Welcome to the Nordic Humanist Conference in Stockholm, Sweden, the weekend June 6-8 2025.

For the 11th year the Nordic humanists organisations will be gathering for their annual meeting. It will be a lager meeting with more participants from Sweden and guests from Humanists International.

Date: 06 June – 08 June 2025
Location:  Medelhavsmuseet, Fredsgatan 2, Stockholm, Sweden
www.medelhavsmuseet.se/en

There is no conference fee. Lunch and coffee are included. Traveling costs, hotel and dinner are paid by each organisation and their participants.

Theme

The theme for the conference: Freedom of speech, Democracy and Humanism.

We will explore the consequences, politically, legally and socially, of the Quran burnings that were big news during 2023. The different approaches in Denmark, Norway and Sweden will be highlighted, and discuss how we as humanists can protect freedom of speech for a stronger democracy.

Program

Friday 06 June

17:00 Possible social activity, incuding optional dinner. It’s the National Day of Sweden

Saturday 07 June

10:00 Welcome and introduction
10:30 Presentation: Mårten Schultz, Professor of private law at Stockholm University, Sweden.
11:30 Presentation: Jakob V. Holtermann, Associate Professor at the Centre of Excellence for International Courts and Governance, the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
12:30 Lunch
13:30 Presentation: Niels Fredrik Skarre, deputy CEO at The Council for Religious and Life Stance Communities in Norway (STL).
14:30 Panel discussion: how to protect freedom of speech as a vital tool for a flowering democracy.  Andrew Copson, Humanists UK, Christian Lomsdalen, Human-Etisk Forbund, David Rönnegard, President of Humanists Sweden, and Kirstine Kærn, Humanistisk Samfund.
16:00 Coffee Break
16:30 Speech: Maggie Ardiente on Secular humanism in the United States, and more.
17:00 Excursion or break before dinner
19:00 Dinner (we will split up into smaller groups)

Sunday 08 June

Parallel sessions
10:00 Nordic Meeting: Update from all organisations, planning of future Nordic activities, including Nordic Humanist Manifesto 2026.
10:00 Presentation of the Nordic Humanist Organization: Mainly for the Swedish participants.
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Introduction of European Humanist Services Network.
Summing up
14:00 Closing of the Nordic Meeting

Registration

Questions and registration are sent to Ulf Gustafsson, ulf.gustafsson@humanisterna.se

All participants need to register. It would be good if each organisation could coordinate their registration with one contact person. In the registration it should be included if the participants will join the activities on Friday evening and if they have any dietary requirements.