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There's probably no God

Read more about the Atheist Bus Campaign in the HSS News...

 
Weddings & Partnership Ceremonies

"Weddings up 64%" is probably the most unlikely headline of the year, but add one word and it's completely true.
That word is "humanist," writes Julian Baggini in The Herald
 
Scotland is one of only six countries in the world where Humanist marriage ceremonies are legal (the others are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and certain states of the USA).  Humanist weddings have the same legal status as civil and religious weddings as long as they are conducted by an HSS Celebrant, who has been authorised by the Registrar General of Scotland, and can take place anywhere 'safe and dignified'.
 
Couples are effectively free to marry wherever they choose and HSS wedding ceremonies have taken place on beaches and mountains, in keeps and castles, grand hotels and the gardens of people's own homes.
 
Each Humanist wedding ceremony is unique, dignified and deeply personal. Humanists look on marriage as an equal partnership and a serious commitment that involves mutual love, support and respect and a humanist ceremony is a time when couples can declare all that they feel for each other in a way that feels right for them.
 
The couple is free to make all the important choices about location, readings, music and the wording of their promises to each other.
 
Same sex couples often choose to celebrate their commitment by having a Humanist Partnership ceremony, though these are not yet legally recognised.
Read more...
 
  • News

    Debate: Should schools teach creationism?
    Wednesday 11 February 2009 18:30
    Presented by the Edinburgh Group of the Humanist Society of Scotland, in association with the Institute of Ideas and the National Library of Scotland.

    Speakers include

    Alex McLellan, Founder and Executive Director of Reason Why
    Dave Perks, Head of Physics at Graveney School in London,
    Christopher Brookmyre, Novelist, including Boiling a Frog
    Julian Baggini, writer and philosopher
    Marc Surtees, Paradigm Shift

    Chair: Dr Tiffany Jenkins, Institute of Ideas Read more...

  • News

    The consultation document for Margot Macdonald's Proposed Member's Bill called 'End of Life Choices (Scotland) can be downloaded from the Scottish Paliament web site here  

     

     

    Read more...
  • News

    The UK’s first ever atheist advertising campaign launched on Tuesday January 6th 2009, with 800 buses featuring the slogan “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” running in cities across Scotland, England and Wales, along with 1000 adverts on the London underground and two large LCD screens on Oxford Street.
     
    The campaign, which is supported by Professor Richard Dawkins, the British Humanist Association and The Humanist Society of Scotland, is a response to a series…

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  • News

    BHA Member Gavin Orland has pledged to e-mail the BBC (today[at]bbc.co.uk) during the week beginning 1st January 2009 to object to "Thought for the Day" but only if 100 other people will do the same. So far more than 1,140 people have supported the pledge. You can sign it too at http://www.pledgebank.com/thoughtfortheday before December 31st 2008. Don't forget to subscribe to the HSS Thought for the World podcasts that will roll out from Darwin Day in February 2009.

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  • News

    Two months ago, the new school year began. For a substantial and growing number of Scottish parents this raised a difficult and continuing challenge. They are the Scots who are non-religious and who are now one Scot in three, according to the Scottish Annual Household Survey (2005). Their children return, in many instances, to a school environment where religion, often largely Christian, predominates, where religious and moral education is a fixed element in the curriculum and where religious observation is…

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