All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group

Lord Warner, Chair - APPHG

All-Party Groups (APGs) are informal, cross-party, interest groups of the UK Parliament.^[1] APGs have at least 20 members who are all Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords.^[2] The All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG) is a subject group^[3] of the APG whose purpose is to bring together non-religious humanist, atheist or agnostic^[4] MPs and peers to discuss matters of shared interest.^[5]

History

Ian Swales MP

APPHG first began in the 1960s. In 1996 it had 47 members and now has over 100. Although the Group is not affiliated to or part of the British Humanist Association (BHA), the BHA does provide the secretariat.^[6]

Topics discussed

The Group meets around 4 times a year to hear speakers and discuss relevant issues, as well as to share information and receive briefings on matters of interest. These matters are wide-ranging and include the promotion of a rational approach to bioethical, medical, and scientific issues, the defence of free speech, civil liberties and education.^[6]

Officers and members

Julian Huppert MP

The officers of the APPHG are Chair: Lord Warner; Vice-Chairs: Dr Julian Huppert, Baroness Flather, Lord Garel-Jones, Kelvin Hopkins, Lord Taverne; Secretary: Baroness Massey of Darwen; Treasurer: Lord Dubs. Qualifying members of the APPHG include Lord Goodhart, Martin Horwood, Lord Bowness, Tim Yeo, Lord Jones of Cheltenham, Lord Lester of Herne Hill, Ian Swales, Baroness Whitaker, Baroness Turner of Camden, Graham Allen, Lord Macdonald of Tradeston and Baroness Murphy.^[5] Other members may include Crispin Blunt, Peter Bottomley, Michael Connarty and former members included Michael Connarty, Colin Challen, Lynne Jones, Evan Harris, Paul Holmes and Sandra Gidley.^[7] Other members include Baroness Bakewell.^[8]

April 2007 Debate - Religion: Non-believers

Thursday 19 April 2007^[9] debate Religion: Non-Believer in House of Lords lasted two and a half hours. Lord Harrison called to attention the position in British society of those who profess no religion. Edited verbatim Hansard report.^[10] The debate was summarised by HASSNERS.^[11] The speakers were Lord Harrison, Baroness Carnegy of Lour, Lord Goodhart, The Archbishop of York, Lord Judd, Baroness Flather, The Lord Bishop of Worcester, Lord Macdonald of Tradeston, Baroness Byford, Baroness Greengross, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, Lord Carey of Clifton, Baroness Murphy, Baroness Massey of Darwen, Lord Wedderburn of Charlton, Baroness Whitaker, Lord Joffe, Lord Graham of Edmonton, Lord Roberts of Llandudno, Baroness Wilcox, and Baroness Andrews.

July 2013 Debate - Contributions of atheists and humanists to society

Kelvin Hopkins MP

A debate in the House of Lords on Thursday 25 July 2013 lasted two and a half hours and more than 20,000 words were spoken. The motion of the debate was "That this House takes note of the contribution of atheists and humanists to United Kingdom society."^[12][13] Watch the video^[14][15] and read the edited verbatim report^[16][17] of the debate. It was covered by media sources including the BBC,^[15] British Humanist Association,^[18][19] Labour Lords,^[20] Atheism UK,^[21][22] SkepticInk,^[23] HASSNERS.^[24] The speakers were Lord Harrison,^[25] Baroness Whitaker, Baroness Meacher, Lord Bishop of Birmingham, Lord Layard, Lord Harries of Pentregarth, Lord Maxton, Lord Morgan, Baroness Flather, Baroness Massey of Darwen, Baroness Warnock, Lord Soley, Viscount Craigavon, Baroness Turner of Camden, Lord Warner, Lord Taverne, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon and Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon.^[26][27]

References