Professor takes Humanists UK president to task over 'mean-spirited' Good Friday tweet

Professor Tina Beattie, former Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton and Director of Catherine of Siena College, based at the University of Roehampton issued this public message to the President of Humanists UK.

Dear Professor Roberts,

I am contacting you in my role as a theologian who has for many years enjoyed a creative collaboration with Humanists UK . I have supported a number of their initiatives, including most recently the humanist marriage campaign.

I am committed to promoting intelligent dialogue in the public square about faith, philosophy and belief. I do not take offence when religious views are criticised or questioned, and I accept that parody and mockery are sometimes pat of that process. However, I see it as vital that public intellectuals, religious and secular, maintain high standards of integrity when they engage in debate, however robust, and that they hold one another to account when these standards are violated.

I was dismayed to read your mean-spirited tweet on Good Friday - copied here.

I wonder what possible justification there could be for a public figure of your status to issue a statement whose only purpose could have been to provoke and mock. By any standards of academic rigour, intellectual integrity or public responsibility, this was an utterly inappropriate tweet which brings both of your roles - as Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham and President of Humanists UK - into disrepute.

I think a public apology would be in order. I am making the contents of this email public, because it is an issue which I believe merits discussion.

Best wishes

Professor Tina Beattie