Human intervention proves more reliable.

Dearly Departed: Pioneering British humanist Harold John Blackham, 1903-2009

Cause Of Death: Undetermined, although he was 105 years old.

Greatest Achievement: Proving that you don’t need to be petrified by a thunderbolt-hurling God in order to live an awesomely moral life.

Harold Blackham passed away on 23 January after living 105 years, possibly remaining alive so long because he was certain that there was no afterlife. Rather than turning his early atheism into cynicism, he chose to embrace a new brand of responsible morality and ethics, working with both religious and secular groups to spread his rational philosophy. What a champ!

Blackham was a son of a lay preacher and grandson of another, and didn’t finish school, but somehow managed to go on to Birmingham University following World War I, where he studied literature and ethics. Right on, brother.

He started late, editing his first collection of philosophical essays after World War II, at 47 years of age, but continued right up until an epilogue he wrote for a revised version of JB Bury’s History of Freedom of Thought when he was 98. Fellow humanist writer Barbara Smoker called his writing “condensed, taut, aphoristic … with multiple layers of meaning – often more like classical poetry than modern prose” in a 1998 anthology of his work. Why haven’t I heard of this guy before?

He achieved many personal victories: chairman of the Ethical Union in 1935, launching a quarterly magazine The Plain View that ran for 20 years, forming the International Humanist and Ethical Union with Dutch philosopher Jaap de Praag in 1952, forming the British Humanist Association in 1964, and writing several revered philosophical tracts. Righteous.

Perhaps more importantly, Blackham walked the talk. He worked in the London Fire Service, dodging bombs in World War II. He assisted in bringing Jewish refugees from Austria to England to escape Nazi persecution. He conducted non-religious funerals, campaigned for a secular state, and worked with other leading humanists helping the disadvantaged with counselling, adoption services and sheltered housing. The man was a secular saint, damn it.

Blackham has been credited with creating a revolutionary vision of humanism that is actively morally responsible. Plus, he lived to 105! C’mon, people!

He will be missed.