Our group at the European Parliament (left to right): Dabir Tehrani (Scotland); Bruna Sassi (Belgium); Naomi Phillips (UK); Andrzej Dominiczak (Poland); Renate Bauer (Germany); Julien Houben (Italy); Ann James (Ireland); Jean de Brueker (Belgium); Pierre-Arnaud Perrouty (Belgium); Elizabeth O'Casey (UK), plus (not in picture) David Pollock, EHF President (UK).

• the unfair operation of the dialogue under Article 17, which is heavily biassed towards religion;
• the need for the EU to take steps to safeguard civil liberties in its own member states if it is going to preach human rights to third countries;
• the way the churches, fast losing members across Europe, are resisting the loss of their privileges by painting themselves as victims of "Christianophobia"; and
• the dangers of creationism.

Afterwards, one of our group, Naomi Phillips, head of public affairs with the British Humanist Association, said "We were delighted with the warm reception we received from MEPs from all different political groups, many of whom were sympathetic to our position. We hope that the issues raised by the EHF will be taken up in the European Parliament and wider."

In August 2009 we wrote to the new President of the Parliament, Mr Jerzy Buzek, after he spoke about his wish "to deepen dialogue with Europe’s Christian churches".  We copied this letter to a number of MEPs. His reply is here.

We circulated to Member Organisations a draft memorandum in advance of the European Parliament election of June 2009, and we published a briefing on separation of religion and politics with a request to members and supporters to write to their candidates in the election.  (We had prepared a similar memorandum in advance of the European Parliament election of June 2004.)

On 10 March 2009 we wrote to the President of the European Parliament protesting at a resolution that mentioned the need for dialogue with the churches but ignored the non-religious communities:

Dear Mr Pottering

The EHF was seriously disappointed to see that a resolution adopted by the Parliament on 13 January includes an article that reads as follows:-

20.  Stresses that, besides dialogue with civil society, there also needs to be an open, transparent and regular dialogue between the Union and churches and religious communities, as provided for by the Treaty of Lisbon

making no reference to the “philosophical and non-confessional organisations” that are equally referred to in the Treaty.

It is highly regrettable that Parliament should produce such a discriminatory text, especially one to which you are instructed to give such a wide distribution- “to the parliaments of the Member States, the Council, the Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions”. 

Humanists and the non-religious generally are very frequently ignored or overlooked.  It is assumed by too many who should know better that the right of freedom of religion or belief and to freedom from discrimination based on religion or belief extends to atheists, agnostics and those adopting the non-religious beliefs. 

A large proportion of the population of Europe has no religion – perhaps as many as 1 in 3 or more.  These people suffer continuous low-level discrimination through the privileges given to religious communities.  They are beginning to show resentment of this, as is evident in the huge spontaneous support for the ‘atheist bus’ advertising campaign in Britain and elsewhere. 

It would be sad if the European Union and its Parliament, by resolutions such as the one cited and by the favours shown to the churches by comparison with the non-confessionals under “Article 17”, alienated these people from the European project.

Would you please give us an assurance that you will seek to ensure that such – probably unthinking – discrimination against the non-religious is not demonstrated in future by the European Parliament?

David Pollock
President, European Humanist Federation

We copied this to numbers of MEPs. No reply was received.

On 3 March 2009 David Pollock, EHF President, was a platform speaker at a conference at the European Parliament organised by Veronique de Keyser MEP on the subject of Secularism and the European Union: his address on Secularism, Non-discrimination and Human Rights can be read here.

In April 2007 we wrote to the then President of the Parliament, Hans Gert Pottering, protesting at his invitation to the Pope to address the Parliament - our letter and his reply are here. (In July 2007 the Pope himself decided to decline the invitation.)