The O Project champions the contributions that humanists and other atheists make to wider society and encourages good relations between atheists and religious people.

Hamish McPherson says The O Project is an ‘idea’.

The ‘O’ in the O Project is what you are left with when you take ‘god’ ‘out’ of ‘good’.

In other words, it’s about how you can live a good life without following a religion. It has two goals:

1. To champion the contributions that humanists and other non believers make to wider society in the fields of social justice, equality and human rights.

2. To promote good relations and cooperation between believers and non believers

However it does not assert that people should become atheists – it demands equal respect for religion and atheism as potential vehicles for good.

It’s only possible to have a truly constructive dialogue and co-operation between religious and atheist people in a secular society, where religious organisations do not expect special privileges. IHEU‘s president Roy Brown spoke at the UN Commission on Human Rights on 5 April 2005, when he said,

Secularism should not be confused with militant atheism. We urge the Commission to recognise that a truly secular society – one that is neutral in respect of all religions – is a necessary safeguard against religious intolerance – discriminating against none and favouring none. The United Nations is itself a shining example of secularism.

Read about Suffolk Humanists and the Suffolk Inter-Faith Resource.

Tags: The+O+Project, Co-operation, Multi-Faith