An Interview with Andrew Copson (2)
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Humanists International (Unsubmitted)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2021/10/08
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: With regards to the conference itself, what are some highlights that you’re hoping to present to the global humanist community?
Andrew Copson: One of the first things to say about this is congress, so it is the general assembly and conference. It’s just going to be so nice to be able to see people again face to face; I mean this is the first time that we will be in the same room physically for a very long time. I mean we had the 2020 world congress in Florida that was cancelled of course and then we hoped in 2021 to be able to go to Kathmandu; we were meant to be here for our first time in Nepal for our general assembly that year. All of those plans of course were completely squashed by the pandemic and the political and legal response to the pandemic which made travel difficult, hosting large meetings difficult, and so on and so forth. I haven’t even had any bilateral meetings of national organizations in person for… it must be almost three years really because of the way the timelines fell for this. So the first thing is I’m really going to look forward to reminding myself what humanists look like in three dimensions and not just on the flat screens that I’ve been used to seeing them on for the last few years. So would you be there?
Jacobsen: Yes. [Ed. Work conflict prevented this.]
Copson: Oh you will! So, I’ll see you in three dimensions again for the first time in a long time.
Jacobsen: And the last time we met was in Iceland, in Reykjavik.
Copson: Iceland? And that’s 2019, right? Was that August, 2019?
Jacobsen: 1919?
Copson: The dawn of time? I think it was around the dawn of time.
Jacobsen: Correct. That is absolutely right, yeah.
Copson: It’s a long time; I mean it feels like a long time, doesn’t it? So much has changed, not just the passing of time, but events. So, yes, it’ll be good to see everyone. The fact that we’ll be in Scotland is very interesting to me, of course, because it’s one of the countries local to where I am here, but they’ve done such amazing things with community service provision in Scotland, obviously, in the last few years. Legal humanist marriage, Scotland has taken them to being, I think, now the largest provider of humanist marriages in the world. So they’re literally world leading in the way that they’ve managed to bring the humanist approach into the lives of people in Scotland. And Scotland is this very interesting country because of its emerging human rights settlement; the way that it’s setting itself up as a very humanistic society and political economy as it develops, whether it will become independent one day or not who knows, but it got its own political and social arrangements now of greater independence whatever their formal independence might be.
And the approach that the people of Scotland and the government of Scotland have taken is a very humanistic one. They also were the latest Western country to abolish their blasphemy law, which they did last year – which is very interesting for us, of course. We launched our global campaign against blasphemy laws in Scotland whenever it was, five or six years ago. Our colleague, of course, at the time was in Pakistan still, and while they’re visiting Scotland on that occasion, but now, obviously, is, as you know, seeking asylum in the United States. She launched the global campaign against blasphemy laws in the Scottish parliament building in Edinburgh just a few years ago, so to return to Scotland a year after they have now finally abolished their own blasphemy law as another interesting element.
We’ll also have interesting discussions about the future of Humanism in Europe. So, for the last couple of years, organizations that made up the European Humanist Federation have been talking about how they want to get more involved in Humanists International, have more European activity under the auspices of Humanists International in Europe. So, we’ll be looking at things like how we can bring humanist professionals together not just in that region. Europe is, obviously, very well off for counselors, chaplains, teachers, celebrants – you know, who do humanist stuff for that. And we want to network them together more, but we also want to spread that good experience throughout the world. Also, we want to do a lot more work, basically, with the European institutions, which are very influential in global human rights discourses as well as the regional discourses. So being meeting again this year in Europe, we will be discussing some of those themes too. So there’s a lot on, quite apart from the sheer joy of just actually seeing each other face to face again.
Jacobsen: And how many general assemblies are going to be meeting here? As with Iceland, there were four if I remember correct. There was Siðmennt to Young Humanists International, the European Humanist Federation, and Humanists International; all at the same time.
Copson: Yes, that’s true. It has to be I think the… this is a question I’m just not used to thinking about. Well, the General Assembly of Humanists International; there’s the Young Humanists International coming together and then there’s the conference, which is also Humanist Society, Scotland’s annual conference; and it’s not their own general standard. They usually do some other time of the year, but it says three in total, I think. We’re also hoping to have this convening of the humanist professionals as well. We’re hoping to celebrate around the world. We’ll be able to come there as well as just the European regional ones. It will be busy; certainly as busy as Iceland although I hope that we get the first because… Do you remember in Iceland where the president of Iceland came?
Jacobsen: We had the president of Iceland give a 30-minute speech on the ethical issues of the 21st century. That was fascinating.
Copson: I wonder if we’ll get the first ministry of Scotland. I don’t know, but I’m sure that they’ll be able to give us some proper civic welcome to Glasgow.
Jacobsen: And in Florida, who was the intended keynote speaker who was unable to attend obviously because of the cancellation?
Copson: In Florida we are having the American Humanist Association had a wide program planned and there were a number of American politicians, but also various keynotes. One of the principal ones of course was with Steven Pinker, who with his new book Rationality. His book that was at that time new Enlightenment Now was also due to receive the award of international contribution to Humanism that year. In fact, we ended up hosting him as a speaker for our online General Assembly that should have been in Kathmandu. So, he spoke to us last year. We were able to give him his award then. So, we’re not carrying over any speakers to the General Assembly.
The next congress, of course, is in Copenhagen next year, say 2023. In 2023, the congress will be in Copenhagen. We’re expecting great things from there and the Oslo congress back in 2011 was a magnificent event equaled only by the 2014 Oxford congress. So we’re hoping now that we’re back in a Nordic country in 2023. We will see something equally magnificent.
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