Levi Fragell

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}} {{Short description|Norwegian humanist}} thumb|Fragell at the World Humanist Congress 2011 in Oslo

'''Levi Fragell''' (born 30 March 1939) is a Norwegian humanist. He has been chairman and secretary of the Norwegian Humanist Association, and was President of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) between 1987–1990 (as one member of a troika) and, in his own right, between 1998–2003.

== Biography ==

His father was a Pentecostal preacher and in his teens Fragell also began working full-time as a preacher, before his studies in philosophy and comparative religion led him to leave the church. He took a University degree in the sociology of religion and then worked for a year as a school teacher in northern Norway, before becoming a journalist, and later working in marketing. He also became press secretary to several cabinet ministers in Norway.<ref name=iheu>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iheu.org/interview-levi-fragell|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106151141/http://www.iheu.org/interview-levi-fragell|url-status=dead|title=Humanists International|archivedate=6 January 2012|website=Humanists International}}</ref><ref name=achievement>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iheu.org/node/3246|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019200125/http://www.iheu.org/node/3246|url-status=dead|title=Humanists International|archivedate=19 October 2011|website=Humanists International}}</ref>

In 1976, he became leader of the Norwegian Humanist Association (''Human-Etisk Forbund'') at a time when it had 1500 members; its membership later grew to over 75,000 making it, as a proportion of national population, the largest such organisation in the world.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} He joined the board of the IHEU in the 1980s, becoming its co-president in 1987 and sole president between 1998 and 2003. In 2003, he was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_III/Notable_Signers |title=Notable Signers |publisher=American Humanist Association |work=Humanism and Its Aspirations |accessdate=28 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005105825/http://www.americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_III/Notable_Signers |archivedate=5 October 2012 }}</ref> He later became Chair of the IHEU's Committee on Growth and Development, and has travelled widely to promote humanism, oppose racism and religious intolerance. In 2008, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the IHEU.<ref name="achievement"/> Periyar Maniammai University, Thanjavur of the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, conferred the Doctor of Letters (Honoris causa) on Fragell, he delivered the 21st Convocation Address on 4 July 2014 of the University.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fritanke.no/|title=Fri tanke – nettavis for livssyn og livssynspolitikk|first=Human-Etisk|last=Forbund|website=Fri tanke – nettavis for livssyn og livssynspolitikk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title='India has taken humanism more seriously than West|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/india-has-taken-humanism-more-seriously-than-west/article6179228.ece|access-date=5 July 2014|newspaper=The Hindu |date=4 July 2014 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://newhumanist.org.uk/517/the-torches-of-the-future- Article by Fragell, ''The Torches of the Future '', New Humanist, 2002]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fragell, Levi}} Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:Norwegian humanists Category:Norwegian atheists Category:Former Pentecostals