Newsline 26 May 2017

Newsline 26 May 2017

The Manchester bombing will not be the last Islamist atrocity in this country, to say nothing of the rest of the world. The struggle against the warped ideology which sustains extremism will likely consume generations of effort. There are, therefore, no easy answers. At the very least we offer our thoughts and solidarity to the victims and their families, and those who woke up in hospitals on Tuesday morning with life-altering injuries or to the news that their children or parents were dead.

Many have said that the attack, and the decision to target young children, was 'incomprehensible'. But it was not. There is no excuse for thinking that. Anybody who has been paying attention to Islamic extremism should know exactly why they do this. They are motivated by the worst possible interpretation of Islam, but it is Islamic.

We are not afraid of naming and confronting Islamist ideology, and we have no sympathy for those who obfuscate or deny the roots of jihadist terror. Our allies in this are many, and they include Muslim reformers and secularists. But there can be no denying the scale of the challenge. Terrorism is far from being the only problem Islamist ideology poses to our way of life and our values. Surveys of Muslim opinion both around the world, and here at home, bring disturbing results, on everything from women's rights to suicide bombing. It is this entire spectrum of belief and behaviour that the secularist movement must confront.

News, Blogs & Opinion

Doctor faces private prosecution for circumcising baby boy without the mother’s consent

News | Wed, 24th May 2017

A doctor is facing a private prosecution for assault after he circumcised a boy without the mother's consent.

Dr Balvinder Mehat circumcised the child while the boy was under the care of his father, in July 2013.

The procedure was performed on the baby, whose parents are separated, while he was with his father for the day. He was returned to his mother later that day and she said "he was obviously in pain".

Following the circumcision she said he was "screaming and crying."

"He has been mutilated and suffered permanent damage."

She is now using legal aid to bring about a private prosecution against the doctor who carried out the procedure. Police decided that there was not enough evidence to prosecute.

The mother's lawyer, Saimo Chahal QC, said: "This mother did not consent to her son undergoing the circumcision procedure, which could constitute a criminal offence. While some people with religious beliefs see circumcision as normal, there are others who see it as an unnecessary assault which can be physically and psychologically harmful."

Men Do Complain, a group which campaigns against male genital mutilation, say that "non-therapeutic genital cutting has significant physical and psychological consequences and has no proven benefits."

In 2015 Sir James Munby, a senior judge, and President of the Family division of the High Court noted that some forms of type IV FGM were "much less invasive than male circumcision". He said "any form" of FGM constitutes "significant harm", including Type IV FGM and that the same "must therefore be true of male circumcision."

He noted that these similar procedures were treated differently by the law and said it was a "curiosity" that the law "is "still prepared to tolerate non-therapeutic male circumcision performed for religious or even for purely cultural or conventional reasons, while no longer being willing to tolerate FGM in any of its forms."

Type IV FGM includes "all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, for example: pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization".

In 2012 a German court convicted a doctor under existing German law for assault when he performed non-therapeutic circumcision on a healthy boy. The conviction prompted anger from Muslims and Jews throughout the world. Within a few months, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, pushed through new legislation to exempt male circumcision from such legal safeguards and child protection mechanisms.

In 2013 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed a recommendation challenging "medically unjustified violations of children's physical integrity". It called on the Council to take account of "children's right to physical integrity" and "their right to participate in any decision concerning them".

Meanwhile the first federal female genital mutilation case is being prosecuted in the United States, with defence lawyers planning to argue that FGM is a religious rite.

There has never been a successful prosecution for the FGM in the UK.

Effort to repeal New Zealand blasphemy law delayed

News | Wed, 24th May 2017

An attempt by Labour MP Chris Hipkins to remove anti-blasphemy laws from New Zealand's statute book has failed after National Party and Maori Party MPs voted it down.

New Zealand media reported that Hipkins introduced an amendment to get rid of the country's blasphemy laws, which only came to light when Stephen Fry became the subject of a blasphemy investigation in Ireland.

Prime Minister Bill English said the country could "get rid of" the laws and that he did not know they remained in statute until the furore around the Stephen Fry case.

But his party rejected Hipkins' approach, and on Wednesday the Prime Minister said he wanted to "go through the proper process rather than just spontaneous amendments on the floor of the House."

He did add that when a bill was properly presented to the House of Representatives he expected the blasphemy law to be repealed.

Anglican Archbishop Philip Richardson has expressed his support for repealing the law.

Mr Hipkins described the delay as a "sad day for freedom of speech, tolerance and leadership".

"What moral authority does New Zealand have condemning other countries for draconian blasphemy laws when we have one of our own that we refuse to repeal?"

The president of the Humanist Society of New Zealand, Sara Passmore said the delay was a "vote against human rights" and that it showed New Zealand to have only the "illusion of a secular government".

"By refusing to remove the blasphemy law from our Crimes Act, the Government is saying we are not free to criticise and challenge all ideas. This decision was backwards, and not in line with international trends. We think people, not ideas, should be protected."

NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans said: "Any country that retains these laws is undercut when it tries to defend human rights abroad. Blasphemy laws are inimical to free speech and these laws should be removed as soon as possible. Even if they are never used they undermine the values of the countries that have them. We hope the Prime Minister is correct and that this law can be repealed very soon."

What do the main parties have to say on secular issues?

Opinion | Thu, 18th May 2017

The Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties have all released their manifestos for the General Election. Read our analysis of what they say on issues from equality to human rights, Islamist extremism and education.

We'll continue to update this article as the other parties publish their manifestos.

Conservative Party

The Conservative Party manifesto states: "We abhor social division, injustice, unfairness and inequality."

One of the major injustices we deal with is parents facing religious discrimination when looking for a local taxpayer-funded school for their child. It isn't clear if the commitment to a "review of school admissions policy" will consider that.

The manifesto rightly states that in "too many parts of our country, we have communities that are divided, often along racial or religious lines" and it pledges a "new integration strategy". But worryingly the manifesto appears to roll back integration and inclusivity measures for faith schools, labelling these rules – and not the religiously (state and private) segregated schools that necessitate them – "unfair and ineffective".

The manifesto pledges to ensure schools with mon-ethnic/mono-cultural intakes "teach their students about pluralistic, British values and help them to get to know people with different ways of life."

Seemingly contradicting this aim, the manifesto pledges to open new 100% religiously selective faith schools. The new 'integration' measures designed to replace the current cap on religiously selective admissions are not effective. Requiring "new faith schools to prove that parents of other faiths and none would be prepared to send their children to that school" is a mockery, when those schools will be able to exclude those children.

The Conservatives say they "will push forward with our plan for tackling hate crime" committed on the basis of protected characteristics, and offer a welcome commitment to "strengthen the enforcement of equalities law – so that private landlords and businesses who deny people a service" on the basis of protected characteristics are "properly investigated and prosecuted".

They undertake to remain signatories of the European Convention on Human Rights for the "duration of the next parliament" and say they will not repeal or replace the Human Rights Act during the Brexit process.

The Conservative manifesto has several passages dealing with countering extremism "especially Islamist extremism", pledging to "to learn from how civil society and the state took on racism in the twentieth century". They propose a new 'Commission for Countering Extremism' as well as creating new criminal and aggravated offenses.

While the NSS shares the commitment to challenging extremism, we have concerns that 'extremism disruption orders', proposed several years ago, will chill free expression and can capture a whole range of views which are not dangerous or comparable to Islamist extremism.

The Party also promised to "expand our global efforts to combat extremism, terror, and the perpetration of violence against people because of their faith, gender or sexuality".

Read the full manifesto.

Labour Party

Labour commit to "enforce effective measures to prevent all forms of abuse, including female genital mutilation." There has never been a successful prosecution for FGM in the UK.

Labour commits to "review the Prevent programme with a view to assessing both its effectiveness and its potential to alienate minority communities." While many will have honestly-held concerns around Prevent, honest debate has been consistently undermined by myths and misinformation campaigns, often backed by those who would rather there was no counter-extremism programme whatsoever.

The Party says it will "address the government's failure to take any effective new measures against a growing problem of extreme or violent radicalisation." As mentioned, the proposed extremism disruption orders never surfaced from the Government, but the NSS is concerned that proposals from Labour or the Conservatives might result in measures that chill free speech with subjective definitions of 'extremism'.

On this point, the Party promises that new counter extremism powers will "not weaken our individual rights or civil liberties."

The Party plans to "build a society and world free from all forms of … Islamophobia." The NSS supports efforts to challenge anti-Muslim bigotry and all forms of sectarian hatred. However we (and many others) have criticised the unclear and much misused term 'Islamophobia'.

On equality law and hate crimes Labour says it "will bring the law on LGBT hate crimes into line with hate crimes based on race and faith, by making them aggravated offences" as well as supporting the Istanbul Convention and reporting responsibilities.

It says: "We need to celebrate the profound and enriching transformation brought by the diversity of people in this country".

Labour will "appoint dedicated global ambassadors for women's rights, LGBT rights and religious freedom to fight discrimination and promote equality globally." We are disappointed that the proposed ambassador for 'religious freedom' is not explicitly an ambassador for freedom of religion and belief.

The NSS would welcome such a role, provided they dealt with the closely related issues of religious freedom and freedom from religion. Around the world Christians, atheists and other religious and political minorities face persecution from theocratic regimes.

The plan to "extend the Freedom of Information Act to private companies that run public services" may help bring scrutiny where religious organisations are running public services.

Read the full manifesto.

Liberal Democrat Party

The LibDems offers a welcome promise to "outlaw caste discrimination." The late Lord Avebury, a Liberal Democrat peer and honorary associate of the NSS, was very active in our ongoing campaign to have caste discrimination explicitly outlawed in equality law.

They have also pledged to "Strengthen legal rights and obligations for couples by introducing mixed-sex civil partnerships and extending rights to cohabiting couples."

On education the Party will give local authorities "proper democratic control over admissions and new schools", something that has been weakened by academisation. There have been examples of local authorities being powerless to stop religious organisations running new or converted community schools.

It will also "repeal the rule that all new state-funded schools must be free schools or academies." The NSS has repeatedly raised concerns about the ways in which academisation can be used to drive the unwanted growth in faith school numbers.

However the Society questions the LibDem pledge to "Guarantee the freedom of people to wear religious or cultural dress". In almost all circumstances such a freedom rightly exists already, but there are many examples where this right is reasonably limited.

The LibDem spring conference backed the phasing out of religious discrimination in school admissions, an end to compulsory worship, and reform of religion and belief education – commitments missing from the manifesto.

Read the full manifesto.

UKIP

Much of UKIP's manifesto is taken up with measures to combat Islamic fundamentalism.

The Party vows not to be intimidated by accusations of 'Islamophobia' and says that "mass uncontrolled immigration has opened the door to a host of people from cultures with little or no respect for women."

It laments the failure to successfully prosecute an FGM case and the manifesto vows to implement "a screening programme for girls identified to be at risk of FGM from birth to age sixteen, consisting of annual non-invasive physical check-ups".

Additional checks will be made on "at risk" girls when they return from countries where FGM is customary and calls for a mandatory minimum sentence of six years.

The Party will ban face coverings in public places and says, "There is no human right to conceal your identity."

UKIP promises to end Islamist extremism in schools and says "we must wake up to the reality that extremism is taking hold in our country."

Schools found to be exposing children to Islamism should be put into special measures by Ofsted, the Party says, and schools should dismiss teachers, staff and governors who support radical mosques or imams. UKIP also calls for and it would require Ofsted to conduct snap investigations of schools where "girls are being offered unequal access to music, dance, PE or drama lessons, or are otherwise discriminated against" or where anti-Semitic and hard-line views are expressed.

On radicalisation in prisons it says no prisoner should be given "perks" because of their faith, and it calls for prisons to refuse imams or preachers who promote "views contrary to British values".

Read the full manifesto here.

Green Party

The Greens say they will reject "the xenophobic Prevent strategy" and replace it will "community-led" and "collaborative approaches" to countering extremism.

They would bring academies and free schools under local authority control, and would abolish Ofsted.

They will implement a "strategy to tackle gender based violence" including FGM, but give no details in the manifesto.

The party says it will defend the Human Rights Act, and UK membership in the European Convention on Human Rights.

They also promise to tackle "discrimination on the basis of faith" and pledge "real equality for LGBTIQA+ people [and] equal rights for mixed gender couples to have a Civil Partnership."

Read the full manifesto.

National Secular Society: a manifesto for change

The NSS is a non-partisan organisation. Ahead of the snap General Election, we're writing to all major parties, calling on them to embrace a series of secular reforms, drawn from our recently published secular manifesto, that make society, our education system, and the law fairer for all.

You can view all of our recommendations in Rethinking religion and belief in public life: a manifesto for change and add your support.

‘Moderate’ Indonesia launches anti-gay police taskforce after public caning of two men

News | Fri, 26th May 2017

Indonesia's police are to launch a new crackdown on gay people, following a brutal public caning and the mass arrest of 140 gay men at a party.

A new taskforce will investigate LGBT 'activity' across the country.

The police chief of the Indonesia province West Java said LGBT people were afflicted with a "disease of the body and soul".

"I hope there are no followers in West Java, no gay or LGBT lifestyle or tradition. If there's anyone following it, they will face the law and heavy social sanctions. They will not be accepted in society," he said.

An Indonesian LGBT activist organisation, Arus Pelangi, told Reuters that the police were not the morality police and that they should restrict themselves to following the law.

In Aceh, a province of Indonesia ruled by sharia, two men were caned in front of a jeering mob of 1,000.

Meanwhile, 14 gay men were arrested in East Java, tested for HIV and then had the results released publicly.

The LGBT advocacy group said police also released names and addresses of these men, putting them all in danger.

Police recently detained more than 140 gay men at a party, including one British national. Lawyers were denied access to the men, and one told the Telegraph that "It's been quite difficult to get access in terms of information" and that lawyers were having serious problems ensuring the men's rights were being respected.

Ricky Gunawan of the Community Legal Aid Institute said that this was a common tactic of Indonesian police: "Usually this is the time where the people arrested will confess and then the police will use their confessions because there is no lawyer present."

Police released images of the arrested men, revealing their identities. 126 have now been released.

The Indonesian defence minister has called homosexuality a threat to security. The Pew Research Centre found that Indonesia was one of the least tolerant countries in the world when it came to gay rights: 93% of Indonesians said gay people should not be "accepted".

In a 2009 poll, none of the 500 British Muslims interviewed believed that homosexual acts were morally acceptable. a more recent survey found that 52% thought homosexuality should not even be legal.

Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns director, said: "Anti-gay sentiment is prevalent throughout the Islamic world. Such views need to be exposed and challenged wherever they are found. A failure to do so will have a catastrophic effect on the human rights of gay people, both at home and abroad."