Born: April 8th, 1945
Died: June 3rd, 2022
Brian McClinton, who has died aged 77 in Co Antrim, was a leading figure within Irish humanism, where he was considered peerless by those close to him. He was born James Brian McClinton on the Shankill Road, Belfast, on April 8th, 1945 and educated at Mayo Street primary school, the Boys’ Model School, and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. He often commented that he was grateful to his mother for winning the argument with his father on the importance of a good education.
He attended Trinity College Dublin, where he debated in both the “Hist” and the “Phil”. His paper to the Phil entitled “Shakespeare: Bacon’s Hoax” received a medal awarded by the eminent Trinity historian the late Aidan Clarke.
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He taught history and economics for 36 years at Friends’ School in Lisburn. He was keen to enable young people to think for themselves and acquire competence in critical thinking; former students described him as an inspiration.
Occasionally gruff, McClinton was devoted to respectful debate and the free exchange of views, and had good friends among religious leaders. He was quick to point out hypocrisy where he saw it in public life, and his ideas and contributions to debate were typically thought-provoking and well crafted.
He will be best remembered for his prolific, fearless and intellectual contribution to Irish humanism. He first became active in humanist circles in 1984 with Humani, the original Northern Ireland humanist organisation.
With Sean Kearney, he set up the Toland Summer School in 1998 at Redcastle, Co Donegal. It evolved into the all-island Humanist Summer School which was held annually for two decades (almost always at Carlingford, Co Louth) until Covid put it on hold.
For decades he voluntarily edited, designed and published bi-monthly humanist magazines. Humanism Ireland (also known as HI magazine) was for years the in-house bi-monthly magazine of Humani in the North, as well as the Humanist Association of Ireland in the South. Bob Rees and the late David Godden were loyal collaborators in Dublin. McClinton jealously guarded its editorial independence and was always keen to stress that it was not the mouthpiece of any organisation.
His 32-county perspective led to his co-founding in 2016, with Roger Kelly, the Irish Freethinkers and Humanists, an organisation with an all-island membership and outlook. The first issue of the Irish Freethinker and Humanist magazine was published in January 2017. The final issue appeared in May-June 2022. In total McClinton edited and produced 194 editions of the magazine over more than 20 years.
He wrote often for magazines, including those he edited, on a variety of subjects including humanism, philosophy, religion, politics, science, literature, culture, history, film, music and books.
McClinton’s voice was often heard on radio. He provided a non-religious perspective for the BBC Radio Ulster show Sunday Sequence. And he frequently featured in the letters page of the Belfast Telegraph and other publications.
He long believed that progress in Ireland, in humanism or in other areas, could be best achieved working on an all-island basis, and he resisted efforts to align humanism in Northern Ireland with organisations in the United Kingdom. It was at Trinity that McClinton became a republican, in the proper sense of the word. He abhorred bloodshed, and often argued that persuasion and argument for a united Ireland would be more likely to succeed than murder and mayhem.
A political liberal, he believed that too many from his working-class Protestant upbringing voted and acted against their own interests. His book, Ulster’s Third Way: The Humanist Alternative Beyond Orange and Green, presented an alternative to divisive sectarian politics. He was the author of the Humanist Handbook.
While not writing or otherwise involved in academic pursuits, he loved watching cricket and was a dedicated cinephile and fan of classical music. He was knowledgeable and fond of Shakespeare, though his book, The Shakespeare Conspiracies, now in a second edition, gently leads readers to doubt that any word attributed to the Bard was actually written by him. Prof John Barry of Queen’s University described him, in a tribute in the Belfast Newsletter, as “a true renaissance man”. He leaves an unfillable void in the Irish humanist community.
McClinton died of a heart attack at his home in Lisburn. He never married. He is survived by his brothers Terence and Peter, and his niece, Terri Dawn. His ashes are to be spread at Donaghadee, where he spent many happy childhood holidays.