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A group of non-believers has raised more than £2,500 in a bid to put a copy of The Young Athiest’s Handbook in every secondary school library in Northern Ireland.

The fund received 124 donations amounting to £2,504 and the Humanist Association has already sent copies of the book to schools in England and Wales, which they say have been “warmly received”.

A spokesman for the British Humanist Association, said the donated money will be used to buy, package and post copies of Alom Shaha's book which claims to give "lessons for living a good life without god".

He added: “It’s not intended for use in lessons, although some schools may choose to refer to it. Instead, the hope is simply to make it available to students to read if they so choose.

“Many young people are brought up in the religion or belief of their family, without ever really having the chance to choose for themselves. It’s too often assumed that people have to opt-out of a religion, rather than making a positive choice for themselves.

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“Alom’s book tells how he made that choice and shows that you can make moral choices without a religious faith to guide you.

“School is where we go to learn how to ask questions. It seemed to us that making the book available through school libraries is a good first step in educating young people so that they can choose to exercise their freedom of choice.

“The costs over-all are heavily discounte,d thanks to Biteback Publishing, for each book to be packaged and sent to a secondary school library.”

The Humanist Association describe themselves as a national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity.