforms need to be made. Currently in the UK we do not have the right to choose the manner of our deaths, even when faced with degenerative diseases, an issue addressed in the recent documentary presented by Terry Pratchett.
All in all it was an enjoyable evening that the BHA put on and it was great to catch up with some AHS colleagues and BHA distinguished supporters and members.