LDHS on the Conference Fringe

Despite increased competition from many big names, both of the Liberal Democrat Humanist and Secularists fringe meetings were well attended and lively affairs.

On the Sunday a joint meeting with the British Humanist Association on "The Role of Faith in the Big Society" was addressed by new Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert, academic and author Dr Rumy Hasan and BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson. Rumy Hasan, author of "Multiculturalism: Some Inconvenient Truths" provoked some very lively debate on the banning of the burqa.

Read more about this event at http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/657

The following evening LDHS joined up with the Accord Coalition and the BHA to discuss the question: "Do we have faith in faith schools?". The panel included rabbi Jonathan Romain (chair of the Accord Coalition), Simon Wilson (an anglican vicar) and Neville Kenyon (national president of the Unitarians) along with Andrew Copson from the BHA. All the contributors broadly agreed with the proposition that children should be encouraged to think for themselves and to make their own decisions about what to believe and that increasing the influence of faith schools in the state education was not helpful. Where opinions differed was on how to respond to the role of existing faith schools in the state sector.

For more on this meeting go to http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/659