The Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles – and the Coalition Government as a whole – risks alienating huge swathes of the population of this country with calls to return Christianity to the centre of public life, says the National Secular Society.

A new Yougov poll has shown that 55% of respondents were against councils holding prayers with only 26% of respondents in favour.

The government is activating a power it claims will allow councils in England to hold prayers at meetings.

Bideford Council reportedly decided last night to appeal against the High Court's decision that prayers during Council meetings were unlawful.

A controversial evangelical church has announced plans to open a free school in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

The Christian owners of a private hotel have lost their appeal against a £3,600 fine imposed on them for refusing to allow a gay couple to occupy a double room at Chymorvah House in Marazion, Cornwall, in 2008.

Several members of the NSS Council and several members of staff attended the One Law for All Free Speech rally outside parliament last week. Speaking for the NSS was Executive Director Keith Porteous Wood.

An academic study by Cardiff University shows that the proportion of adult Muslims actively practising the faith they were brought up in as children was 77%. That compares with 29% of Christians and 65% of other religions.

Conservative MPs in Poland have complained to the national airline LOT that banning staff wearing the Roman Catholic cross on flights is "discriminatory" and "unconstitutional".

In a speech at Lambeth palace today, the Queen told the Archbishop of Canterbury how inclusive the Church of England is and how important its establishment is to the nation.

Results of a poll carried out by Ipsos MORI for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science show that UK Christians are overwhelmingly secular in their attitudes on a wide range of issues.

Media reaction to the judgement on council prayers last week has inevitably been mixed while the public reaction has been strongly supportive of the National Secular Society.

An organisation that lends out resources for religious education and provides training for religious education teachers has moved into the Oasis Academy in Shirley Park, Croydon.

The High Court today ruled that "The saying of prayers as part of the formal meeting of a Council is not lawful under s111 of the Local Government Act 1972, and there is no statutory power permitting the practice to continue". The judgement follows a Judicial Review initiated by the National Secular Society.

The National Secular Society's campaign to get the church to pay the salary of their clergymen who are working in hospitals as chaplains was falsely portrayed at this week's Church of England General Synod.

Statistics from the latest edition of the Catholic Directory of England and Wales reveal a picture of a shrinking church.

A large delegation of Government Ministers is to visit the Vatican next week to consult about British Government policy with the Pope.

A religious TV channel has been fined £25,000 by the media regulator Ofcom after it permitted a televangelist to claim that his "Miracle Olive Oil Soap' could cure cancer.

As the French election draws near, President Nicolas Sarkozy is suddenly very enthusiastic for religion to play an important role in "public life".

Spain's new right-wing government, headed by the People's Party, has announced that it will seek to reform the nation's abortion law, which permits abortion on demand during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, and allows minors to obtain the procedure without parental permission.