Humanist

Humanist may refer to:

See also

Stephen Fry

Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English comedian, actor, writer, presenter and activist.

After a troubled childhood and adolescence, during which he was expelled from two schools and spent three months in prison for credit card fraud, Fry secured a place at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he studied English literature. While at university, he became involved with the Cambridge Footlights, where he met his long-time collaborator Hugh Laurie. As half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry & Laurie and also took the role of Jeeves (with Laurie playing Wooster) in Jeeves and Wooster.

Fry's acting roles include a Golden Globe Award–nominated lead performance in the film Wilde, Melchett in the BBC television series Blackadder, the title character in the television series Kingdom, a recurring guest role as Dr Gordon Wyatt on the crime series Bones, and as Gordon Deitrich in the dystopian thriller V for Vendetta. He has also written and presented several documentary series, including the Emmy Award–winning Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, which saw him explore his bipolar disorder, and the travel series Stephen Fry in America. He is also the long-time host of the BBC television quiz show QI.

Andrew Copson

Andrew James William Copson, FRSA, MCMI, MCIPR (born 19 November 1980) is Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association, a position he has held since January 2010. In 2015, Copson was elected President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, the global umbrella body for atheist, humanist, skeptic and secularist organisations.

Early life

Copson was born on 19th November 1980 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, to David Copson and Julia Heather Cunningham. He was educated at the independent school King Henry VIII School, Coventry. He attended Balliol College, University of Oxford, graduating with a first class Bachelor of Arts degree in Ancient and Modern History in 2004.

Positions

In 2005 Andrew Copson started working at the British Humanist Association as director of education and public affairs. In 2010 he became the BHA's youngest ever Chief Executive; a position which he described at the time as "obviously a daunting one", saying that he felt "a huge responsibility to build on the BHA's many successes."

British Humanist Association

The British Humanist Association (BHA) is a charitable organisation which promotes Humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs" in the United Kingdom by campaigning on issues relating to humanism, secularism, and human rights. The organisation also supports humanist and non-religious ceremonies in England and Wales, and maintains a national network of accredited celebrants for humanist funeral ceremonies, weddings, civil partnerships, and baby namings. The current President of the BHA is Shappi Khorsandi and the Chief Executive is Andrew Copson. The association currently has 70 affiliated regional and special interest groups and claims a total of approximately 40,000 members and supporters.

Aims

The British Humanist Association's Articles of Association sets out its aims as:

Humanism

Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition. The meaning of the term humanism has fluctuated according to the successive intellectual movements which have identified with it. Generally, however, humanism refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of human freedom and progress. In modern times, humanist movements are typically aligned with secularism, and as of 2015 "Humanism" typically refers to a non-theistic life stance centred on human agency and looking to science rather than revelation from a supernatural source to understand the world.

Background

The word "Humanism" is ultimately derived from the Latin concept humanitas, and, like most other words ending in -ism, entered English in the nineteenth century. However, historians agree that the concept predates the label invented to describe it, encompassing the various meanings ascribed to humanitas, which included both benevolence toward one's fellow humans and the values imparted by bonae litterae or humane learning (literally "good letters").