(a)

there were issues with electing a humanist onto Group A as this Group was labelled in the terms of reference as having membership for ‘Christian and other religious denominations, not including the Church of England’ however it could be considered that humanism was not a religion therefore should not be a represented on Group A;

(b)

it was considered that there were approximately 50 to 60 humanist representatives on SACREs across the country however approximately only 20 to 30 were on Group A;

(c)

Group A currently did not have a Buddhist representative or a Sikh representative;

(d)

humanism was represented in the agreed syllabus for RE;

(e)

the panel’s terms of reference limited the numbers on Group A to eight members; members were asked to consider if the terms of reference be amended to extend membership to 10 members to include a humanist, a Buddhist and a Sikh representative;

(f)

humanists were predominantly added to Group A; this was guidance from the British Humanist Association;

(g)

humanism was different from atheism as it centred around an embodiment of ideas and also opinions on the afterlife;

(h)

humanism was not a religion;

(i)

in the last census approximately 33% of the population were ‘non-believers’ and to represent non-religious groups was important;

(j)

there were approximately 210 humanists in Plymouth;

(k)

it was important for a humanist to be represented in a Group other than being a co-opted representative as members of Groups were able to vote on issues whereas co-opted representatives were not; it was important to have an official voice;

(l)

he considered that several SACREs across the country did not have a humanist representative because of a circular that was distributed in 2000 advising SACREs to remove humanists from the panel – this advice was later rescinded however not all SACREs reappointed humanist members;

(m)

if the word ‘beliefs’ was added to the Group A membership this could then allow a humanist to be included;

(n)

the issue of membership was difficult as Quakers and Orthodox Christians were also not represented in Group A; 

(o)

the guidelines were very dated and a way of life ought to be considered when looking at the membership of Groups;

(p)

there was believed to be approximately 200 different faiths and religions; it was difficult to include everyone in Group A;

(q)

Group A was specifically for religious viewpoints; as humanism was not a religion a representative from this belief should therefore not be on Group A;

(r)

the first humanists were deeply religious and this belief system contained a huge spectrum of people;

(s)

the terms of reference for SACRE was not governed by the Council’s Constitution;

(t)

there was a statute law that governed the Groups and their membership;

(u)

the terms of reference for SACRE was last revised in 2006;

(v)

when taking a vote in SACRE only one vote was put forward from each of the four Groups; each member would have the ability to put forward their view however individual votes were not recorded. The agreed spokesperson for the Group would take a final decision;

(w)

it was not possible to include a fifth voting group;