The Ceremonies Sub-committee (C/Sc) exists to create, maintain and extend the provision of a range of Ceremonies, conducted by Celebrants registered with the Humanist Society of Scotland.  It is answerable to the Board of Trustees via its Celebrants and clients, both as members and non-members, whom it serves. It also acts in conformance with the requirements of the Society’s charitable status. 

The committee consists of a National Co-ordinator, two Assistant Co-ordinators (job share) and four Regional Co-ordinators (two of whom job share), all of whom are elected into post by the Celebrants.  Our Training Manager has recently been co-opted into the Sub-committee.

'Community Humanism' was previously called Pastoral Services. 

Our Programme for Change initiative brought into clearer focus, three major areas of social commitment in Scotland in which our members can make a positive difference.  These are: in Health, in Education and in Equality and Human Rights.  We used the term ‘Applied Humanism’, as a means of describing active community involvement by humanists, locally, across the Country.  What modern secular humanism stands for, is above all, the recognition that community matters, that people, fighting together for justice and fairness is important in this age of corporate and institutional power, often with widespread inequalities and prejudice.

The Education Sub-committee held its inaugural meeting on 13th January 2008. With its overall strategy approved by the BoT, the committee set out to realise a number of initiatives which would address the general theme of – ‘Education Without Religion – A Humanist Perspective’.

Work began immediately on producing curricular materials appropriate to age and stage in both primary and secondary schools together with support for teachers. A third group prepared materials to support and advise parents as to their rights and the best ways of addressing their concerns.

The Media & Publications Sub-committee (M&P S/c) is broadly responsible for our communications with the outside world, helping the Board of Trustees and its sub-committees to express clearly, in simple language, the policy statements and initiatives they’ve created.

The Media Officer heads this Sub-committee as a BoT member, dealing with all aspects of our Public Relations – handling press enquiries and devising campaigns (like Thought for the Day and our free postcards), gaining us press attention.  The Editor of our flagship magazine, ‘Humanitie’ is also a key member of this committee, although reporting directly to the BoT.

The Membership Services Sub-committee (MS S/c) leader is a BoT member with principal accountability for accurate recording of members’ data, ensuring access to such data in whatever form is necessary for efficient functioning of the Society.  Back up procedures are routinely updated.

In conjunction with other team members, the Membership S/c facilitates Data acquisition and provides Training / Administration (including Conference and AGM) / Correspondence / Fulfilment (once established) / Statistics and other services as required for a proactive system of membership.

It was through the efforts of the Society's Public Affairs Sub-committee (PA S/c) activity and others, which led in 2005 to the right to conduct legal marriage.  The Leader of the Sub-committee is a member of the Board of Trustees. The leader works with other volunteer members whose various skills can be brought to bear on matters affecting life in Scotland.  It addresses unequal privilege and the influence of non-democratic NGO's and others, which use such in the furtherance of their objectives to the disadvantage of others. In particular, it addresses the right of freedom of and from religion, the discrimination that applies in some education appointments, the state funding of religious schools, the disproportionate level of religious content in the public media and the right to self-determination, amongst others.

• Consider emerging developments in the field of bio-medical research
• Seek the opinions of all members of the HSS
• Establish the ethical stance to be adopted by the HSS
• Make recommendations to the BOT of the HSS
• Report to the parent body of the IHEU-Appignani Center for Bioethics in New York

Any member with an interest in this field is invited to join. No previous knowledge of science or medicine is required but will be very welcome.

If you’d like to join this sub-committee, please This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The inaugural meeting will be held in Central Scotland in summer 2008.