Letter: It is not a choice between 'Christian' and 'quality'

THE British Humanist Association has not "been conducting non-religious funerals for more than 100 years". It has existed for only 35 years, and its predecessors in the Ethical movement saw their funerals as religious, though non-theistic. Non-religious funerals were conducted by freethinkers from the 1840s, and basic forms for non-religious ceremonies were produced by the National Secular Society in 1868. There have been many non-religious funerals in recent years organised by secularists or socialists without reference to any humanist body. There is no reason why funerals should not be organised and conducted by the people most closely involved without outside intervention or formal training.

Nicolas Walter

London N1