Responding to a letter of protest from the National Secular Society, Stephen Hughes, the Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council, says that the Council has never blocked websites dealing with atheism and nor does it intend to

Derbyshire Country Council is planning to charge parents whose children attend “faith schools” outside the catchment area for the use of the school buses.

The United Reformed Church in Henley-on-Thames has employed a new youth worker. Nothing unusual about that, you might say, but Laura Pierce chirpily tells the local paper, the Henley Standard, that she intends to “go into primary and secondary schools on a regular basis” in order to “get the message across of how pupils can bring religion into their lives.”

Bangladeshi writer and NSS honorary associate Taslima Nasreen, on the run from death threats from Islamic militants, has returned to India to renew her visa. “Taslima's six-month visa to stay in India will expire on August 17”, Sujato Bhadra, a human rights activist, told the press.

As expected, the new Channel 4 series which sets out to convert a group of citizens who have strayed from the path of Christian righteousness back to the fold, was hilarious. One might even wonder whether the producers of the show are in league with the legendary “militant atheists” in trying to portray religion as a stupid, vacuous and hopeless way to order your life.

A new article by Muriel Fraser has been posted on the excellent Concordat Watch website. It’s entitled Women need secularism and when you’ve read it, together with the articles it links to, you’ll be hard-pressed not to agree. Essential reading.
Also see: how secularism has enhanced the rights of women in Singapore