Getting the go-ahead from the Cairo Islamic Summit, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been actively trying to get the "denigration of religions" recognized as a criminal offence, according to a top official.

The ongoing irritation at the BBC's exclusion of secular voices from The Thought for the Day slot has spurred one the NSS's previous presidents to sponsor a prize of £250 for the best secular Thought for the Day.

An Edinburgh parent has launched a petition requesting that City of Edinburgh Council conducts a local vote to challenge "religious observance" in the city's non-denominational state schools.

Leeds City Council is the latest to consider scrapping free transport to religious schools. The plan will mostly affect Catholic schools.

A council that is facing devastating cuts to services and employment is considering reinstating free transport to "faith schools" after scrapping it last year.

A ComRes poll for Marie Curie Cancer Care is the latest to ask people about their religious affiliations. Of the 2,601 questioned, 53% said they were Christian, 37% said they had no religion, 8% were other religions and 2% did not say.

A UN Committee has expressed deep concern to the US Government about its failure to properly deal with sexual abuse committed by clerics and leading members of faith-based organizations.

A new YouGov survey commissioned for the Westminster Faith Debates finds only 14% of Catholics in this country are in favour of a ban on abortion. 43% of people who identify with a religion are in favour of keeping or raising the current 24 week limit

The Catholic Education Service (CES) for England and Wales has reiterated concerns that Religious Education will remain relegated among academic subjects, after plans to introduce the English Baccalaureate were scrapped.

MPs have confirmed that a controversial public order law that criminalises "insulting" words or behaviour will be reformed to permit greater freedom of speech.

Twenty-three civic organisations in Romania have asked parliament to end the public financing of religious denominations, saying the money would be better spent on health or education.

Local residents have reacted angrily to plans to open a new Sikh faith academy school in a Buckinghamshire village.

Surrey County Council has confirmed it will not accept a proposal to amend the admissions criteria for Reigate Priory School which would have indirectly given preferential admission arrangements to pupils whose parents regularly attend Church of England services.

The secretive and ultra conservative Catholic organisation Opus Dei is thought to be behind the opening of a new private school in Croydon.

Islamic TV channels operating on the Sky platform and broadcasting in Britain have been found to be breaching the Ofcom broadcasting code by giving fundamentalist clerics free reign to preach hate.

Residents of Solihull have reacted angrily to a non-religiously designated academy's proposals to give priority in admissions to pupils from two religiously selective 'faith' schools.

The Pope has given his personal support to a campaign being run by right-wing Catholics to have abortion "defunded" throughout the European Union.

Concerns have been raised that faith based admissions criteria are being indirectly applied to community schools when 'faith' schools become feeder schools.

This year's Secularist of the Year lunch is approaching (Saturday 23 March) and it promises to be a very special occasion. We hope that you'll join us for the NSS's premier social event.

"Conscience clauses" that permit religious pharmacists to refuse to dispense emergency contraception or the "morning after" pill are unsatisfactory and should be dropped, say experts.