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My friend Harry Stopes-Roe, who has died aged 90, was a leading figure in the British and international humanist movements. A philosopher and academic, Harry was influential in developing modern humanist thought, especially in matters of education about values and beliefs.
Born in Marylebone, central London, he was the son of the pioneering birth-control campaigner Marie Stopes and aircraft manufacturer and philanthropist Humphrey Verdon Roe. Despite an unorthodox upbringing – for example, his mother forbade him to read books as they might stifle his originality – he took BSc and MSc degrees in physics at Imperial College London, and a PhD in philosophy at Cambridge. As a senior lecturer in science studies at Birmingham University, his work spanned science and philosophy, but he gravitated towards moral philosophy and, rejecting religion, adopted humanism. Thereafter he dedicated much of his life to working with the British Humanist Association (BHA) and the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU).
Harry was determined to overcome the exclusion of humanism from religious education in schools. He was an influential member of the Birmingham Agreed Syllabus Conference for Religious Education that, in the 1970s, produced the first syllabus to include a multi-faith model of religious education, and to require a systematic study of non-religious belief. During debates on the syllabus, Harry coined the term "stance for living" – later modified to "lifestance" – to encompass both religious and non-religious beliefs.
He served on the BHA committee for 20 years, nine as chair, before becoming a vice-president in 1994. He led the Values Education Council, which promoted moral education in schools, and represented the BHA on the Religious Education Council from 1974 for nearly 20 years. One of his most significant contributions was to chair the international working group that developed the "minimum statement" on global humanism, which united humanist associations across the world in a common commitment.
In 1975, Harry and I collaborated in a call for a reformed type of religious education – we called it "education in stances for living" – that was published in the BHA booklet Objective, Fair and Balanced (1975). It was one of the most intellectually exhausting tasks I have ever undertaken. Day after day I would arrive home tired from work, only for Harry to phone for an hour or more to test his latest arguments and drafts. He was unrelenting and almost always right, but determined to pursue rigorously every suggestion or question I might raise and ensure we overlooked nothing. Indeed, everyone in the humanist movement who worked with Harry was energised by his commitment and stimulated by his fiery intellect.
He is survived by his wife, Mary, by their two sons, Jonathan and Christopher, and two daughters, Catherine and Helena.
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