To receive
a Presentation from Luke Donnellan, Director of Understanding Humanism,
Humanists UK.
Minutes:
The item
was presented by Luke Donnellan, Director of Understanding Humanism, Humanists
UK, on Humanism and the benefits of including non-religious philosophical
convictions in the RVE curriculum. During the presentation, the following main
points were discussed:
• It was noted that the Humanists UK
education department supported teachers in schools across the UK with resources
and services to teach Humanism as part
of a broad and balanced RVE education.
• Background information was provided
about RVE in Wales, emphasising that Wales'
RVE curriculum noted the need to include non-religious philosophical
convictions.
• It was noted that non-religious
philosophical convictions meant "philosophical convictions which are based
on a non-religious worldview as opposed to a religious worldview".
• It was emphasised that there were
three main benefits of including non-religious philosophical convictions in the
RVE curriculum, namely that it was knowledge-rich, that it supported mutual
understanding and social cohesion, and that it encouraged personal development.
• It was noted that there were five
main beliefs associated with Humanism, in addition to the fact that it was
non-religious, namely that humans were part of nature, that a scientific
understanding of the world was important, that everybody had only one life,
that ethics were not dependent on religion, and that people had a
responsibility to make the world a better place.
• It was noted that a higher proportion
of the population of Wales identified themselves as non-religious (47%) than
religious (44%) according to the census results, with around a third to half of
the non-religious population having Humanist beliefs.
• It was noted that a number of
historically renowned Welsh people were known to be humanists.
• Attention was drawn to the 'Humanists
UK' website, understandinghumanism.org.uk, which included several resources
available to support the teaching of the subject, with specific resources for
teachers in Wales available bilingually.
• It was noted that the book 'My
Humanist Family' was available to support teaching the subject to young
children.
Thanks were
expressed for the presentation.
A question
was asked regarding the amount of time allocated to teaching Humanism in
schools. In response, it was noted that the answer was not clear, but that
evidence showed that there was insufficient time devoted to RVE in general, and therefore this affected
the opportunity for pupils to learn about Humanism. It was noted that although
the curriculum had changed, the time devoted to non-religious philosophical
convictions remained low, possibly due to the transition period to the new
curriculum or due to opposition to its inclusion within some schools. It was
emphasised that 'Humanists UK' was doing everything within its ability to
communicate with schools in order to offer learning and training resources to
help facilitate this period of transition. It was emphasised that things were
improving in this regard, but there remained much work to be done.
It was
asked whether Humanists regularly came together as a community. In response, it
was noted that this varied from one Humanist to another. It was noted that
Humanist organisations, such as 'Humanists UK', held annual events, and that
local groups of Humanists held socialising events. It was emphasised that there
were opportunities available, but that individuals were not obliged to
participate. More work needed to be done at a social level to support people to
feel a sense of belonging to a community.
A question
was raised on how Humanists dealt with morality and sin within their
philosophy. In response, it was noted that the world was not an ideal place,
but that things had generally improved for people over the years in terms of
standards of living, freedom and democracy. It was recognised that the world
continued to face several challenges, and that there was no assurance that
things would continue to improve over the years. It was emphasised that
Humanism was not an ideal philosophy, but that it believed in trying to create
a better world, not a perfect world, through human actions rather than through
divine power. It was noted that Humanists believed in seeking justice in this
life, rather than in life after death. It was emphasised that suffering was
part of the world in which we lived, and that the aim was to try to reduce and
alleviate it wherever possible.
A question
was asked about whether the dissemination of Humanism was important in the same
way as it was to Christianity. In response, it was noted that most Humanists
were against evangelisation. It was further explained that Humanism had no goal
of creating new Humanists or disseminating the philosophy. It was stressed that
Humanists believed in freedom of belief, and supported the right of people to
learn about a variety of religions and philosophies to enable them to make
their own decisions.
A question
was asked on how many Humanist SACRE members were there in other counties in
Wales. In response, it was noted that all SACRE Committees in Wales had a
Humanist representative, and that over 90% of SACREs in England had Humanist
representation. This was noted to be a significant improvement, as only about
50% of SACREs had representation around five years ago.
A request
was made to receive a presentation from all faith representations so that
Committee members could receive more information in these areas. In response,
it was noted that this was a good idea, and it was suggested that Nathan Abrams
be invited to give a presentation on Judaism. It was also suggested that the
presentations should be forwarded to schools for use as learning resources.
Edward
Parry-Jones was thanked for applying to become a member of Gwynedd SACRE, and
it was stressed that adding representation from non-Christian religions and
non-religious beliefs had been a huge step forward for the SACRE Committee.