Victorian Blogging – Ten years since the abolition of the blasphemy laws
The 8th May 2018 marks ten years since the blasphemy laws were abolished in England and Wales through the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act, following hundreds of years of campaigning. The offence of blasphemy has its roots in late medieval canon law, which allowed ‘heretics’ to be imprisoned and burnt to death under ecclesiastical authority. In the seventeenth […]
The Athiest’s Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life without Illusions
Alex Rosenberg, a Professor of Philosophy at Duke University and co-director of its Center for Philosophy of Biology, wrote the book for “Non-believers who embrace the reality-driven life.” It’s a book for “Atheists who want to face up to its consequences” – i.e. that “the physical facts fix all the facts”. Alex expounded these ideas […]
Explore the History of Secularism, Humanism and Freethought!
After 18 months the Alternatives to Religion cataloguing project reaches its conclusion this week. The project has unearthed the histories of three influential non-theistic organisations, making their archives freely accessible for the first time.
Family Planning Association Picket, 1961
This collection of photographs were taken during a protest against British Transport’s decision to remove Family Planning Association adverts from London Underground in 1961.
National Secular Society members in Nottingham on 5 June 1949
National Secular Society members in Nottingham on 5 June 1949 attending the Society’s Annual Conference.
Campaigning for Secular Education
The National Secular Society has a long history of campaigning for secular education in the UK.
Secularism in the UK and Internationally
Throughout the 20th century the National Secular Society kept records of local secular society branches and affiliated groups. This included organisations both in the UK and abroad. From the National Secular Society archive, this photograph captures the Birmingham Branch on their annual outing in 1926.
“The English Voltaire”
Thomas Paine, the political activist, philosopher, author, political theorist and revolutionary, is one figure who appears in all three archives of the Alternatives to Religion Project – National Secular Society, British Humanist Association and Conway Hall Ethical Society.
The Grecian Club
Hidden within the archives of the National Secular Society were the minute books and attendance records for a small but influential society called The Grecian Club.