Secularist of the Year – the shortlist
The nominations are in and the preliminary round of discussion has whittled down the shortlist to nine possibles. The final decision on who is the winner of this year’s Irwin Prize will be taken by the end of this month.
Johann Hari
Columnist on the Independent for his consistent and vigorous approach to secular issues
Salman Rushdie is not the criminal
It's all right to attack a politician's religion
Oliver Kamm
Journalist and commentator. He is an example of the new alignment of the old “left-right” categories in politics, and an ardent secularist.
The Tyranny of Moderation: Respect and Civility are the Enemies of Free Speech
Wikipedia Entry on Oliver Kamm
Mina Ahadi
Founder of the Council of Ex-Muslims in Germany, which prompted the formation of similar groups around Europe, including one in the UK.
"Not Possible to Modernize Islam"
Sam Harris
For Letter to a Christian Nation – Sam Harris is regarded as one of the leaders of the New Atheist movement and his thinking has profoundly influenced the debate on the place of religion in America.
Michel Onfray
French philosopher who has had as much success in Europe with his book, In Defence of Atheism, as Richard Dawkins had with his book in the UK and USA. He argues for a new approach to non-belief – an atheistic atheism, rather than the sort that looks to religion to inform its morals and ethics.
Matthew Parris
Times columnist and commentator. For consistent secularist journalism, examples here:
Shout your doubt out loud, my fellow unbelievers
Parris's questions on the faith and politics of Ruth Kelly
Peter Tatchell
For work on human rights from a secularist perspective.
See his interview with Honorary Associate Joan Smith on 18 Doughty Street, where Tatchell declares himself a fervent secularist:
and also an interview with our Executive Director Keith Porteous Wood.
Comment: Why I support free speech even if it mocks me
Kenan Malik
For consistent defence of free speech
An annotated bibliography of nonsense
Index on Censorship
The £5,000 Irwin Prize will be presented at a glittering lunch time event in central London on Saturday 20 October. If you would like to be there, tickets are now on sale. They cost £45 each and will include a welcoming aperitif, a three course meal (with choice of menu) and will include wine and coffee. There’ll be top-notch entertainment and the announcement of the winner and presentation of the prize. You can get your tickets from our on-line shop or by post from NSS Tickets, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
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Daily Telegraph, 15 May 2008
The Herald, 15 May 2008
Daily Mail, 15 May 2008
The NSS has written to the Secretary of State for Justice, Jack Straw, asking him for answers to a number of questions arising from the failed prosecution of Channel 4 over its Dispatches programme Undercover Mosque.
The National Secular Society has called for a full public inquiry into the role of the West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) relative to the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary Undercover Mosque broadcast on 15 January 2007 that exposed the views of extremist Islamic clerics.