Newsline 17 January 2014

Newsline 17 January 2014

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News, Blogs & Opinion

Vatican challenged by UN over its handling of child abuse

News | Thu, 16th Jan 2014

Representatives from the Vatican have faced tough questions over the Holy See's record on sexual abuse and other forms of violence against children by a UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in Geneva.

The Holy See was questioned over its failure to comply with the Convention on Rights of the Child, and faced allegations that many more children had been abused because the Church had protected paedophile priests at the expense of victims.

A common theme of questioning was the disparity between what the Catholic Church says in public and what it actually does to combat child abuse within its ranks.

One Committee member said it was "difficult to continue listening" to the Holy See representatives when no concrete actions were being taken by the Holy See to adequately respond to the needs of victims.

One of the UN committee's special rapporteurs, Sara De Jesus Oviedo Fierro, demanded that the Vatican provide details on abuse cases and on the counter-measures taken, as had been demanded previously by the UN body.

However, in its responses to the UN Committee's questions, the Holy See attempted to evade responsibility and accountability for the widespread abuse of children and subsequent cover-ups by insisting that the Holy See was "separate and distinct" from the Roman Catholic Church – and that its jurisdiction is only over the territory of the Vatican City State (where only 36 children live).

Bishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's former chief prosecutor of clerical sexual abuse, insisted that it was "not the policy of the Holy See to encourage cover-ups". However, when directly challenged over an example where the Vatican congratulated a Bishop for refusing to inform police about a paedophile priest despite an admission of guilt (raised with the committee in a submission by the NSS), Bishop Scicluna replied: "The Holy See gets it, let's not say too late... There are certainly things that need to be done differently".

When quizzed over the lack of compensation paid to victims of abuse, the Vatican representative insisted that the individual causing the damage was responsible, rather than the Church. One Committee member suggested the Church should consider setting up a compensation scheme to compensate victims of priests employed by the Church, but the Vatican said it would need to take advice on this before responding.

Whilst Vatican officials repeatedly emphasised the need for better training and education of priests, they failed to adequately answer concerns about justice for victims, or offer full disclosure of crimes committed in the past. Bishop Scicluna did, however, concede to the Committee that the Holy See's "nice words" would not mean anything without greater transparency and accountability in its next report to the Committee.

Barbara Blaine, president of SNAP, a group representing US victims of abuse by priests, told BBC News that the hearing had brought "hope to victims across the globe".

But it would also stand, she said, as a "record of how the Church officials refused to answer the questions, how they claim to be open and transparent, and yet they don't live up to that ideal".

Keith Porteous Wood, National Secular Society executive director, praised the UN Committee for holding the Vatican to account for its responsibilities under the Convention to act in the best interests of children.

Mr Wood said: "The Holy See tried hard to give the impression that it had changed its policy on the need to report abusers to civil authorities. Nevertheless, it conspicuously employed an armoury of diversions to evade repeated requests for instructions to be issued by the Vatican for mandatory reporting of credible accusations to civil authorities by the Church worldwide. It also sidestepped requests to release a database of the accusations they require the worldwide church to report to the Vatican.

"The Holy See continually emphasised the importance of pastoral support for victims, but we have never seen evidence anywhere in the world of the support they describe, but much evidence of every possible tactic being employed to frustrate this" he said.

Mr Wood added that he hoped the public examination and resulting media coverage would cause the Vatican to reflect on whether it should be more open and honour its obligations under the Convention.

The Committee was examining a five yearly report – mandatory under the Convention – submitted over ten years late by the Vatican. The eventual filing of that report followed interventions about its non-filing at the plenary sessions of the UN Human Rights Council 2009-2011 by Keith Porteous Wood (under the auspices of the International Humanist and Ethical Union).

Last year, on the basis of an earlier written submission, the National Secular Society was invited, together with a number of organisations representing victims, to be cross-examined during a private session with the Committee in preparation for this public examination.

The Committee will deliver its observations and non-binding recommendations on 5 February.

Read a transcript of the questions from the Committee and the answers of the Holy See's delegation

Government defeated as peers vote to reform Clause 1

News | Thu, 9th Jan 2014

Peers in the House of Lords have voted down a government proposal to hand police new powers to clamp down on "annoying" behaviour.

The vote was welcomed by the Reform Clause 1 campaign group which has received cross-party parliamentary support and includes a coalition of religious, and secular civil liberty campaigners, including The Christian institute, Peter Tatchell Foundation, and the National Secular Society.

Ministers want to replace anti-social behaviour orders in England and Wales with injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance (Ipnas).

Under the Government proposals courts could impose injunctions on anyone engaging, or threatening to engage, in "conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to any person".

Campaigners argue that the law is drafted too broadly and poses a serious threat to free expression.

The Home Office has said the new injunctions would never be imposed in an unreasonable way, but peers voted by a significant majority of 128 votes, in favour of an amendment from crossbench peer Lord Dear to raise the threshold of what can be considered "annoying". Under the amendment, annoying behaviour would need to cause "harassment, alarm or distress" before an injunction could be imposed in anything other than a social housing context.

Stephen Evans, campaigns manager at the National Secular Society, said: "Clause 1 clearly failed to strike a reasonable balance between protecting the public from anti-social behaviour and protecting essential freedoms.

"We congratulate peers for amending this carelessly drafted legislation and hope MPs will now support these amendments when the legislation returns to the House of Commons".

Read the full debate at Hansard

Visit the Reform Clause 1 campaign website

Edinburgh secularists challenge religious privilege in Scotland’s education system

News | Thu, 16th Jan 2014

Edinburgh Secular Society (ESS) has presented its case for the removal of unelected religious representatives on local authority education committees to the Scottish Government's Petitions Committee.

On Tuesday 14 January ESS vice chair Colin Emerson was accompanied by NSS Council member Professor Norman Bonney at the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood. Proceedings can be viewed online.

ESS lodged the Holyrood petition last year, seeking to repeal this iniquitous aspect of local government law whilst pointing to recent Scottish census results, which show nearly half of Scots say they have no religious belief.

Their campaign received an unexpected and welcome boost when John Finnie MSP submitted a Private Member's Bill in the Scottish Parliament also seeking to abolish this outdated privilege. Highlands and Islands MSP Mr Finnie, who quit the Scottish National Party last year after a row over NATO membership post-independence, said his bill would make local government more accountable and transparent to the electorate.

Both the ESS petition and John Finnie's bill have drawn fierce opposition from the churches, anxious to retain historic privileges in an increasingly secular Scotland. This particular privilege dates back to 1872 when responsibility for schools was taken by the state from churches and others, such as private benefactors and philanthropic societies, but as part of this deal the churches were still granted a say in the education system by having right to appoint these representatives.

Defending the privilege, a Church of Scotland spokesperson referred to the Church's centuries-old vision of a school in every parish, which helped in establishing Scotland's universal education system.

Alistair McBay, NSS spokesperson for Scotland, commented: "The reality is that when the churches handed over control of schools to the Government in 1872, it was because the system was in disarray. Much of the school inspection regime was denominational, with more time spent testing orthodoxy than efficiency and achievement, while the schism in the national church produced wasteful duplication of effort in many areas. Free Church and established Kirk schools competed for pupils, while in many burghs there was conflict between church and municipality for control of the burgh school.

"The current position, whereby religious representatives are appointed to all 32 local authority education committees in Scotland, is untenable in a democratic society. These individuals are not elected, but have full voting rights and are merely nominated by their respective religious organisations. They are accountable only to their respective religious organisations and cannot be voted out by the public".

The ESS presentation stated that the reform would enhance local accountability by removing a privilege that is inherently and profoundly undemocratic. During research for the petition, the ESS discovered that despite the Church of Scotland's claim that its representatives were impartial on local authority education committees, its Church and Society Council reported to the General Assembly that it estimated Church Representatives held the balance of power on 19 local authority education committees.

During the petitions hearing, one MSP remarked he was aware in some local authorities that the churches had "exerted undue influence over decisions made in education committees", particularly in the case of joint campus proposals involving Catholic and non-denominational schools. These are experiments to tackle Scotland's sectarian school system but have been the subject of some controversy, with the Scottish Catholic Church demanding that such schools have separate entrances, separate staffrooms and even separate staff or 'denominational' toilets as essential components in preserving the 'ethos' of Catholic schools.

Mr McBay commented: "If this MSP is correct in his assertion, it demonstrates that an active sectarianism is not the sole province of football supporters in Glasgow but practised by the churches themselves in local government committees, and in relation to the education of Scotland's children".

Commenting on the petition, Colin Emerson, ESS Vice-chair said: "To afford a particular section of society a privileged position within the decision making process of local government, based solely on their particular and personal religious beliefs, is profoundly and inherently undemocratic, unfair and discriminatory. It strikes against those specific virtues of justice and integrity underpinning our society and which lie at the heart of the Scottish Parliament".

The next stage of the Petitions process involves consultation with a range of faith groups and local authority oversight groups.

Public Petitions Committee - Scottish Parliament: 14th January 2014

NSS backs call for religious slaughter ban ahead of House of Lords debate

News | Thu, 16th Jan 2014

The National Secular Society has backed renewed calls from the RSPCA and other animal welfare organisations for an end to the religious exemption that allows farm animals to be slaughtered without prior stunning.

The call comes ahead of a House of Lords debate on the ethical, legal and religious factors that influence the way in which some animals are slaughtered in the UK.

Animal welfare legislation requires all animals to be stunned before slaughter in order to minimise suffering. The only exemption is for religious communities to meet Jewish and Muslim religious requirements.

A joint statement issued by the RSPCA, British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the Humane Slaughter Association (HSA) ahead of today's debate has called for all animals to be effectively stunned before they are slaughtered.

Animal welfare organisations are also calling for food derived from animals slaughtered under the legal exemption to be restricted to the specific religious communities according to whose beliefs the animals have been slaughtered.

The RSPCA said that while it recognises that religious beliefs and practices should be respected, it also believes that animals should only be slaughtered under the most humane conditions.

The call echoes the position of the National Secular Society, which has long campaigned for an end to the exemption that allows religious groups to slaughter animals without pre-stunning.

Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns manager, said: "While we support the right to freedom of religious and other belief, the right to manifest belief is not absolute, and we strongly oppose religious exemptions to animal welfare regulations which apply for good reason and without exception to everyone else.

"It is well known that meat from religious slaughter is routinely entering the general food chain. This means that unwitting members of the public are unknowingly subsidising the religious slaughter industry. If the Government wishes to retain religious exemptions, it should at least support mandatory method of slaughter labelling to ensure that consumers can make an informed choice about the food they purchase."

In October 2012 the NSS called on the Government to ensure that all animals are stunned prior to slaughter in its response to a DEFRA consultation on the welfare of animals at the time of killing.

Method of slaughter labelling is currently being considered by the EU Commission and the NSS will be calling for new European rules on this in 2014.

Read the RSPCA press release

Read the NSS briefing on religious slaughter

Church takeover of community school blocked by local authority

News | Mon, 23rd Dec 2013

Plans to convert a Suffolk community school to a Church of England voluntary aided school have been blocked by Suffolk County Council after a consultation process failed to demonstrate sufficient demand for a school with a religious character.

Suffolk County Council had intended to close Dell Primary community school on 31 December 2013 and reopen it as a new Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School on 1 January 2014.

However, just 12 days before the planned closure, Suffolk County Council withdrew its support and announced it had decided to refuse the proposal.

The move follows an intervention from the National Secular Society, which, in a formal submission to the council, argued that rather than increasing the denominational provision in the area, there was a need for the local authority to maintain existing community school provision.

The NSS submission also argued that the consultation process had failed to properly inform parents of a number of significant implications of converting the status of the school – in clear contravention of official guidance on school closures.

Suffolk launched a consultation in June in order to facilitate the school's governors wish to change the status of the school. The school governor at Dell Primary, appointed by the local authority, is also the local vicar, and the consultation process was organised by the Diocese of Norwich Board of Education.

In its rationale for wishing to convert the school, the Diocese said creating a school with a religious character would "enhance pupils' awareness and understanding of contemporary issues of faith, creed, culture and religion, and associate attitudes to tolerance, respect and commonly-shared values."

Stephen Evans, campaigns manager at the National Secular Society, welcomed the decision to block the plans. He said: "This self-serving proposal appeared to be motivated by the Church's desire to influence and inculcate children, rather than meeting the needs of local pupils, parents or the wider community.

"The overwhelmingly majority of parents don't want religious schools, they simply want good local schools with high academic standards. Where faith schools are proposed it is vital that the local community is properly informed about the implications, particularly the key aspects of ethos, admissions and employment. In this case the local authority failed to ensure this."

A spokesman for Suffolk County Council said: "Whilst there is no objection in principle to the school changing status from community to voluntary aided, in this case the demand from the community for voluntary aided schools places has not been demonstrated. Therefore the decision is to refuse the proposed conversion at this time.

"Should the governors and diocese wish to bring forward proposals again after showing there is demand for voluntary aided school places in the community, we will of course consider the proposal again."

5.3 billion suffer restrictions on religious freedom around the world

News | Thu, 16th Jan 2014

As national religious freedom day is celebrated in the United States, a report by the Pew Research Center reveals violence and discrimination against religious groups by rival faiths and governments have reached a six-year high worldwide. In its report on religious restrictions around the world, the Pew Research Center shows that, in 2012, 5.3 billion people (74% of the world's population) experienced high levels of restrictions on their religious freedom (this compared to 52% in 2011).

Whilst the greatest levels of social hostilities toward religion were felt in Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan, and Somalia, an increase in hostilities in China was what was understood to have caused such a sharp increase overall for 2012, where the level of religious strife was categorised a "high" for the first time in the survey's six-year history. In 2012, China experienced an increase in sectarian conflict, religion-related terrorism and mob violence.

The research takes social hostilities to include armed conflict, terrorism, sectarian violence, harassment, intimidation or abuse motivated by religious factors.

The study reveals that abuse targeting religious minorities occurs in nearly half of the world's countries, and that that in 39% of countries there was an increase in violence, or the threat of violence, used to compel people to adhere to religious norms. This compares to 33% in 2011 and 18% in 2007.

Intensified violence in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka against Muslims and Christians and in Muslim-majority Egypt against Coptic Orthodox Christians was noted by the report, as was terrorist-related violence such as the March 2012 shooting at a Jewish school in France, by an Islamic extremist.

Some of the greatest increases in hostilities against those of religious belief were seen Afghanistan, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Mexico, Syria and Tunisia. In only seven countries, was a significant improvement seen, those included Cambodia, Cyprus and Ethiopia.

The study shows that harassment against Christians occurred in 110 countries, against Muslims in 109 and against Jews in 71. The harassment of Hindus, Buddhists, and members of other smaller religious groups (which includes atheists) also increased. Whilst Sikhs and Baha'is experienced government restrictions more than social harassment, the opposite was the case for Jewish people.

Whilst showing a rise in socially restrictive forces on religious freedom, the study finds that governmental restrictions on religion remained relatively unchanged between 2011 and 2012. 64% of the world's population lives under severe legal and political conditions when it comes to religious freedom; these include limitations on preaching, banning conversions, or privileging some or one religious group over others. In nearly half of the world's countries, states were shown to have used force against religious groups. Those countries imposing the strictest government restrictions, included Afghanistan, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.

The regions of the Middle East and North Africa continue to have the highest median level of government restrictions. Nine out of ten of the most restrictive countries for religious freedom in terms of state policy were Muslim-majority states.

This report comes a month after the publication of the International Humanist and Ethical Union's 2013 Freedom of Thought report, which revealed that the non-religious also suffer severe discrimination and restrictions on freedom because of their beliefs. It found that non-believers are discriminated against, or outright persecuted, in most countries of the world. It noted 12 states in the world in which a person can face the death penalty for being an atheist, and 39 in which the law mandates a prison sentence for blasphemy, including six western countries.

Campaigners hope UN will help end university gender segregation

News | Wed, 15th Jan 2014

The United Nations rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Farida Shaeed, has been approached by students and women's groups to investigate the issue of gender segregation at British Universities.

In an open letter, campaigners called for the British Government to ban segregation of all kinds – and hoped that the UN might be able to press it on the matter. The Prime Minister has already said that the practice of making men and women sit separately at public events in universities is totally unacceptable.

The letter was published on the London School of Economics' student union website this week and has been signed by an array of individuals representing students, women's rights groups and ex-Muslims.

Chris Moos, the secretary of LSE's Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society, who was recently involved in the Jesus and Mo t-shirt debacle, also signed the letter. He told The Independent: "We hope that the UN will air their concern about the on-going issue of gender discrimination in public institutions in the UK, and advise the UK government on how to ensure full compliance with the existing human rights legislation that outlaws discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics like gender".

Pragna Patel, the director of Southall Black Sisters, told the paper: "Gender segregation, if allowed to gather momentum in higher education, will have enormous, disproportionate impact on black minority women. We see a direct link between the work we do and supporting students who are leading this struggle".

Universities UK and the Federation of Islamic Students Societies were both targets in the open letter.

The debate has been raging for some time and has been inflamed by incidents such as the one involving NSS honorary associate Professor Laurence Krauss, who threatened to leave a meeting at University College London where segregation was being enforced.

A march has also been planned which will take place on 8 March this year.

Suspect fundraising methods of evangelical church under spotlight again

News | Mon, 13th Jan 2014

The head of the UK fundraising watchdog has demanded a meeting with the British leaders of a Brazil-based evangelical church after an investigation uncovered complaints about its fundraising activities dating back to 2009.

According to an investigation by The Times newspaper, the Fundraising Standards Board is investigating complaints that the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), conducted street collections in London without a licence.

There have also been "dozens of complaints" to the Charity Commission that UCKG doesn't always make clear when asking for money that it is a church – and has even sometimes used the logos of other charities. There was also a failure to explain what they intended to do with the money.

According to the article, members of the UCKG went house-to-house raising funds at Christmas claiming it was to "keep the church doors open". But accounts filed last month showed that the church has £2.7 million in the bank. Globally it is worth hundreds of millions of pounds – one of the wealthiest evangelical churches in the world.

The Times says the British arm of UCKG has sent hundreds of thousands of pounds to Brazil to help to build an "exact replica" of the biblical temple of Solomon at a cost of £130 million.

The church's founder, Edir Macedo, was cleared of fraud and corruption charges and is thought to be one of Latin America's richest men.

The Times reports that over Christmas fundraisers were found inside branches of Marks & Spencer and Tesco collecting donations or packing bags for money, although both supermarket chains said that the activities contravened their rules.

Tesco issued a statement saying: "We have a long history of working with local charities to fundraise in our stores. In this case, the community voiced strong concerns about the UCKG, so we have removed them from our list of approved groups".

The Times writes: "UCKG was set up by the self-appointed "Bishop" Macedo in 1977 and has expanded rapidly across Europe, Africa and North America. Critics have accused it of preying on the vulnerable by encouraging members living in poverty to donate what little they have and then using the cash to invest in property. The Church insists that it offers solace to the poor and puts forward its outreach work as an example of the good it does".

A previous Times investigation in 2010 highlighted the UCKG's activities in Britain and found that it was encouraging its members into debt in order to donate to the Church.

In 2010, the Church benefited from more than £8 million in taxpayer subsidy through the Gift Aid scheme.

The UCKG confirmed to the paper that it holds an annual fundraising drive in December and said that its members were carefully trained to observe UK laws before going out fundraising.

It said that it obtained permits to raise money, that bag packing was done by agreement with shop managers and that funds were needed to improve its Finsbury Park venue, but declined to comment on reserves held.

Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said: "We have seen numerous exposés of this church and its dubious financial activities but the Charity Commission seems reluctant to act, despite all the complaints. It is time that UCKG was made to demonstrate and prove it has public benefit. Otherwise how can taxpayers be sure that their contribution of millions of pounds through Gift Aid is to a bona fide charity and not to a scam? Let us hope that the Fundraising Standards Board has a more robust approach – although it has no teeth and as a self-regulating body few sanctions that would worry the UCKG".

The God question: A tale of two adverts

Opinion | Tue, 7th Jan 2014

Alistair McBay examines the PR campaign behind an educational resource that seeks to bring creationism and intelligent design into the science classrooms of Scotland.

Further to my two previous blogs on the God Question which you can read here and here, I have now received the DVD and the study guides.

I have started to examine these in depth, but here for the moment is a very quick review of some of the advertising for this resource, which as you will remember claims to be an objective and balanced look at 'the evidence' such that the reviewer is left to draw their own conclusions as to whether science eradicates the need for a God (in this case the Christian God), or whether the hand of God or a 'designer/creator' can be detected in addition to, or behind, the science.

At the general product launch I attended in Glasgow, the promotional advertisement carried two questions:

"Are we the product of chance or intention? Where does the evidence lead?"

However, I recently attended a conference on education, entitled "Out of the Silent Church" put on by the Solas Centre for Public Christianity, the programme for which also carried a similar A5 advertisement for the God Question. One of the quotes on the Leader's Manual comes from the Reverend David Robertson, a founder of the Solas Centre and a minister of the Free Church of Scotland. The Reverend Robertson proclaims "The God Question is a fantastic resource to enable Christians to answer the questions that people are asking". The basic premise is the same on each advert, that here is "a vitally important new DVD series in which theists and atheists clash on the biggest issue of all". However, the advert in the Solas Centre conference programme carries the header "Out of the Silent Church by exploring the God Question" and has these words in place of the two questions above:

"An apologetics resource and an evangelistic opportunity for the church"

"Curriculum resources for schools"

"An educational experience for all"

Now the advertising and PR types among you may be inclined to put that difference in emphasis down to targeted messages according to the appropriate audience segment. I am inclined to interpret these latter statements as a more accurate description of what the God Question really is, namely a Trojan Horse for creationism and intelligent design in the science classroom, as the Catholic Church in Scotland has already shown itself to be undertaking. I am also not inclined to believe that the Free Church of Scotland, which states on its website that it "accepts the Bible in its entirety as the Word of God" would endorse any package that undermined in any way such an unstinting belief in a creator God. Can anyone really believe that a self-proclaimed "apologetics resource" and "evangelical opportunity for the church" is going to be balanced and objective?

Turning to the study guides, a quick scan of the Leader's Manual carries some other interesting statements. It claims that very attempt is made in the package "to be scrupulously open, honest and free of propaganda" and that "Belief should be founded on evidence and truth, as far as it can be ascertained". That will come as a surprise to those who thought religious belief was founded on non-evidenced faith in the veracity of ancient texts and supernatural phenomena. Another statement leads on from this to claim that viewers are being invited "to see that the crucial issue is not science versus religion, but how scientific evidence is interpreted".

So there it is in a nutshell – according to the God Question, scientific evidence is open to interpretation either in favour of there being a creator or designer, or not. In relation to science and God, a plea is made to leaders to remind the learning groups that science is not '"the royal road to truth" and goes on to state: "This is a crucially important factor to recognise especially when, in debates about the existence of God, science might be presented as the only way to establish reliable information. There are many questions which science is unable to answer. Other forms of evidence are also important."

Other forms of evidence? And where is the balancing statement to the effect there are so many questions that religious belief has been unable to answer, yet science has? At one point, the Leader's Manual has as an aim: "To reflect on what the science of genetics, together with the fossil record, contribute to an understanding of Darwin's theory (of evolution) but also to consider how it might provide evidence for God". Another aim in the same section is "to consider the view that there is direct evidence of Intelligent Design".

Alarm bells should be ringing very loudly indeed by this point!

It is also interesting to see the series claim that it is "testing the thesis that belief in a creator is intellectually weak and scientifically naïve".

So this in summary is what we are being asked to believe. The God Question is:

  • a school resource that places alternative interpretations on scientific evidence as for or against a creator / intelligent designer;
  • devised, produced, marketed and distributed by Christian evangelists;
  • lauded by the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Catholic Church;
  • already propelled by the Scottish Catholic Church into science classes in its 'faith' schools;
  • promoted as 'an apologetics resource and an evangelistic opportunity for the church'
  • and so (and here's the fascinating bit) will ultimately lead school children to the objective conclusion that believers in a creator or designer are indeed "intellectually weak and scientifically naïve".

Colour me sceptical!

Alistair McBay is the NSS spokesperson in Scotland. The views expressed in our blogs are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the NSS.

NSS Speaks Out

We were quoted worldwide on the Holy See's public examination at the UN after our comments were picked up by the AFP news agency. Terry Sanderson also discussed religion and politics on LBC, and religion in the workplace on national and local BBC radio after Marks & Spencer accommodated a Muslim workers request not to sell alcohol and pork. Campaigns manager Stephen Evans discussed free speech and the need to reform Clause 1 on a number of local BBC radio stations.

Join us for the Secularist of the Year awards!

We'll be announcing the shortlist of nominees for Secularist of the Year soon and we hope you'll be able to join us for the presentation on Saturday 29 March when the winner receives the £5000 Irwin prize. This year it will be presented by Kerry McCarthy MP, Shadow Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

You can buy your tickets (£45) securely online here or send a cheque to SoY booking, NSS, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL.