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Welcome to the Humanist and Secularist Liberal Democrats' web site

The Humanist and Secular Liberal Democrats are campaigning for Humanist and Secular views within the party. We are an Associated Organisation of the Party, affiliated to both the British Humanist Association and the National Secular Society.

Recent updates

  • Article: May 22, 2013

    Yesterday saw a major advance for same-sex couples in the UK - but also a setback for humanist couples.

    The Commons voted once again, by an overwhelming majority of 366 to 161, in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

    Only 4 Liberal Democrat MPs voted against: Gordon Birtwhistle, John Pugh, Sir Alan Beith and Sarah Teather. One pleasant surprise came from Greg Mulholland, who voted for the Bill. Non-voters included Tim Farron and Simon Hughes.

  • Article: May 14, 2013

    We need you to email your MP right now to support legal recognition for humanist marriages in England and Wales.

    On Monday and Tuesday next week, MPs will be debating the Marriage Bill currently before Parliament. Its main purpose is to extend marriage to same-sex couples but also being debated will be an amendment to give legal recognition to humanist marriages in England and Wales.

    Humanist marriages have had legal recognition in Scotland since 2005 and this has led to a great increase in public knowledge of Humanism and non-religious approaches to life in Scotland in that time, as well as giving non-religious couples the option of a wedding ceremony that allows them full expression of their own personal beliefs and values, conducted by a celebrant who they know shares them. Last year, almost 3000 couples had a humanist marriage in Scotland - overtaking the number of Roman Catholic marriages and on course to overtake the Church of Scotland by 2014.

    Every year, the number of weddings conducted by our celebrants in England and Wales exceeds the number of many sorts of marriage that are legal (e.g. Quaker, Unitarian, or Jewish marriages) and we believe that legal recognition for humanist weddings is fair, rational and timely.

    We urgently need your help today.

    Although the government has said it is not against humanist marriages in principle, it is resisting the change. However, the vote will be a free one, which means MPs will make up their own minds on whether to support legal recognition for humanist marriages or not.

    We need MPs from all parties to support this move, and we need you to contact your MP today.

    Adherence to profound and life-shaping beliefs is not confined to those who profess a religion and although all couples have access to a legal civil marriage, only religious couples have access to a legal marriage based on their deepest beliefs and values. The introduction of legal humanist marriages will not affect anyone adversely; it will just allow those couples who are increasingly choosing to have a humanist wedding to have this as their legal ceremony and make the possibility available and known to many couples who might never otherwise choose to do so.

    Many thanks,

    Jim Al-Khalili

    President, British Humanist Association

    Please click on the links for a quick way to write to your MP

  • Article: Apr 23, 2013

    Last night (Monday 22nd April), the House of Lords defied the government and voted for a second time to outlaw caste discrimination.

    After two successive defeats in the Lords, the Conservative side of the coalition has finally backed down, and caste discrimination should now be outlawed within months.

  • Article: Apr 10, 2013
    By Toby Keynes, Chair, HSLD

    Next Tuesday, 16th April, MPs will have a chance to outlaw caste-based discrimination, when the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill comes back from the House of Lords to the House of Commons.

    Caste is driven by birth, over many generations, and is in effect an extension of racial discrimination to a lower level. However, it is not covered by equality law, so lower-caste Hindus have no protection from caste discrimination against them.

  • Article: Apr 4, 2013

    GMMPSometimes, it's useful for us to be reminded that some Liberal Democrat MPs actively defend special subsidies for people of faith.

    Greg Mulholland, LibDem MP for Leeds Northwest, has recently declared his opposition to the possible withdrawal of free school transport for most faith school students in Leeds:

  • Article: Mar 11, 2013

    We're back from Lib Dem Spring Conference, where we took every opportunity to raise awareness of religious discrimination in faith schools.

    THE DEBATE: EVERY CHILD TAUGHT BY AN EXCELLENT TEACHER

    Our amendment may not have been selected for debate, but HSLD Chair Toby Keynes was the first person called in the debate and had enough time to point out just how many state-funded faith schools are able to reject would-be teachers, for ANY subject, on the basis of their religion, and how much this narrows the talent pool of teachers that these schools can draw on. Another amendment, from Cllr Liz Green, was overwhelmingly carried and welcomed the coalition's decision to ban free schools from teaching creationism as scientific fact.

  • Nick Clegg (Photo by Dave Radcliffe for the Liberal Democrats)
    Article: Mar 10, 2013

    Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has closed the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference in Brighton by calling on members to spread the message of the Party's commitment in Government to deliver a stronger economy and a fairer society.

    In his keynote Leader's speech, Nick paid tribute to the work of the Party in winning the Eastleigh by-election, beating the Conservatives into third place and squeezing Labour while campaigning on the Lib Dem record of delivering in Government.

  • Article: Feb 12, 2013

    Come to our big event at this year's Spring Conference in Brighton: Religious Discrimination in Education - a Half-Term Report

    We've assembled a very strong line-up of speakers to tackle this urgent topic:

    • Professor Ted Cantle, author of the official report on the Oldham Riots, founder of the Institute of Community Cohesion and government adviser: what impact does separate schooling for different faith groups have on local communities?
    • Jeremy Rodell, of the Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign: what happened when Richmond Council proposed to create a Catholic secondary school that would effectively exclude the 90% of borough children with non-Catholic parents, at a time when there was a shortage of good-quality secondary school places?
    • John Howson, Vice-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Education Association: how far does government action on religious discrimination in schools differ from our party policy?
  • Article: Feb 8, 2013

    The Chair of Humanict & Secularist Lib Dems, Toby Keynes, has been backing the campaign for same sex marriage, which passed its first hurdle with the backing of the overwhelming majority of MP's this week. Writing to HSLD members and supporters Toby said:

    "I'm sure you know already about the part that Liberal Democrat MPs and campaigners have played in getting the Equal Marriage legislation this far.

  • Olympic Boxing Gold Medal Winner Nicola Adams (Picture taken for GOC by David Poultney)
    Article: Dec 28, 2012
    By Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Deputy Prime Minister in New Year's Message

    The last twelve months have been lit up by moments that will stay with us forever. When Mo Farah approached the final stretch of the 10,000m final, who wasn't up on their feet, screaming at the TV?

    When Nicola Adams beamed at the crowd after winning the first ever women's Olympic boxing, who didn't smile back? I was lucky enough to be there, and that's one I'll never forget.