Humanists UK has announced it will publish a 140-year-old magazine after taking over the services of a fellow non-religious charity.
It will now run the quarterly New Humanist magazine, which has been published by a company owned by the dissolving Rationalist Association since its founding in 1885.
New Humanist’s three-person editorial team are the only staff transferring between the charities. However, the Rationalist Association’s president Laurie Taylor has become a vice president of Humanists UK.
Seven of the Rationalist Association’s patrons have also become patrons of Humanists UK.
Humanists UK will acquire the Rationalist Press Association (RPA), which has published various humanist and rationalist literature since 1885. It will be renamed the Rationalist Press later this year.
No money was exchanged as part of the merger.
Expanding readership
New Humanist currently publishes 6,500 physical copies of each issue, while its digital readership is around 25,000.
The magazine’s print circulation will increase to more than 26,000 as part of the merger and be read by Humanist UK’s more than 130,000 members and supporters, the charity said.
Clive Coen, outgoing chair of the Rationalist Association, said: “Finding a place for New Humanist magazine within Humanists UK secures its future, while strengthening the voice of humanism and the aligned voice of rationalism.”
Humanists UK’s chief executive Andrew Copson said: “We live in times as troubled as any in the long histories of our organisations.
“More than ever, we need a strong humanist movement for the 21st century and this merger is a great strengthening. Humanism has a bright future in the UK.”
Niki Seth-Smith, editor of New Humanist, said: “With Humanists UK as our publisher, we can do more than ever to reach the majority of people in our country and globally who are open-minded, curious, and care deeply about the state of the world.
“We have big plans to use the boosted readership for the magazine to make it even more impactful and influential, and I look forward to working with the editorial team to achieve this.”
Previous merger attempt
New Humanist was originally named Watts’s Literary Guide after its founder, Charles Albert Watts, who also set up the RPA.
Meanwhile, Humanists UK was originally founded in 1896 as the Union of Ethical Societies.
In 1920 it became the Ethical Union and in 1963 it and the RPA came together to form the British Humanist Association as an umbrella group.
This was the first attempt at a merger between the two groups but the Ethical Union lost its charitable status in 1967, meaning the RPA had to pull out of the merger.
The Ethical Union then became the British Humanist Association, renaming itself in 2017 to Humanists UK.
The Rationalist Association, meanwhile, took over the RPA’s work in 2002.
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