On this date in 1923, Barbara Smoker was born in Great Britain. Such a devout Roman Catholic that she considered becoming a nun, Smoker renounced religious faith at age 26 and became a secular humanist activist instead. She served as president of the National Secular Society (NSS), the most militant of the British secular groups, from 1971-96. Her script “Why I Am an Atheist” was recorded for the BBC in 1985. She fought a statutory ban on embryo research with a pamphlet, “Eggs Are Not People,” distributed to all members of Parliament in 1985.
In the tradition of 19th-century secular activists Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant, Smoker officiated at more than 400 humanist funerals, as well as at weddings and analogous ceremonies on behalf of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association, which she co-founded. Smoker served as chair of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society from 1981-85, editing Voluntary Euthanasia: Experts Debate the Right to Die (1986).
When Muslims held a London demonstration in May 1989 against Salman Rushdie, Smoker, holding a banner reading “Free Speech,” was attacked by a surge of demonstrators and was rescued by a police officer.
Smoker remained active in the NSS for the rest of her life. In 2019 she published her autobiography “My Godforsaken Life: Memoir of a Maverick.” She also received a lifetime achievement award from the NSS in 2019.Smoker remained active in the NSS for the rest of her life. In 2019 she published her autobiography “My Godforsaken Life: Memoir of a Maverick.” She also received a lifetime achievement award from the NSS in 2019.
She died at Lewisham Hospital at age 96. (D. 2020)
