British Secular Union

Last updated
British Secular Union
Formation1877;142 years ago (1877)
Region served
Great Britain

The British Secular Union was a secularist organisation, founded in August 1877, primarily as a response to what its founders regarded as the "dictatorial" powers of Charles Bradlaugh as President of the National Secular Society. The founding members were Kate Watts, Harriet Law, George William Foote and Josiah Grimson; George Holyoake had accepted the nomination of Vice President of the National Secular Society so only gave support for the formation. [1] The group adopted the Secular Review as their official paper. [1]

Charles Bradlaugh British freethinker, and radical politician

Charles Bradlaugh was an English political activist and atheist. He founded the National Secular Society in 1866.

National Secular Society organization

The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866 and is now a member organisation of Humanists International, endorsing the Amsterdam Declaration 2002.

Eunice Kate Watts was a British secularist and feminist writer and lecturer, active in the National Secular Society (NSS) in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The British Secular Union had broadly the same goals as the National Secular Society but distanced themselves from Bradlaugh's style, especially when it came to the Knowlton Pamphlet, which advocated birth control. [2] Even though Charles Watts owned the rights to the Knowlton pamphlet (and had no intention of publishing it), Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant broke with Watts and published the pamphlet anyway, subsequently facing prosecution. [3] The issue of birth control was a contentious one within the secular movement. Bradlaugh managed to steer opinion away from the birth control element and instead made secularism a freedom of speech issue. [3]

Charles Watts (secularist) English secularist

Charles Watts was an English writer, lecturer and publisher, who was prominent in the secularist and freethought movements in both Britain and Canada.

Annie Besant British socialist, theosophist, womens rights activist, writer and orator

Annie Besant was a British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer, orator, educationist, and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human freedom, she was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She was a prolific author with over three hundred books and pamphlets to her credit. As an educationist, her contributions included the founding of the Banaras Hindu University.

Birth control Method of preventing human pregnancy

Birth control, also known as contraception and fertility control, is a method or device used to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only became available in the 20th century. Planning, making available, and using birth control is called family planning. Some cultures limit or discourage access to birth control because they consider it to be morally, religiously, or politically undesirable.

Like other secular societies, the British Secular Union opened its membership to women. [4] Aside from membership, women were also able to lecture and run for executive positions. [4]

While the British Secular Union did not have as many members as the NSS, it had strong regional representation with the largest regional secular group, the Leicester Secular Society, joining the union. [5]

Leicester Secular Society worlds oldest Secular Society

Leicester Secular Society is the world's oldest Secular Society. It meets at its headquarters, the Leicester Secular Hall in the centre of Leicester, England, at 75 Humberstone Gate.

Related Research Articles

Secularism, as defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is the "indifference to, or rejection or exclusion of, religion and religious considerations." In certain context, the word can refer to anticlericalism, atheism, desire to exclude religion from social activities or civic affairs, banishment of religious symbols from the public sphere, state neutrality toward religion, the separation of religion from state, or disestablishment.

The Golden Age of Freethought is the mid 19th-century period in United States history which saw the development of the socio-political movement promoting freethought. The period roughly from 1875 to 1914 is referred to as "the high-water mark of freethought as an influential movement in American society". It began around 1856 and lasted at least through the end of the century; author Susan Jacoby places the end of the Golden Age at the start of World War I.

George Holyoake British secularist, co-operator, and newspaper editor

George Jacob Holyoake was an English secularist, co-operator, and newspaper editor. He coined the term "secularism" in 1851 and "jingoism" in 1878. He edited a secularist paper, the Reasoner, from 1846 to June 1861, and a co-operative paper, The English Leader, from 1864 to 1867.

George William Foote British secularist and journal editor

George William Foote was an English secularist and journal editor.

John William Gott Last person in Britain imprisoned for blasphemy

John William Gott was the last person in Britain to be sent to prison for blasphemy. His was also the last public prosecution. Later prosecutions were purely private.

Chapman Cohen was a leading English freethinker and a secularist and atheist writer and lecturer.

Edward Royle is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of York and author of several books on the history of religious ideas, particularly in York and Yorkshire.

The National Reformer was a secularist weekly publication in 19th century Britain, noted for providing a longstanding "strong, radical voice" in its time, advocating Atheism.

<i>Secular Review</i>

Secular Review (1876–1907) was a freethought/secularist weekly publication in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Britain that appeared under a variety of names. It represented a "relatively moderate style of Secularism," more open to old Owenite and new socialist influences in contrast to the individualism and social conservatism of Charles Bradlaugh and his National Reformer. It was edited during the period 1882–1906 by William Stewart Ross (1844–1906), who signed himself "Saladin."

William Stewart Ross Scottish secularist writer and publisher

William Stewart Ross was a Scottish writer and publisher. He was a noted secularist thinker, and used the pseudonym "Saladin". Between 1888 and 1906 he was the editor of the Agnostic Journal, successor to the Secular Review.

Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner British writer

Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner was a British peace activist, author, atheist and freethinker, and the daughter of Charles Bradlaugh.

Harriet Teresa Law was a leading British freethinker in 19th-century London.

Edinburgh Secular Society is an organisation, based in Edinburgh, dedicated to promoting secularism across Scotland; it was established on 28 October 2012.

Cleveland Hall, London

Cleveland Hall was a meeting hall in Cleveland Street, London that was a centre of the British secularist movement between 1861 and 1878, and that was then used for various purposes before becoming a Methodist meeting hall.

Joseph Mazzini Wheeler was an English atheist and freethought writer.

References

  1. 1 2 Edward Royle, Radicals, Secularists, and Republicans: Popular Freethought in Britain, 1866-1915, Manchester University Press, 1980, p.18.
  2. Edward Royle, Radicals, Secularists, and Republicans: Popular Freethought in Britain, 1866-1915, Manchester University Press, 1980, p.20.
  3. 1 2 Edward Royle, The Infidel Tradition from Paine to Bradlaugh, MacMilian Press Ltd, 1976, p.68.
  4. 1 2 Laura Schwartz, Infidel Feminism: Secularism, Religion and Women's Emancipation 1830-1914, Manchester University Press, 2013, p.42.
  5. David Nash, Secularism, Art and Freedom, Leicester University Press, 1992, p.38.