A brief history of the NSS

The National Secular Society was founded in 1866 with Charles Bradlaugh as President and Charles Watts as secretary. There were a number of secularist groups around the UK and they joined up to give strength to their campaigns. The word secularism was coined by the British writer George Holyoake in 1846. The NSS’s principles asserted that ‘this is the only life we have, and that we should work for its improvement’.

In 1877 Bradlaugh and Annie Besant were prosecuted for publishing a book containing birth control information, The Fruits of Philosophy by the American doctor, Charles Knowlton. They were convicted, but acquitted on appeal. The issue of contraception divided secularists and a breakaway group, the British Secular Union, was formed: it closed after a few years.

Bradlaugh’s struggle to enter Parliament became a key moment in the development of nineteenth century secularism. He was elected for Northampton in 1880. He believed he had the right to affirm rather than swear on the Bible, but when refused, said he would take the oath. He was told that since he did not believe in the Bible he could not swear on it. For six years he struggled to overcome this problem, by legal and electoral methods. In 1886 a new government allowed him to be sworn in. He later brought about a change giving all MPs the right to affirm. He was a very active MP on behalf of the poor, the Irish and Indian independence.

Bradlaugh, who died in 1891, was succeeded as President by G. W. Foote, who was editor of the Freethinker. He claimed that the heroic age of freethought had passed, but continued as editor and president until 1915. His successor was Chapman Cohen (president from 1915-1949), who was renowned for his lucid explanation of philosophical ideas. In the twentieth century the NSS campaigned against the BBC’s excessive use of religion and for disestablishment and the abolition of religious education. Cohen argued in favour of the League of Nations, but doubted its success, and opposed fascism in the 1930s.

Notable presidents in the second half of the twentieth century were David Tribe and Barbara Smoker, who did much to increase the use of the media to put across secularist views. And in the twenty-first century the NSS thrives as an organisation campaigning in the UK and the EU for the removal of the privileged influence of religion on public life

A History Of The British Secular Movement

Read a history of the British secular movement by John Edwin McGee. Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius

Godless And Glad Of It - 50 years of militant secular humanism

"Godless And Glad Of It: Fifty years of militant secular humanism" by David Tribe (PDF, 201 Kb)
David Tribe was President of the NSS between 1963 and 1971. Godless And Glad Of It is a personal recollection of his time as President where he takes a look at the difficulties and achievements of the NSS under his Presidency and compares them with those of today.

From the archives...

"Why I am not a Christian" and "The Faith of a Rationalist" by Bertrand Russell (PDF, 71 Kb)
Why I Am Not a Christian was originally given as a public lecture for the South London Branch of the National Secular Society at Battersea Town Hall on 6 March 1927.

The Faith of a Rationalist was originally given as a radio talk on the BBC Home Service on 20 May 1947, in a series called "What I Believe" (when sceptical views were broadcast for the first time after twenty years of campaigning by the freethought movement).

Victorian Infidels: The Origins of the British Secularist Movement 1791-1866 (PDF, 4.5 Mb)
A book by Edward Royle, originally published in 1974.

Edward Royle is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of History and a member of the Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies at the Univerity of York.

Morals Without Religion (PDF, 13 Kb)
An essay by Margaret Knight, first published in 1955, again in 1964 and reprinted in 1975.

Christianity: The Debit Account (PDF, 21 Kb)
Margaret Knight tells the other side of the story of Christ and Christianity which Christians would rather you not know.

First published in 1975 and reprinted in 1992

The Unholy Mrs Knight
In 1955 psychologist, broadcaster and humanist Margaret Knight stunned post-war Britain by suggesting in two talks on the BBC’s Home Service (now Radio 4), that moral education should be uncoupled from religious education.

Read this article on Margaret Knight by Marilyn Mason.

A Chronology of British Secularism (PDF, 84 Kb)
This chronology was written in 1957 by G. H. Taylor and summarises the movement from 1840 to 1957.