The Humanist Society of Scotland (HSS) today released nine short videos that show what Humanists believe on a wide range of important moral issues, including same-sex marriage, physician-assisted suicide and sectarianism. The films were shot all across Scotland, and feature contributions from more than fifty people, ranging from 10 year old Mellin Buchanan in Thurso to 81 year old Margaret Ferguson from Inverness.
The videos can be seen at the society’s H Factor campaign site http://www.thehfactor.org.uk/ where they can also be downloaded and shared on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
In the film on Humanism, Alex from Edinburgh says, “As far as I am aware, no humanist has ever killed anyone because of their beliefs”, while in the one about physician-assisted suicide, Catriona from Aberdeen speaks movingly of watching her grandmother die. “We had to watch my granny die over a period of months, in pain, and wasting away in front of us when she’d told me years ago she’d had a great life and she was ready to go. Why can’t we afford people the same compassion that we show to our animals?”
HSS Convenor Les Mitchell says, “We’re delighted with the H Factor films, which show that Humanists are deeply committed to making the world a better place. Although Humanism is becoming more familiar in Scotland as our ceremonies grow ever more popular, very few people actually know what Humanists believe. Now they can see for themselves and we hope that many of them realise they’ve been ‘Secret Humanists’ all their lives.”
The HSS is also inviting members of the public to win £1,000 by creating a new slogan for the society in an online competition hosted at the H Factor site http://www.thehfactor.org.uk/