The HSS Today - Humanist Society of Scotland

The HSS Today

Faith groups increasingly demand to be heard in public life. They want to influence our politics, our schools and our cultural life. But who represents the interests of the growing number of ethically concerned but non-religious people in Scotland? The Humanist Society of Scotland (HSS) does.

Humanism is a diverse movement that broadly represents the views of millions of people around the world. The HSS represents the views of people in Scotland who wish to lead good and worthwhile lives guided by reason and compassion rather than religion or superstition. Humanists aim to create an open and inclusive society, so we campaign for a secular state and for secular education. At a local level, our groups provide an opportunity to attend talks, film nights and lectures and discuss moral and ethical issues with other free-thinking people.

The HSS is a registered charity, run by a Board of Trustees who manage and control the charity. Under the constitution they appoint sub committees to work on their behalf. Each of the sub committees is led by a member of the Board of Trustees, all of whom are elected from its membership at the Society's Annual General Meeting each year.

The sub committees are fluid and at present the society has the following approved by the Board of Trustees, Ceremonies, Education, Membership Services, Magazine, Media, NHS and Public Affairs. In April 2008, the award-winning novelist Christopher Brookmyre was elected the society's first President.

The sub committees are always on the look out for volunteers to assist in their work and should you wish to assist us please contact The Secretary HSS Secretary at the link below.

Membership (currently over 6,500) is open to all those who share our life stance and support our aims, while Humanist groups affiliated to us include the UK Armed Forces Humanist Association and the Edinburgh University Humanist Society. For more information, or to volunteer in any area of our activity, please contact the Secretary

Scots novelist Iain Banks sprang to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984. The Times acclaimed him as 'the most imaginative British novelist of his generation'. In late 2004 he was a prominent member of a group of British politicians and media figures who campaigned to have Prime Minister Tony Blair impeached following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
http://www.iainbanks.net/biog.htm

“Darwin’s Rottweiler”, Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist and popular science writer who holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. An outspoken secular humanist, and sceptic, he first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, and has since written many best-selling popular books including The God Delusion.
http://richarddawkins.net/

Polymath Stephen Fry is a writer, actor, novelist, filmmaker and television personality. In 2001 he began hosting QI, an intellectual panel game that has become one of the most-watched entertainment programmes on British television. He has spoken publicly about his experience with bipolar disorder and presented a documentary on the subject, Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic-Depressive.
http://stephenfry.com/

AC Grayling is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has written and edited many books on philosophy and other subjects, including a biography of humanist and literary critic, William Hazlitt. For nearly ten years, he was the Honorary Secretary of the principal British Philosophical Association, the Aristotelian Society.
http://www.acgrayling.com/

The originator of the Gaia theory, Professor James Lovelock is an independent scientist, author, researcher, environmentalist, and futurologist. A lifelong inventor, Lovelock has created and developed many scientific instruments, some of which have been adopted by NASA in its programme of planetary exploration.
http://www.jameslovelock.org/

A former President of the British Humanist Association, Claire Rayner is best-known as an agony aunt and was awarded an OBE in 1996 for services to women's issues and health. Diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 71, she became an activist on behalf of the Cancer Research UK, and is president of The Patients Association.
http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentviewarticle.asp?article=2261

Guardian Columnist Polly Toynbee is a journalist and writer. A former BBC social affairs editor, she was associate editor of the Independent and co-editor of the Washington Monthly. Her many books include Hard Work: Life in Low-pay Britain and Lost Children: Story of Adopted Children Searching for Their Mothers (1985). She was appointed President of the British Humanist Association in July 2007.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/polly_toynbee/profile.html

Iain Macwhirter is the Rector of The University of Edinburgh and an award-winning political commentator for The Herald and Sunday Herald. He has also been a presenter of BBC political television programmes from Westminster and Holyrood for nearly 20 years.
http://iainmacwhirter2.blogspot.com/

HSS President since April 2008, Christopher Brookmyre is an award-winning novelist and playwright, often credited with the invention of the genre 'Tartan Noir'. At the launch of the society’s education policy, he said "Children necessarily must invest the sincerest trust in what their teachers tell them. Thus the same institution that tells them one plus one equals two should not then be telling them that three persons add up to one God."
http://www.brookmyre.co.uk

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