Newsline 28 April 2017

Newsline 28 April 2017

With a General Election fast approaching, we've written to the major parties this week calling on them to make manifesto commitments along the lines set out in our recent report on the need to rethink religion and belief in public life. A Britain fair for all is only possible with secular reforms, and we've set out some policy proposals below - ask your local candidates to support them!

Also this week, the Church of England called for an end to the right of withdrawal from religious education. We've launched a campaign calling for fundamental reform of the subject to make it broad, balanced and impartial, before we can even consider parents losing their right to opt out.

If you'd like to get involved with our work, there's no better way than coming to work for us! We're hiring for a new Campaigns and Communications Officer. The deadline for applications is the 5th May.

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As a nation we’re thinking about our future, here’s our secular manifesto for change

Opinion | Thu, 27th Apr 2017

Ahead of the General Election we're calling on political parties 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.

As electioneering gets into full swing, now is the time to challenge the political parties on what they will do to address some of the unfairness and inequity stemming from the privileged role of religion in public life.

That's why, 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.

A major focus for the media this week has been the Lib Dem leader's personal views on gay sex. But surely what really matters is the policies our prospective leaders would put in place to ensure that Britain can be a country in which all citizens, regardless of religious belief, or lack of religious belief, can live together fairly and cohesively.

With that in mind we very much welcomed Tim Farron's vocal support for the disestablishment of the Church of England. As Mr Farron said, "Separation of church and religion from state is fundamental". "The imposition of religious teachings on day to day life", he said, "is utterly wrong."

We agree. Our 'Secular Manifesto' makes dozens of specific proposals to reform the role of religion in public life, to ensure that that state equally respects everyone's human rights and that no one is either advantaged or disadvantaged because of their beliefs.

They range from necessary reforms in education, to proposals on public services, sharia 'law', religious exemptions and public ceremonies. They all aim to make our society fairer and introduce secular changes to our unwritten constitution, education system and institutions which would reflect the growing non-religious majority of the country and its increasing religious diversity.

Many of the proposals set out in our manifesto concern publicly funded education: A third of all schools in England and Wales are faith schools and the Government wants more faith schools, and plans to facilitate greater discrimination in them by allowing faith-based free schools to select all of their pupils on religious grounds. UKIP have called for a moratorium only on new Islamic faith schools, but we don't think any publicly funded schools should be based around religious identities.

Rather than segregating young people along religious lines, we want to see children of all faiths and none educated together in inclusive schools. We want to see political parties seeking to break down religious and ethnic barriers, not erecting them. And we want to see all political parties making manifesto commitments that promote freedom, fairness and human rights.

With that in mind, here are five proposals for a secular approach to education that we are making, which would ensure that our publicly funded schools aid social cohesion, respect children's rights, and teach pupils only how to think, not what to think.

1. A moratorium on the opening of new faith schools

2. A right for all pupils to attend a non-religiously affiliated (secular) school

3. An end to equality law exceptions that allow faith schools to discriminate and select pupils on the basis of faith

4. Reform of religious education to ensure all pupils receive a broad, balanced and non-partisan religion and belief education

5. Abolish the legal requirement for schools to hold collective worship

Our manifesto for change sets out many more reforms in the many areas we campaign on. The Economist called our proposals "evolutionary rather than revolutionary". Our approach to reforming religion's public role sets out incremental, attainable steps which are feasible and would help to make our society fairer.

During the election campaign and beyond, this is what we'll be calling for. When candidates come knocking, we hope you will be too.

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

NSS rejects Church’s call for end to RE right to withdraw, without meaningful reform

News | Thu, 27th Apr 2017

The National Secular Society has said that Religious Education must be fundamentally reformed before the existing right to withdraw children from RE can be removed.

The Society was responding to a statement released by the Church which said "the right of withdrawal from RE should be repealed."

The Church has expressed its concerns that parents are withdrawing their children from lessons on Islam, partial withdrawal is currently permitted. It also said there were concerns that religious fundamentalists were withdrawing their children from lessons on other religions.

Stephen Evans, the campaigns director of the National Secular Society, said, "We share concerns about some parents attempting to shield children from knowledge about other religions and beliefs. However, the fundamental problem is that Religious Education remains a confused subject area, still sometimes taught in a biased or partisan way.

"If RE was reformed into an objective academic study of religious and non-religious worldviews, as a part of the National Curriculum, the right to withdraw may no longer be necessary. But until such time the right of withdrawal is required to protect parental rights and freedoms.

"The Church isn't exactly whiter than white when it comes to partisan teaching, we have dealt with plenty of examples of Church of England schools teaching RE in an unsuitable way."

Mr Evans added, "Unless the Church of England support an end to the exemptions allowing faith schools to teach RE in a partisan way according to the school's own religious ethos, talk of ending the right of withdrawal is clearly premature."

The NSS has launched a new campaign calling for a '21st century RE for all', arguing that every pupil should have the same entitlement to high quality, non-partisan education about religion and belief across the country, and that this shouldn't depend on where they lived or what school they attended. It said RE should be "broad, balanced and inclusive."

Welsh students launch petition against collective worship

News | Fri, 21st Apr 2017

Two Welsh school students have launched a petition calling on Welsh Assembly Members to end the obligation on schools to hold collective worship.

Rhiannon Shipton, one of the two petitioners, said: "As students we strongly believe it is an unnecessary ritual to be forced to say the Lord's Prayer during each assembly. If anything it is a waste of time for those that are of another religion or are atheist.

"This is not an attack on any religion. People are free to have their beliefs, but it's wrong to force students to take part in prayers when they don't believe in the God that's being worshipped."

The 15-year-olds, who attend the Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf Welsh-language school, met with the clerk to the Welsh Assembly's Petitions Committee to launch their appeal.

The petition reads: "We call on the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to pass a law that removes the obligation on schools to hold acts of religious worship."

Assemblies with an act of worship take place at the school every day, in line with English and Welsh law. The law only permits sixth form pupils over the age of sixteen to withdrawal themselves from acts of worship in schools.

Martin Shipton, Rhiannon's father, said both she and fellow petitioner Lily McAllister-Sutton were "becoming increasingly frustrated by being forced to say prayers against their will."

Mr Shipton added that while parents can withdraw their children from assemblies, "that would set them apart from other pupils and remove them from an important communal event in the school's day."

Instead of collective worship, Lily and Rhiannon have suggested a time for reflection.

In 2016 the National Secular Society urged the Cabinet Secretary for Education in Wales, Kirsty Williams, to lead the way on child rights by repealing outdated provisions regarding collective worship.

Ms Williams suggested a review of collective worship in Wales could be undertaken once the ongoing curriculum reform has been completed.

Stephen Evans, the campaigns director of the National Secular Society, commended the pupils' work and said the current settlement was "unfair and wrong."

"Nobody should be forced to attend prayers of any religion against their will. Withdrawing pupils from collective worship is rarely a practical option, and is obviously divisive. The time really has come to abolish the hopelessly anachronistic requirement of schools to provide 'broadly Christian' worship and we urge the Welsh Government to take the lead on this issue.

"A truly progressive new curriculum for Wales should include a duty on all schools to ensure that all aspects of its curriculum, including assemblies, are respectful and inclusive of all pupils."

The National Secular Society recently launched a manifesto on rethinking the role of religion and belief in public life, which called for the abolition of the current legal requirement on English and Welsh schools to hold collective worship.

The manifesto said that "Where schools do hold acts of worship pupils should themselves be free to choose not to take part."

This chimes with recommendations of the UN children's rights committee which has called on the UK to abolish compulsory worship in schools and ensure pupils are given the independent right of withdrawal.

Calls to boost integration after claims Muslim children can grow up without meeting non-Muslims

News | Thu, 27th Apr 2017

The National Secular Society has accused the Government of dividing communities with the push to open new faith schools, ahead of a new report on religious and racial segregation in Birmingham.

The report from British Future will address "integration challenges" in the West Midlands and will seek to encourage "projects that bring together children and young people from different faiths and ethnic backgrounds".

It says that Muslims communities originating from South Asia had higher levels of segregation than other minority groups and presents the stark ethnic and religious differences between inner city and suburban areas of Birmingham.

The Birmingham Post said the upcoming report found that many Muslim children from these inner city areas were "likely to grow up without meeting or understanding people from different backgrounds."

Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, is one of the signatories to a joint letter which calls for the new Mayor of the West Midlands to appoint a deputy mayor for integration once they are elected on 4th May.

The letter to the Birmingham Post is also signed by Gisela Stuart MP and Andrew Mitchell MP. It says the new post is needed to "make integration work well" amid an "anxious and fragmented society".

British Future is calling for the proposed Deputy Mayor to lead an "Office for Citizenship and Integration to drive forward an integration agenda" across the West Midlands.

National Secular Society campaigns director Stephen Evans said: "Dividing our education system along religious grounds does nothing to help promote integration. The Government is worsening the problems we see in Birmingham and other cities by promoting such a divisive agenda.

"Further analysis of the interconnected problems around integration is welcome, and we look forward to seeing a copy of the full report."

Foreign Office urges Russia to uphold human rights after Jehovah’s Witnesses ruling

News | Mon, 24th Apr 2017

The Foreign Office has condemned a decision by the Russian Supreme Court to label Jehovah's Witnesses "extremists."

Baroness Anelay, the foreign office minister with responsibility for human rights, said the judgement was alarming.

She said that the Russian Supreme Court's decision to describe the group as extremist "effectively criminalizes the peaceful worship of 175,000 Russian citizens and contravenes the right to religious freedom which is enshrined in the Russian Constitution."

"The UK calls on the Russian government to uphold its international commitment to this basic freedom."

Article 28 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation promises that "Everyone shall be guaranteed the freedom of conscience, the freedom of religion, including the right to profess individually or together with other any religion or to profess no religion at all, to freely choose, possess and disseminate religious and other views and act according to them."

But the Supreme Court sided with the Russian Ministry of Justice, which successfully argued that Jehovah's Witnesses "pose a threat to the rights of the citizens, public order and public security".

The group has faced mounting discrimination in Russia. Amnesty International said that 16 Jehovah's Witnesses were found guilty in 2015 of participating in an "extremist organisation."

Its publications now appear on lists of banned literature.

The Russian branch of the Jehovah's Witnesses said the decision was a "big mistake" that would "entail catastrophic consequences for freedom of religious worship in Russia."

NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans said: "This is a terrible infringement on religious freedom.

"Few secularists will sympathise at all with the teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses, but everybody who believes in freedom of speech, religion and association as we do should be appalled at this decision.

"It is also worth bearing in mind that whenever any government decides to use the clumsy force of the law to outlaw non-violent 'extremism', all sorts of groups can get caught up. Our own government are right to condemn this decision, but they should bear this in mind when framing UK law."

NSS Speaks Out

Executive director Keith Porteous Wood was quoted in the Times, Daily Mail, Christian Today, and Independent this week on the Church's calls for an end to parents' right to withdraw their children from RE lessons. Campaigns director Stephen Evans spoke to Radio 5 Live and BBC London on this topic.

Keith also spoke to BBC Three Counties on the religious exemptions to animal welfare laws that allow for halal and kosher slaughter without pre-stunning of animals.

We were quoted by The Hindu on the Government's failure to outlaw caste-based discrimination, and the Church Times quoted us on cathedral finances.