Newsline 2 October 2015

Newsline 2 October 2015

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Academy closure will force children into faith schools

News | Fri, 2nd Oct 2015

Parents on the Isle of Wight face being forced to accept places at religious schools for their children after plans were announced to close the only non-denominational primary school in the area.

The National Secular Society has joined local parents in calling on Education Secretary Nicky Morgan to reverse a decision to close Weston Primary Academy, arguing that denying parents the choice of a secular school undermines pupils' religious freedom and parental rights to have their philosophical beliefs respected during their children's education.

Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) has written to parents and carers with children at Weston Primary in West Wight to inform them "with great sadness" that decreasing pupil numbers means the school has a small annual budget making it difficult to provide a quality education. It says that it plans to close the school at the end of the Autumn term.

In 2012 the school was saved from closure by opting out of local authority control and gaining academy status. The school has since been put into special measures by Ofsted.

The closure will leave parents with no option other than to home-school or send their children to one of two Church of England schools or a Catholic school. The nearest non-religiously designated school – 12 miles away – is already at full capacity.

AET's decision to close the school has been agreed in principle by Secretary of State for education, Nicky Morgan.

The Department for Education has confirmed to the NSS that, unlike the closure of maintained schools, there is no statutory guidance regarding the closure of academies and there is no requirement to consult.

Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns manager, said: "Closing down a non-religiously designated school and leaving parents with no option other than a faith school is completely unacceptable. To do so without consulting key stakeholders shows complete contempt for the affected families and reveals a disturbing democratic deficit in the academies system.

"Faith schools are so often justified using the mantra of choice, but here, like in so many other areas, we see non-Christian parents and pupils being denied choice and instead being forced into faith-based schools.

"Closing Weston Academy without guaranteeing parents alternative secular provision shows a worrying disregard for parental rights and young people's religious freedom. We very much hope the Secretary of State will rethink her decision to allow this school to close."

George Metcalf, a parent of two children at Weston Academy, told the NSS: "The lack of public accountability in the process is flabbergasting. I am stunned by lack of guidance for the closure of Academies. This is the only non-denominational school in the area and if this school closes, our only other options are faith schools. Being a family of no fixed faith, and believing our children should decide themselves their own spiritual or belief path, we will have no option other than take on the task of home education. It seems to me that if you have a recognised faith you can't be discriminated against, but if you don't identify with a particular religion there is little support."

"Our view about non-denominational schools is also shared by a large amount of parents who are religious, but want their children to decide", he added.

Hollie Griffiths, a parent of two children at Weston Academy said: "I believe the children would be negatively impacted by moving to a faith school. If I ask them to be excluded from religious activities, it would isolate them and that's not an acceptable solution for us."

Danny Hadland, another parent, said: "We are gutted that the only non-faith school on this side of the island is closing. We feel left with no choice in the matter of sending our child to a faith school. This is a great school: the staff and teachers are so lovely. Our daughter has speech therapy and is very shy; since she has been going to Weston Academy she has started to come out of her shell and her speech is improving. Now the school is closing. What is this going to do to her learning? We do not want her to be forced to attend a faith school."

Although there is no consultation parents and other interested parties have until 7 October to submit their views on the intended closure. Views can be submitted to: academy.questions@education.gsi.gov.uk.

Parents have also launched a petition calling on the Secretary of State to keep Weston Primary open.

NSS welcomes Warwick Student Union’s decision to allow Maryam Namazie to speak

News | Mon, 28th Sep 2015

The National Secular Society has welcomed Warwick Student Union's decision to host secular campaigner Maryam Namazie. The Union reversed their ban on her speaking following huge public pressure.

Ms Namazie had been blocked from speaking at a Warwick Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society event after the Student Union said the ex-Muslim campaigner could 'insult' religion. The SU were also concerned that Namazie, an NSS honorary associate who campaigns for human rights and equality, could 'incite hatred'.

Informing Ms Namazie of their initial decision to block her, the SU wrote: "There a number of articles written both by the speaker and by others about the speaker that indicate that she is highly inflammatory, and could incite hatred on campus. This is in contravention of our external speaker policy".

The National Secular Society reported the story immediately and publicly called on the Union to reverse its decision. After receiving extensive criticism in the national press and on social media, the Student Union finally relented.

In a frank apology on their website, the SU admitted they had "failed, and failed badly in this case" and promised to "act immediately to examine how that happened, and to it put it right".

NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood commented: "We welcome the Student Union's change of heart and hope their 'continued commitment to free speech' is reflected in actions as well as words. Freedom of expression is under growing threat, particularly when it involves discussions surrounding Islam. Every act of appeasement to those intent on closing down debate encourages self-censorship and depletes this freedom further.

"Freedom of expression is not only a pre-requisite for resolving challenging problems but for the functioning of democracy itself.

"The Student Union's decision has saved it and the University from an escalation of this unfortunate situation and potentially even a legal challenge further down the line.

"While this case has ended in the right outcome, we still have grave concerns about an external speaker policy which says guests on campus must 'avoid insulting other faiths'. This is extremely broad and open to a wide variety of interpretations, and therefore extremely restrictive to freedom of speech.

"Universities have a legal duty to defend freedom of expression and in our view certain Student Union policies may be working in direct conflict with that duty. This is an issue we hope to discuss with the NUS in the coming weeks."

Warwick Student Union have now done the right thing – but universities themselves must step up to defend free speech

Opinion | Mon, 28th Sep 2015

After taking relentless criticism on Twitter and Facebook, Warwick Student Union has reversed its decision to block Maryam Namazie from speaking on campus. Though the right decision has been made in the end, universities themselves must step up to defend free speech from puritanical student unions.

Contrite Student Union officials at Warwick have offered what looks like a heartfelt apology to secularist campaigner Maryam Namazie, after a weekend in which the Union and university were robustly criticised on Twitter, Facebook and in the national media for the Union's decision to block a talk featuring Namazie in October.

The Union have said that their own internal process for vetting speakers was not properly followed and that the decision to decline the request to host her by Warwick Atheists, Humanists and Secularists Society was only preliminary.

Whatever the exact truth of it, the right result has come about; the Student Union seems genuinely to have learnt its lesson and with any luck officious Student Union busybodies in other institutions will at least think twice before blocking other speakers.

From now on, no decision by a Student Union or university to restrict freedom of speech on campus should be thought of as a 'free hit'. Each will exact a cost in public condemnation and media pressure, and each will inflict considerable reputational damage. Hopefully this will at least temper the impulse to censor.

It should be politically excruciating for Student Unions to enforce restrictions on free speech in the form of de facto blasphemy laws, and public pressure has immense power to force institutions to do the right thing, even if it is for the wrong reasons. Through this we might hope to ultimately change the pervasive culture of intellectually 'safe' (read empty) spaces and approved thought, imported from the United States, which President Obama helpfully denounced – in an intervention which might hopefully give some cover to students critical of the current, stifling orthodoxy.

We cannot rely on public outrage alone to defend free speech. Nor can we count on a 'Twitter storm' materialising at the right time with the requisite intensity, armed with the correct facts, every time that a university or union makes a censorious decision (such things happen so often – we are only weeks into the new term).

The law places a duty on universities to defend free speech, and beyond individual victories like the Warwick U-turn, something tangible needs to change. The pro-free speech side are scoring tactical victories, while in full-fledged strategic retreat.

Warwick Student Union has capitulated over one speaker, and over one event, but their policy documents remain unaltered. Significantly, their statement blames an abuse of process, rather than questioning their policy itself. There is seemingly no acknowledgement that a policy which states that external speakers must "avoid insulting other faiths" is unacceptable.

This blasphemy law with a friendly face appears in the policy documents of others institutions, all aimed at promoting "community cohesion" or some other noble end, and the free speech rankings consequently make for grim reading. In a traffic light system rating universities on their free speech credentials, there are more universities rated amber than green, and more rated red than amber.

Just 23 universities are ranked green, less than half the number considered to have "banned and actively censored ideas on campus."

We cannot even bank the 'green' universities as safe; restrictions on their students' free speech, particularly regarding criticism of religion, are an encroaching danger. This is the climate in which the Warwick episode occurred.

Universities need to step-up and insist that their affiliated Student Unions, which they fund, obey the law and fulfil their legal, moral and scholarly duty to defend – and actively promote – freedom of expression on campus.

The Education (No. 2) Act 1986 is very clear. Universities must "take such steps as are reasonably practicable to ensure that freedom of speech within the law is secured for members, students and employees of the establishment and for visiting speakers." Universities UK describe this as a "positive and proactive legal duty".

Given the current climate, and repeated attacks on freedom of expression which form a pattern of behaviour on the part of Student Unions, I think the time has long since come for universities to take steps – as required by law – to ensure free expression is actually secured.

Higher education currently faces a perfect storm of identity politics, misused 'safe space' policies, and the commercialisation of higher education with a 'customer is always right' attitude, to say nothing of the increasingly bold and outrageous attempts to enforce blasphemy laws around the world.

The institutions where so many of these battles play out cannot remain neutral or actively unhelpful any longer: we are now in the farcical situation where universities must be more radical and progressive in defending students' freedoms than Student Unions.

Holyrood ‘religious freedom’ group backed by organisation which 'heals the wounds of atheism’

News | Thu, 1st Oct 2015

Plans to set up a "religious pressure group" featuring creationist MSPs in the Scottish Parliament have come under fire from non-believers and minority faith groups.

It was reported in the Herald that the "new religious pressure group" was being backed by Aid to the Church in Need, which provides "active charity to heal the wounds inflicted by atheism".

The organisation will reportedly provide administrative support to the parliamentary group.

The Cross-Party Group on Religious Freedom is ostensibly planned to promote religious freedom, but its backers have caused serious concern from a range of critics, as they include three MSPs who supported a parliamentary motion in January which asserted that science could not prove or disprove creationism, and that therefore "children in Scotland's schools should be aware of all of these different belief systems", including creationist thought.

NSS Vive-President and spokesperson for Scotland Alistair McBay commented: "Scotland and David Hume were at the forefront of an Enlightenment that saw a retreat from superstition and non-evidenced belief.

"It is worrying to see some of Scotland's politicians embracing religious fundamentalism and once again fostering division, intolerance and scientific ignorance. Hume must be spinning in his grave."

The proposed grouping has come under fire from Green MSP Patrick Harvie, who said that religious freedom can "only be meaningful when it applies equally to all religions, as well as to the very large proportion of society who are not religious but who often suffer discrimination for that reason.

The National Secular Society welcomed his comments and he added that "religious freedom must include freedom from religion, not only freedom of religion."

NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans said that the NSS was "particularly concerned by the nature of the organisations backing the Cross-Party Group.

"The idea that non-religious people will be fully welcome in such a body, given its primary supporters, seems suspect to say the least.

"The non-religious face global persecution; any serious discussion of religious freedom must consider that fact and we doubt that this group would be capable of doing so objectively."

New US free expression campaign website launched for International Blasphemy Rights Day

News | Wed, 30th Sep 2015

The US-based Centre for Inquiry (CFI) has launched a new website for their campaign to promote and defend free expression, in time to celebrate International Blasphemy Rights Day.

In a statement the Campaign for Free Expression, an initiative of the CFI, explained the rationale for Blasphemy Day, founded in 2009: "International Blasphemy Rights Day is observed every September 30 to commemorate the publishing of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons, which angered religious believers around the world, many of whom expressed their disapproval with violent protests, riots, and in some cases, murder.

"While many perceive 'blasphemy' as offensive, this event is not intended to ridicule and insult others. Rather, it was created as a reaction against those who would seek to take away the right to satirize and criticize a particular set of beliefs given a privileged status over other beliefs."

The campaign group added that observing Blasphemy Day "is a way of showing opposition to any resolutions or laws, binding or otherwise, which discourage or inhibit freedom of speech of any kind."

They add that "Freedom of expression, including the right to criticize any belief, religious, political, or otherwise, is the only way in which any nation with any modicum of freedom can exist.

"If you support free speech, and the rights of those who disagree with religious views to voice their opinions peacefully, join the cause and support International Blasphemy Rights Day!"

The new website has case files on people "persecuted for their dissent" and includes educational materials and other resources.

In an introduction to the new campaign website, Michael De Dora, director of the Centre for Inquiry's Office of Public Policy, said responses to and suppression of free expression have "reverberations far beyond any one country's borders".

He called for international action and attention to defend freedom of speech. "There remains a global crackdown on freedom of expression, blasphemy laws exist in more than 50 countries, and often times, in countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, these laws are still viciously enforced."

But there were some reasons for optimism, he said, because "free expression and the right to criticize and satirize religion, cultural traditions, and governments is now a topic of mainstream debate and discussion."

NSS Speaks Out

In the past week the National Secular Society has been widely quoted in the media on a range of issues. Our campaigns manager Stephen Evans was quoted in the Independent, the International Business Times, Breitbart and by the Christian Institute on Warwick Student Union's (now reversed) decision to bar Marymam Namazie from speaking on campus. Our executive director Keith Porteous Wood was also quoted in the International Business Times on Warwick's external speaker policy.

Our joint free speech campaign with the Christian Institute has been noted in the Church Times and the Institute mentioned the NSS in their reports.

NSS president Terry Sanderson contributed to a radio programme on faith and the British military for BFBS Radio which was broadcast on Sunday 27th September.

Communications officer Ben Jones spoke on LBC about a public crematorium which removed a cross to make the space religiously neutral, and campaigns officer Alastair Lichten spoke on BBC Radio Solent about whether Christmas was now a de facto secular celebration.