Newsline 24 February 2017

This week we announced the names of the six nominees on our shortlist for Secularist of the Year 2017! Tickets are just £40 for our members, and the price includes a drink on arrival and a three course meal.

The event is your chance to meet like-minded secularists, our six wonderful nominees and some of our honorary associates.

We will be celebrating the achievements of secularists from around the world in a diverse range of campaigns. Come along and celebrate their successes with us!

Don't forget, if you aren't a member already, to sign up today!

News, Blogs & Opinion

	Shortlist for Secularist of the Year prize announced News \| Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 The National Secular Society has announced the names of six candidates on the shortlist for the Irwin Prize for Secularist of the Year. The award, which comes with a £5000 prize, kindly donated by Dr Michael Irwin, recognises a campaigner or group for an outstanding contribution to the secularist movement. Following nominations from our members and supports, the elected council of management of the National Secular Society selects a shortlist, with the winner due to be announced at the event on 18 March. The six nominees on the shortlist for Secularist of the Year 2017 are: Professor Steven Kettell, for co-ordinating a secular response to the Commission on Religion and Belief. His work helped rebut calls for more religious privilege, and set out the urgent case for a new secular constitutional settlement in the UK. Professor Kettell said it was "a great surprise and a genuine honour to be shortlisted for the Secularist of the Year Award." He said his own research had convinced him that "secularism is the best means of ensuring equal rights and freedoms for all citizens, regardless of their religion or belief." Professor Ted Cantle CBE has been nominated for his advocacy of integrated education and social cohesion. He has been particularly vocal in his opposition to the Government's plan to allow a new wave of faith schools free to discriminate in 100% of their admissions. He said it was "crucial that we support the secular principle of the separation of governance from religious doctrine." Asma Jahangir, the former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion,for her principled advocacy of universal human rights and her commitment to secular justice. She spent much of her career defending women's rights, the rights of children and the rights of minorities in Pakistan. Asma has campaigned against Pakistan's deadly blasphemy law and has been a vocal proponent of human rights in her home country. Houzan Mahmoud and the Kurdish Culture project, for their initiative to provide a platform for Kurdish writers, feminists, artists and activists to advance gender equality, freedom and universal rights. Houzan said, "For the work in activism that I have done for nearly two decades against Islamism and Sharia Law in Kurdistan, Iraq, the UK and beyond, to be recognised by the NSS is one of the greatest honours I could be conferred." Scott Moore and Let Pupils Choose, a Northern Ireland Humanists campaign,for challenging compulsory worship and religious privilege in Northern Ireland's schools. Scott said "The Let Pupils Choose campaign wants to let over 16s/post-GCSE pupils opt out of collective worship without parental permission. Children of all ages are guaranteed religious freedom under UK, European and international human and children's rights laws." He said he was "very grateful to the NSS for recognising the work I and others have been doing." Yasmin Rehman, for her advocacy of a secularist approach to tackling hate crime and promoting the human rights of women. She said, "I am incredibly honoured and humbled to be included in the list of nominees for this award particularly given the work being done across the world by so many brave and courageous people fighting against the hatred and violence being perpetrated by the religious Right of many faiths." Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said "all of these shortlisted nominees have made worthy and commendable contributions to the secularist cause in the last year and we congratulate all of them on their work and achievements. "Join me and the rest of the National Secular Society on Saturday 18 March where we will name the winner and celebrate their success. All are welcome, and our members benefit from a discount ticket price." The prize will be presented by the journalist and activist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.
	Abolish Bishops’ Bench to reduce the size of the House of Lords News \| Tue, 21st Feb 2017 The National Secular Society has recommended the removal of the Bishops' Bench to a parliamentary inquiry into how to reduce the size of the bloated House of Lords. In a written submission to the Lord Speaker's committee on the size of the House of Lords, Stephen Evans, the campaigns director of the National Secular Society, said: "There is no reasonable justification for allowing Church of England bishops to act as ex-officio legislators. The Bench of Bishops is an anomaly in a modern, liberal democracy and if a need to reduce the size of the chamber has been identified the Bishops' Bench is an obvious place to start." To cut the number of peers to a more manageable size the NSS urged the committee to "consider entirely removing the Bishops' Bench and ending the arrangement whereby religious representatives are given seats as of right." Not only would this make the upper house less crowded, but it would make a "more equitable and democratic chamber", the Society said. The Society said that it was wrong for any religion to have a privileged position in the upper chamber, and that it was long since time for the anachronism of the Bishops' Bench to be removed. Currently two archbishops and 24 bishops are given seats in the upper house and are able to vote on legislation. Their position grants them other privileges, and they are given deferential treatment by other members. Other peers defer to a bishop wishing to intervene, and they are able to speak unconstrained by party quotes – both points the NSS raised with the Lord Speaker's committee. The current settlement is "both divisive and unrepresentative", and on some issues the bishops do not even represent the views of their own laity, the Society said, citing marriage equality as an example. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has called the current Bench of Bishops the most "orthodox" since WWII. It was "indefensible" to maintain the status quo, the Society's submission said, and polling from 2012 and 2010 found a majority of the public, including 70% of Christians, believe it is wrong for the bishops to be given seats automatically. In its submission the Society again stressed its opposition to replacing or supplementing bishops with leaders from other faiths. "Any proposals to extend religious representation in the Lords to other religions, such as made by the Woolf Commission in 2016, must be resisted. Such a move would be both unworkable and unpopular and run the risk of creating sectarian tensions. "It would further erode the franchise of the increasing numbers of non-religious people, and indeed of the many liberal religious people," the Society argued. The Electoral Reform Society has also criticised the current role of the Church of England in the House of Lords. They said that "The place of the Lords Spiritual is anachronistic. "Iran is the only other legislature in the world which gives unelected clerics automatic representation in its legislature." The ERS also rejected suggestions of adding more religious representatives from different faiths to represent minorities: "The automatic inclusion of representatives of other faiths is an unacceptable solution due to the difficulty of deciding which faiths and denominations within faiths to include, how to include non-religious organisations, and the constantly changing demographics of the UK." The Lord Speaker's committee is charged with exploring "methods by which the size of the House of Lords can be reduced, commensurate with its current role and functions." The House of Lords currently has over 850 members, making it the second-largest legislative body in the world.
	Hackney launches consultation on unregistered schools News \| Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 Hackney has launched a consultation into the safety of pupils and the quality of education in unregistered schools following scrutiny from the NSS and critical media reports. The consultation came after pressure from the National Secular Society to clarify just how many unregistered, illegal faith schools were thought by the local authority to be operating in Hackney. The authority now says it wants help to "gain a better understanding of whether the Council is doing all it can to ensure the quality of education, the safety and the safeguarding of children in unregistered settings in Hackney." It cited "a number of articles in the national media, in the spring and summer of 2016, that questioned the safety, safeguarding and the quality of education provided in allegedly unregistered educational settings". These 'schools' have been a long-running concern of the National Secular Society. In response to a freedom of information request from the NSS in October 2016, the London Borough of Hackney said that it had received five reports of unregistered schools operating in the borough in the last three years leading up to October. Three investigations had been launched into possible unregistered schools, and the authority had made five referrals to Ofsted or the Department for Education over the three year period. One unregistered school had been closed down in that time. However, in November media reports surfaced quoting Andrew Lee, the Assistant Director of Education Services of the Hackney Learning Trust saying that there were "possibly 35" unregistered ultra-Orthodox schools alone in Hackney – meaning that there were more illegal faith schools in operation than legal ones. Lee described these suspected sites as "establishments where our officers have passed by on a number of occasions at various times during the day and have seen a significant number of young people entering and leaving." He did add that "Perhaps 13 of those settings may be linked to some of the 33 registered settings, which would bring the number down somewhat." However, that would still be significantly more than the schools Hackney identified in response to the National Secular Society's freedom of information request. After the comments came to light, the Society asked the local authority to explain the "massive disparity" between the figures. They said that Lee's figure of up to 35 unregistered schools referred to institutions which the Council had known about for longer than the three year period of the FOI request – and that "all were referred to Ofsted at the point they were believed to be operating." The Society's FOI request also established that no unregistered school in the three years leading up to October 2016 had registered after being identified, casting doubt on the likelihood getting large numbers of illegal schools across the country to register and subject themselves to proper regulation. Vast numbers of children are 'missing' from education registers in Hackney. During the 2014-15 academic year 30,000 pupils across England and Wales went missing from schools for "substantial" periods of time, according to BBC research. Stephen Evans, campaigns director of the National Secular Society, welcomed Hackney's consultation. "For too long a blind eye has been turned to unregistered and illegal schools which has enabled insular religious communities to deprive children of their fundamental rights. This approach has also left countless children exposed to harm, exploitation, or the influence of extremist ideologies. Instead of pandering to religious communities, state agencies need to be clear that religious freedom does not give adults carte blanche to hinder the rights of others."
	High Court rules against sharia-only divorce claim News \| Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 The Family Division of the High Court has ruled against a man who claimed his marriage could only be dissolved under sharia, and that his wife must travel to Pakistan for a divorce. After the woman petitioned for a divorce in England, her husband argued that a sharia marriage could not be dissolved by a UK court, Asian Image reported. The unidentified man claimed that because the marriage was conducted under sharia, his wife, who has both British and Pakistani nationality, had to travel to Pakistan to pursue the divorce. But Mr Justice Francis rejected his arguments and said that it would have "far-reaching consequences" to accept the husband's line of argument, including "racial and gender discrimination". "It would be racial discrimination because what is said is that because the wife has dual nationality, both British and Pakistani, that as a national of Pakistan she should be treated differently from a British citizen who is not a national of Pakistan." The judge added that it was "clear" that "the rights granted to men in Pakistan to secure divorces pursuant to the laws of that country are different from the rights granted to women and that it is more onerous for a woman to secure a divorce in Pakistan than it is for a man." If he accepted the man's claims, Mr Justice Francis said it would mean the woman would be "subjected to different rules of English law than people of other faiths or other nationalities living here." He concluded that she had every right to pursue a divorce in England. "So far as the husband is concerned, he says that he was married pursuant to Sharia law, that is a religious contract, and he contends that only Pakistan has the jurisdiction to hear this divorce. "He does not want to get divorced and does not intend to get divorced. "The consequence, therefore, of his proposition is that the wife, who works and lives in England and pays her taxes in England and is habitually resident here, and domiciled here, at least for tax purposes, should have to travel to Pakistan to secure a divorce." The National Secular Society has welcomed the ruling. NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans commented, "The alternative would mean a British citizen being subjected to sharia law abroad just to seek a divorce. We are pleased the judge has protected her rights and taken a stand against the imposition of sharia law via this backdoor."
	Washington Supreme Court: Religious beliefs no excuse for a business to discriminate News \| Fri, 24th Feb 2017 The Supreme Court of the state of Washington has unanimously ruled that a florist cannot discriminate against same-sex couples, in a ruling welcomed by American secularists. Two men sued a florists, Arlene's Flowers, after the proprietor said providing flowers for a same-sex wedding would be contrary to her religious beliefs. They had been long-term customers of the florists, and Barronelle Stutzman, the owner and operator, knew that they were gay and in a long-term relationship. Stutzman was described by the court as "an active member of the Southern Baptist church." It was "uncontested" by the Supreme Court "that her sincerely held religious beliefs include a belief that marriage can exist only between one man and one woman." She argued that anti-discrimination laws did not apply to her behaviour, and that if they did the statutes "violate her state and federal constitutional rights to free speech, free exercise, and free association." Stutzman said that she would unable to do the flowers for the couples' wedding because of her "relationship with Jesus Christ". One of the men, Curt Freed, said he was "very hurt and upset" following Stutzman's refusal and "deeply offended" that the couples' business was "no longer good business" just because his "loved one [did not fit] within [Stutzman's] personal beliefs." Following media attention about the story and fearing protestors from groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church the couple abandoned plans for a ceremony with a hundred or more guests and had a much smaller ceremony at the their home with just 11 people in attendance. Stutzman said this was the only occasion she had ever refused to serve a customer. Following this, she decided on an "unwritten policy" that the florists would not accept requests for same-sex wedding ceremonies. This was due to her conviction that "biblically marriage is between a man and a woman". The court noted that she had served gay and lesbian customers for other orders unrelated to same-sex marriages. The court summarised her view as believing "that participating, or allowing any employee of her store to participate, in a same-sex wedding by providing custom floral arrangements and related customer service is tantamount to endorsing marriage equality for same-sex couples." She maintained that she would sell flowers in bulk or sell "raw materials" but that creating floral arrangements would be crossing over a line where her "imagination and artistic skill" would be used to "intimately participate in a same-sex wedding ceremony". The court "emphatically" rejected her argument that providing the couple with alternative florists meant that no harm was done, and endorsed the couple's argument that the case "is no more about access to flowers than civil rights cases in the 1960s were about access to sandwiches." The court concluded: "As every other court to address the question has concluded, public accommodations laws do not simply guarantee access to goods or services. Instead, they serve a broader societal purpose: eradicating barriers to the equal treatment of all citizens in the commercial marketplace." Carving out a "patchwork of exceptions for ostensibly justified discrimination" would mean that purpose was "fatally undermined". The ruling was welcomed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who commented: "Religious freedom is a fundamental American value. It guarantees us the freedom to believe, or not, as we see fit. It does not, however, grant us a right to use religion as an excuse to ignore laws that prohibit discrimination."

Read Elsewhere

Jasvinder Sanghera: I ran away to escape a forced marriage

Jasvinder Sanghera was locked in a room by her parents when she was 16, when she refused to marry the man they had chosen for her. Here she describes how she escaped with the help of a secret boyfriend - but lost all contact with her family as a result.

NSS Speaks Out

Our call to reduce the size of the House of Lords by removing the Bishops' Bench was reported by Premier Christian Radio. Our vice president Alistair McBay was quoted in the Inverness Courier on the power of the churches over Scottish schools – even while church attendance collapses.

Quotes of the Week

"The automatic inclusion of representatives of other faiths is an unacceptable solution due to the difficulty of deciding which faiths and denominations within faiths to include, how to include non-religious organisations, and the constantly changing demographics of the UK."
The Electoral Reform Society on religion and the House of Lords.

"By 2030 Russia will be like medieval Spain, where the Inquisition persecuted non-believers and heretics."
Aleksei Bushmakov, a Russian lawyer defending Ruslan Sokolovsky facing prosecution for "offending believers".

Essays of the Week

Restrictions on free speech are normalising blasphemy and apostasy rules in universities.
Maryam Namazie.

Putin's holy war.
Marc Bennetts, Politico.

	Shortlist for Secularist of the Year prize announced News \| Wed, 22nd Feb 2017 The National Secular Society has announced the names of six candidates on the shortlist for the Irwin Prize for Secularist of the Year. The award, which comes with a £5000 prize, kindly donated by Dr Michael Irwin, recognises a campaigner or group for an outstanding contribution to the secularist movement. Following nominations from our members and supports, the elected council of management of the National Secular Society selects a shortlist, with the winner due to be announced at the event on 18 March. The six nominees on the shortlist for Secularist of the Year 2017 are: Professor Steven Kettell, for co-ordinating a secular response to the Commission on Religion and Belief. His work helped rebut calls for more religious privilege, and set out the urgent case for a new secular constitutional settlement in the UK. Professor Kettell said it was "a great surprise and a genuine honour to be shortlisted for the Secularist of the Year Award." He said his own research had convinced him that "secularism is the best means of ensuring equal rights and freedoms for all citizens, regardless of their religion or belief." Professor Ted Cantle CBE has been nominated for his advocacy of integrated education and social cohesion. He has been particularly vocal in his opposition to the Government's plan to allow a new wave of faith schools free to discriminate in 100% of their admissions. He said it was "crucial that we support the secular principle of the separation of governance from religious doctrine." Asma Jahangir, the former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion,for her principled advocacy of universal human rights and her commitment to secular justice. She spent much of her career defending women's rights, the rights of children and the rights of minorities in Pakistan. Asma has campaigned against Pakistan's deadly blasphemy law and has been a vocal proponent of human rights in her home country. Houzan Mahmoud and the Kurdish Culture project, for their initiative to provide a platform for Kurdish writers, feminists, artists and activists to advance gender equality, freedom and universal rights. Houzan said, "For the work in activism that I have done for nearly two decades against Islamism and Sharia Law in Kurdistan, Iraq, the UK and beyond, to be recognised by the NSS is one of the greatest honours I could be conferred." Scott Moore and Let Pupils Choose, a Northern Ireland Humanists campaign,for challenging compulsory worship and religious privilege in Northern Ireland's schools. Scott said "The Let Pupils Choose campaign wants to let over 16s/post-GCSE pupils opt out of collective worship without parental permission. Children of all ages are guaranteed religious freedom under UK, European and international human and children's rights laws." He said he was "very grateful to the NSS for recognising the work I and others have been doing." Yasmin Rehman, for her advocacy of a secularist approach to tackling hate crime and promoting the human rights of women. She said, "I am incredibly honoured and humbled to be included in the list of nominees for this award particularly given the work being done across the world by so many brave and courageous people fighting against the hatred and violence being perpetrated by the religious Right of many faiths." Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said "all of these shortlisted nominees have made worthy and commendable contributions to the secularist cause in the last year and we congratulate all of them on their work and achievements. "Join me and the rest of the National Secular Society on Saturday 18 March where we will name the winner and celebrate their success. All are welcome, and our members benefit from a discount ticket price." The prize will be presented by the journalist and activist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.
	Abolish Bishops’ Bench to reduce the size of the House of Lords News \| Tue, 21st Feb 2017 The National Secular Society has recommended the removal of the Bishops' Bench to a parliamentary inquiry into how to reduce the size of the bloated House of Lords. In a written submission to the Lord Speaker's committee on the size of the House of Lords, Stephen Evans, the campaigns director of the National Secular Society, said: "There is no reasonable justification for allowing Church of England bishops to act as ex-officio legislators. The Bench of Bishops is an anomaly in a modern, liberal democracy and if a need to reduce the size of the chamber has been identified the Bishops' Bench is an obvious place to start." To cut the number of peers to a more manageable size the NSS urged the committee to "consider entirely removing the Bishops' Bench and ending the arrangement whereby religious representatives are given seats as of right." Not only would this make the upper house less crowded, but it would make a "more equitable and democratic chamber", the Society said. The Society said that it was wrong for any religion to have a privileged position in the upper chamber, and that it was long since time for the anachronism of the Bishops' Bench to be removed. Currently two archbishops and 24 bishops are given seats in the upper house and are able to vote on legislation. Their position grants them other privileges, and they are given deferential treatment by other members. Other peers defer to a bishop wishing to intervene, and they are able to speak unconstrained by party quotes – both points the NSS raised with the Lord Speaker's committee. The current settlement is "both divisive and unrepresentative", and on some issues the bishops do not even represent the views of their own laity, the Society said, citing marriage equality as an example. The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has called the current Bench of Bishops the most "orthodox" since WWII. It was "indefensible" to maintain the status quo, the Society's submission said, and polling from 2012 and 2010 found a majority of the public, including 70% of Christians, believe it is wrong for the bishops to be given seats automatically. In its submission the Society again stressed its opposition to replacing or supplementing bishops with leaders from other faiths. "Any proposals to extend religious representation in the Lords to other religions, such as made by the Woolf Commission in 2016, must be resisted. Such a move would be both unworkable and unpopular and run the risk of creating sectarian tensions. "It would further erode the franchise of the increasing numbers of non-religious people, and indeed of the many liberal religious people," the Society argued. The Electoral Reform Society has also criticised the current role of the Church of England in the House of Lords. They said that "The place of the Lords Spiritual is anachronistic. "Iran is the only other legislature in the world which gives unelected clerics automatic representation in its legislature." The ERS also rejected suggestions of adding more religious representatives from different faiths to represent minorities: "The automatic inclusion of representatives of other faiths is an unacceptable solution due to the difficulty of deciding which faiths and denominations within faiths to include, how to include non-religious organisations, and the constantly changing demographics of the UK." The Lord Speaker's committee is charged with exploring "methods by which the size of the House of Lords can be reduced, commensurate with its current role and functions." The House of Lords currently has over 850 members, making it the second-largest legislative body in the world.
	Hackney launches consultation on unregistered schools News \| Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 Hackney has launched a consultation into the safety of pupils and the quality of education in unregistered schools following scrutiny from the NSS and critical media reports. The consultation came after pressure from the National Secular Society to clarify just how many unregistered, illegal faith schools were thought by the local authority to be operating in Hackney. The authority now says it wants help to "gain a better understanding of whether the Council is doing all it can to ensure the quality of education, the safety and the safeguarding of children in unregistered settings in Hackney." It cited "a number of articles in the national media, in the spring and summer of 2016, that questioned the safety, safeguarding and the quality of education provided in allegedly unregistered educational settings". These 'schools' have been a long-running concern of the National Secular Society. In response to a freedom of information request from the NSS in October 2016, the London Borough of Hackney said that it had received five reports of unregistered schools operating in the borough in the last three years leading up to October. Three investigations had been launched into possible unregistered schools, and the authority had made five referrals to Ofsted or the Department for Education over the three year period. One unregistered school had been closed down in that time. However, in November media reports surfaced quoting Andrew Lee, the Assistant Director of Education Services of the Hackney Learning Trust saying that there were "possibly 35" unregistered ultra-Orthodox schools alone in Hackney – meaning that there were more illegal faith schools in operation than legal ones. Lee described these suspected sites as "establishments where our officers have passed by on a number of occasions at various times during the day and have seen a significant number of young people entering and leaving." He did add that "Perhaps 13 of those settings may be linked to some of the 33 registered settings, which would bring the number down somewhat." However, that would still be significantly more than the schools Hackney identified in response to the National Secular Society's freedom of information request. After the comments came to light, the Society asked the local authority to explain the "massive disparity" between the figures. They said that Lee's figure of up to 35 unregistered schools referred to institutions which the Council had known about for longer than the three year period of the FOI request – and that "all were referred to Ofsted at the point they were believed to be operating." The Society's FOI request also established that no unregistered school in the three years leading up to October 2016 had registered after being identified, casting doubt on the likelihood getting large numbers of illegal schools across the country to register and subject themselves to proper regulation. Vast numbers of children are 'missing' from education registers in Hackney. During the 2014-15 academic year 30,000 pupils across England and Wales went missing from schools for "substantial" periods of time, according to BBC research. Stephen Evans, campaigns director of the National Secular Society, welcomed Hackney's consultation. "For too long a blind eye has been turned to unregistered and illegal schools which has enabled insular religious communities to deprive children of their fundamental rights. This approach has also left countless children exposed to harm, exploitation, or the influence of extremist ideologies. Instead of pandering to religious communities, state agencies need to be clear that religious freedom does not give adults carte blanche to hinder the rights of others."
	High Court rules against sharia-only divorce claim News \| Thu, 23rd Feb 2017 The Family Division of the High Court has ruled against a man who claimed his marriage could only be dissolved under sharia, and that his wife must travel to Pakistan for a divorce. After the woman petitioned for a divorce in England, her husband argued that a sharia marriage could not be dissolved by a UK court, Asian Image reported. The unidentified man claimed that because the marriage was conducted under sharia, his wife, who has both British and Pakistani nationality, had to travel to Pakistan to pursue the divorce. But Mr Justice Francis rejected his arguments and said that it would have "far-reaching consequences" to accept the husband's line of argument, including "racial and gender discrimination". "It would be racial discrimination because what is said is that because the wife has dual nationality, both British and Pakistani, that as a national of Pakistan she should be treated differently from a British citizen who is not a national of Pakistan." The judge added that it was "clear" that "the rights granted to men in Pakistan to secure divorces pursuant to the laws of that country are different from the rights granted to women and that it is more onerous for a woman to secure a divorce in Pakistan than it is for a man." If he accepted the man's claims, Mr Justice Francis said it would mean the woman would be "subjected to different rules of English law than people of other faiths or other nationalities living here." He concluded that she had every right to pursue a divorce in England. "So far as the husband is concerned, he says that he was married pursuant to Sharia law, that is a religious contract, and he contends that only Pakistan has the jurisdiction to hear this divorce. "He does not want to get divorced and does not intend to get divorced. "The consequence, therefore, of his proposition is that the wife, who works and lives in England and pays her taxes in England and is habitually resident here, and domiciled here, at least for tax purposes, should have to travel to Pakistan to secure a divorce." The National Secular Society has welcomed the ruling. NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans commented, "The alternative would mean a British citizen being subjected to sharia law abroad just to seek a divorce. We are pleased the judge has protected her rights and taken a stand against the imposition of sharia law via this backdoor."
	Washington Supreme Court: Religious beliefs no excuse for a business to discriminate News \| Fri, 24th Feb 2017 The Supreme Court of the state of Washington has unanimously ruled that a florist cannot discriminate against same-sex couples, in a ruling welcomed by American secularists. Two men sued a florists, Arlene's Flowers, after the proprietor said providing flowers for a same-sex wedding would be contrary to her religious beliefs. They had been long-term customers of the florists, and Barronelle Stutzman, the owner and operator, knew that they were gay and in a long-term relationship. Stutzman was described by the court as "an active member of the Southern Baptist church." It was "uncontested" by the Supreme Court "that her sincerely held religious beliefs include a belief that marriage can exist only between one man and one woman." She argued that anti-discrimination laws did not apply to her behaviour, and that if they did the statutes "violate her state and federal constitutional rights to free speech, free exercise, and free association." Stutzman said that she would unable to do the flowers for the couples' wedding because of her "relationship with Jesus Christ". One of the men, Curt Freed, said he was "very hurt and upset" following Stutzman's refusal and "deeply offended" that the couples' business was "no longer good business" just because his "loved one [did not fit] within [Stutzman's] personal beliefs." Following media attention about the story and fearing protestors from groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church the couple abandoned plans for a ceremony with a hundred or more guests and had a much smaller ceremony at the their home with just 11 people in attendance. Stutzman said this was the only occasion she had ever refused to serve a customer. Following this, she decided on an "unwritten policy" that the florists would not accept requests for same-sex wedding ceremonies. This was due to her conviction that "biblically marriage is between a man and a woman". The court noted that she had served gay and lesbian customers for other orders unrelated to same-sex marriages. The court summarised her view as believing "that participating, or allowing any employee of her store to participate, in a same-sex wedding by providing custom floral arrangements and related customer service is tantamount to endorsing marriage equality for same-sex couples." She maintained that she would sell flowers in bulk or sell "raw materials" but that creating floral arrangements would be crossing over a line where her "imagination and artistic skill" would be used to "intimately participate in a same-sex wedding ceremony". The court "emphatically" rejected her argument that providing the couple with alternative florists meant that no harm was done, and endorsed the couple's argument that the case "is no more about access to flowers than civil rights cases in the 1960s were about access to sandwiches." The court concluded: "As every other court to address the question has concluded, public accommodations laws do not simply guarantee access to goods or services. Instead, they serve a broader societal purpose: eradicating barriers to the equal treatment of all citizens in the commercial marketplace." Carving out a "patchwork of exceptions for ostensibly justified discrimination" would mean that purpose was "fatally undermined". The ruling was welcomed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who commented: "Religious freedom is a fundamental American value. It guarantees us the freedom to believe, or not, as we see fit. It does not, however, grant us a right to use religion as an excuse to ignore laws that prohibit discrimination."

Newsline 24 February 2017

News, Blogs & Opinion

Shortlist for Secularist of the Year prize announced

Abolish Bishops’ Bench to reduce the size of the House of Lords

Hackney launches consultation on unregistered schools

High Court rules against sharia-only divorce claim

Washington Supreme Court: Religious beliefs no excuse for a business to discriminate

Read Elsewhere

Jasvinder Sanghera: I ran away to escape a forced marriage

NSS Speaks Out

Quotes of the Week

Essays of the Week

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