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.
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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.
Founded in 1851, the society is the oldest surviving of numerous Secular Societies formed throughout England in the mid-19th century, largely through the efforts of George Jacob Holyoake and his supporters. (The National Secular Society was founded in 1866).
The 'Principal Aims' of Leicester Secular Society as stated on current (2012) literature are: [1]
1. Challenging religious privilege and dogma
We advocate the separation of religion and state, proper representation of people with no religion, the ending of privileges for religious organisations and the secularisation of 'faith' schools. We challenge religious teachings that divert people away from reality.
2. Defending rationalism and free speech
We believe people should be free to express and publish their beliefs, however controversial, without fear of prosecution, persecution or physical harm, as long as they accord the same rights to others. Anyone should be prepared to submit their views to vigorous debate, questioning of their evidence and testing of their conclusions.
3. Working for justice and fairness
We believe our efforts should be devoted to the elimination of human misery, injustice, poverty and ignorance in the world as it is here and now. We oppose unfair discrimination, bigotry and coercion based on factors such as beliefs, racial or ethnic origins, disability, sex, age, sexuality or lifestyle.
4. Promoting a morality for life
We believe moral values and virtues like fairness, kindness, loyalty and honesty arise from people needing to live together in peace and harmony, not from any religion. Moral rules must be judged by their consequences for people now, not by their appearance in the 'holy' writings of ancient societies.
Secularism in Leicester goes back at least as far as 1780s, when artisans in the town were in correspondence with Thomas Paine. The first formal secular organisation was Branch 26 of Robert Owen's Association of All Classes of All Nations. [2] Branch 26 was founded in 1838 and meet in the Commercial Rooms near the market. [3]
The first Leicester Secular Society was formed in 1852. [4] It did not take off straight away and had to be re-established in 1867. [4]
The early Secular Society was led for many years by Josiah Gimson, an engineer and W.H. Holyoak, a tailor. In this period, the ideas of G.J. Holyoake were influential on Leicester secularists. Some also mixed with Unitarians, an influential social and political group in the town. [3]
By the late 1860s, the Leicester Secular Society was meeting regularly and its activities were mainly focused on discussion classes. By 1873, it had meeting rooms in Humberstone Gate. The membership was now large enough that Gimson proposed the building of a new meeting hall: the Leicester Secular Hall. This was financed by the sale of £5 shares: 80% were owned by four families, including the Gimsons. Land was purchased in Humberstone Gate. It was Gimson who chose the young and innovative architect, W Larner Sugden to design the building. [5] Gimson also engaged the sculptor Ambrose Louis Vago for the five busts on the front of the building. These depict Robert Owen, Thomas Paine, Voltaire, Socrates and, most controversially, Jesus. [6]
After Gimson's death in 1883, one of his sons, Sidney Gimson, became the mainstay of the society until shortly before his death in 1938. He was assisted by F. J. Gould as secretary from 1899 to 1908. Another son, Ernest Gimson, became famous as a designer in the Arts and Crafts movement of William Morris, whose speech on "Art and Socialism" at the Secular Hall in 1884 marked the beginning of the Socialist movement in Leicester. [7]
The Society was well financed in this period, able to employ a full-time librarian and manager and run a swimming club, gymnasium, Sunday School, evening classes and a women's group. [5] To accommodate an increased working class membership, the Hall opened a bar selling alcohol and was used by shoe workers to host their annual St Crispin's Day celebrations. The membership began to actively debate socialism versus individualism. As well as William Morris, H.M. Hyndman, John Burns and Prince Kropotkin all spoke in debates and public meetings at the Secular Hall. The Leicester branch of the Socialist League held its meetings at the Hall: several founders were members of the Secular Society. [8]
Frederick James Gould was the Secretary to the Leicester Secular Society until 1908.
In the period after the Second World War, the society went into a decline. Average weekly attendances dropped from a high of 50 to a low of 20. However, the recent resurgence of religion as a political issue has reinvigorated the membership.[ citation needed ]
As of 2015, the membership stands at around 170.
The Society publishes a journal, The Leicester Secularist, which carries reviews of events at the Hall, discussion articles and news regarding secular issues in Leicester.
A refurbishment of the ground floor of Secular Hall was completed in 2014.
The Society has adopted the strap line "for an inclusive and plural society free from religious privilege, prejudice and discrimination."
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, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality and decision making.
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.
In the Indian context, the term pseudo-secularism is used as a pejorative to describe policies considered to involve minority appeasement. The Hindus form the majority religious community in India; the term "pseudo-secular" implies that those who claim to be secular are actually not so, but are anti-Hindu or pro-minority. The Hindu nationalist politicians accused of being "communal" use it as a counter-accusation against their critics claiming that the Secularism followed by Congress is faulty or "perverted".
Charles Bradlaugh was an English political activist and atheist. He founded the National Secular Society in 1866, 15 years after George Holyoake had coined the term "secularism" in 1851.
Laïcité is the constitutional principle of secularism in France. Article 1 of the French Constitution is commonly interpreted as discouraging religious involvement in government affairs, especially religious influence in the determination of state policies. It also forbids government involvement in religious affairs, and especially prohibits government influence in the determination of religion. Secularism in France includes a right to the free exercise of religion.
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.
In Turkey, secularism or laicism was first introduced with the 1928 amendment of the Constitution of 1924, which removed the provision declaring that the "Religion of the State is Islam", and with the later reforms of Turkey's first president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which set the administrative and political requirements to create a modern, democratic, secular state, aligned with Kemalism.
The Rationalist Association, originally the Rationalist Press Association, is an organization in the United Kingdom, founded in 1885 by a group of freethinkers who were unhappy with the increasingly political and decreasingly intellectual tenor of the British secularist movement. The purpose of the Rationalist Press Association was to publish literature that was too anti-religious to be handled by mainstream publishers and booksellers. The Rationalist Press Association changed its name to "The Rationalist Association" in 2002.
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".
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."
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 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.
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.
Secular liberalism is a form of liberalism in which secularist principles and values, and sometimes non-religious ethics, are especially emphasised. It supports the separation of religion and state. Moreover, secular liberals are usually advocates of liberal democracy and the open society as models for organising stable and peaceful societies.
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. The group adopted the Secular Review as their official paper.
The Anti-Persecution Union was an 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".
William John Birch (1811–1891) was an English rationalist writer.