Edinburgh Secular Society is an organisation, based in Edinburgh, dedicated to promoting secularism across Scotland; it was established on 28 October 2012. [1]
An earlier society of this name was active in the mid-19th century. [2] The earlier Edinburgh Secular Society was active in 1866–89, 1891–94, 1896–1903, 1906–09 ). [2] In historical documents, it is often referred to as the Edinburgh 'branch' of the National Secular Society. It is believed they met in Trades Hall, Carruther's Close (now Carrubber's Close), Edinburgh. [3] An 1857 notice in The Reasoner lists their weekly meetings on Sundays at 6.30pm. [4] They appear to have been ejected by the Christian 'Carrubber's Close Mission' in 1859. [5] John MacKinnon Robertson was active in Edinburgh Secular Society, [6] Bradlaugh addressed Edinburgh Secular Society, [3] and Robertson also gave addresses at the Leicester Secular Society (the first secular society in the world, formed in 1851), led by George Holyoake, who introduced the term ‘secularism’ in 1851. [7] John Lees took over as president of Edinburgh Secular Society, and later vice-president of the NSS. [8]
[9] In 2013 the group, along with the Humanist Society Scotland, started a campaign against religious representation on council education committees in Scotland. [10] [11]
In August 2013, Edinburgh Secular Society published a report which outlined the extent of religious indoctrination in Scottish schools, by large chaplaincy teams. [12]
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion.
Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system, or life stance that embraces human reason, logic, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism, while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality and decision-making.
James Gall was a Scottish clergyman who founded the Carrubbers Close Mission. He was also a cartographer, publisher, sculptor, astronomer and author. In cartography he gives his name to three different map projections: Gall stereographic; Gall isographic; and Gall orthographic.
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.
Secularity, also the secular or secularness, is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself and fleshed out through Christian history into the modern era. In the medieval period there were even secular clergy. Furthermore, secular and religious entities were not separated in the medieval period, but coexisted and interacted naturally.
Nontheism or non-theism is a range of both religious and non-religious attitudes characterized by the absence of espoused belief in the existence of God or gods. Nontheism has generally been used to describe apathy or silence towards the subject of gods and differs from atheism, or active disbelief in any gods. It has been used as an umbrella term for summarizing various distinct and even mutually exclusive positions, such as agnosticism, ignosticism, ietsism, skepticism, pantheism, pandeism, transtheism, atheism, and apatheism. It is in use in the fields of Christian apologetics and general liberal theology.
George Jacob Holyoake was an English secularist, co-operator and newspaper editor. He coined the terms secularism in 1851 and "jingoism" in 1878. He edited a secularist paper, the Reasoner, from 1846 to June 1861, and a co-operative one, The English Leader, in 1864–1867.
John Mackinnon Robertson was a prolific Scottish journalist, advocate of rationalism and secularism, and Liberal Member of Parliament for Tyneside from 1906 to 1918.
George William Foote was an English secularist, freethinker, republican, writer and journal editor.
Secular ethics is a branch of moral philosophy in which ethics is based solely on human faculties such as logic, empathy, reason or moral intuition, and not derived from belief in supernatural revelation or guidance—a source of ethics in many religions. Secular ethics refers to any ethical system that does not draw on the supernatural, and includes humanism, secularism and freethinking. A classical example of literature on secular ethics is the Kural text, authored by the ancient Indian philosopher Valluvar.
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.
Charles Watts was an English writer, lecturer and publisher, who was prominent in the secularist and freethought movements in both Britain and Canada.
William Ballantyne Hodgson was a Scottish educational reformer and political economist.
Irreligion in the United Kingdom is more prevalent than in some parts of Europe, with about 8% indicating they were atheistic in 2018, and 52% listing their religion as "none". A third of Anglicans polled in a 2013 survey doubted the existence of God, while 15% of those with no religion believed in some higher power, and deemed themselves "spiritual" or even "religious".
Harriet Teresa Law was a leading British freethinker in 19th-century London.
The Scottish Secular Society is a vocal secular organisation in Scotland and is based in Glasgow. It promotes the separation of church and state and educates the public on matters relating to the interface of religion and politics.
David Thomas Kerr Drummond (1805–1877) was a Scottish Evangelical minister. A previous member of the Scottish Episcopal Church, he resigned in 1842 to establish the English Church in Edinburgh. This split is known in Scottish religious history as "The Drummondite Schism". He is separately noted as an early amateur photographer.
Michael D. Rectenwald is an American author and former professor. He has written about 19th-century British secularism and is a critic of the contemporary social justice movement.
Austin Holyoake was a printer, publisher, and freethinker. The younger brother and partner of the more widely known George Jacob Holyoake, Austin Holyoake was himself a significant figure in nineteenth century secularism.
The Anti-Persecution Union was a British organisation established by the freethinkers George Jacob Holyoake and Emma Martin in 1842, to aid in defending individuals accused of blasphemy and blasphemous libel. Its object was "to assert and maintain the right of free discussion, and to protect and defend the victims of intolerance and bigotry".