KENILWORTH, 20 APRIL 2008 — Britain’s only gay humanist charity has welcomed a move to teach humanism in schools as “not before time”.
Humanism will be on the curriculum for teenagers as part of a religious education GCSE for the first time in 2009. Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR) has announced draft proposals for a new “philosophy and ethics” course to cover lessons on issues such as abortion and voluntary euthanasia.
Pupils taking the course will be able to look at topics from the standpoint of humanism, which is the rejection of religion in favour of reason and a belief in human potential, as well as the major religions. The examiners say the course will have units looking at various beliefs on topics such as the nature of good and evil, medical ethics and death and the afterlife.
“Humanism is growing rapidly within the UK,” OCR’s Mara Bogdanovic has said, “and it is a belief system held by increasing numbers of citizens.”
George Broadhead, former long-serving secretary of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association and current secretary of the 16-year-old Pink Triangle Trust, warmly welcomed the move. “This is not only very good news for humanists, but for LGBT people as well,” he said, “and it’s not before time. In sharp contrast to the hostility shown by many religions, including Christianity and Islam, to gay sexual relationships, modern humanism accepts these as an integral part of sexual diversity and it fully supports the ongoing campaign for full legal equality, including same-sex marriage. The fact that the humanist outlook will be taught as part of RE should help to counter religious prejudice and discrimination.”
The new courses are set to be taught from September 2009.