Newsline 4 September 2015

Newsline 4 September 2015

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News, Blogs & Opinion

Alex Salmond: “I prefer people of faith to people of no faith”

News | Thu, 3rd Sep 2015

The National Secular Society has criticised the former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond for his "divisive rhetoric" after he stated that he prefers religious people to atheists or apostates.

Speaking alongside Rev Stuart MacQuarrie of the Church of Scotland, Mr Salmond said: "I am biased of course because I am a Church of Scotland adherent and I prefer people of faith to people of no faith or people who have lost their faith."

The National Secular Society's spokesperson for Scotland, Alistair McBay, commented; "It is appalling that such a leading politician should make remarks like this in 21st century Scotland. Imagine the outcry if he'd said he 'preferred' Protestants to Catholics.

"It is a sad day for half the Scottish population degraded by the former First Minister's prejudice."

Salmond added that "all denominations have a key role to play in society and we are very fortunate in Scotland because we have a tremendous ability, among religions and denominations, to come together and support good causes."

NSS campaigns manager Stephen Evans questioned his "apparent assumption that the non-religious are less charitable."

Reverend MacQuarrie, after Mr Salmond made his remarks, said that "regardless of what religion and belief position people hold we're human beings".

He added, "It's important that we see each other as people, not with labels."

Mr Salmond was speaking just days after new research found that over 47% of Scots have no religion, an increase from 40% in 2009. A separate study, also released this week, found that just 55% of Scots have a "favourable" view of Christianity.

Within minutes of praising "unity" and "diversity" Salmond said that he was "biased" in favour of the religious.

Mr Evans added: "Alex Salmond's divisive rhetoric will dismay the 47% of Scots who have no religious faith and indeed anyone interested in building a tolerant and inclusive Scotland. His comments are unworthy of a politician of his stature."

Students forced to lead prayers and made to attend Mass – the reality of faith schools for non-religious pupils

Opinion | Thu, 3rd Sep 2015

A Sixth Former gives a student's account of what it's like to attend a faith school if you aren't religious, and shows the reality of some faith schools for pupils who don't share the school's enthusiasm for religion.

One might be forgiven for thinking that Britain is a de facto secular country. We have religious freedom and generally speaking we enjoy freedom from religion too. After all, we are not seeing apostates, atheists, and agnostics executed in this country or subject to systematic persecution. There is one group of people in particular however who do not enjoy this latter freedom; the non-religious students who attend faith schools, like me.

We are allowing, with little opposition from any mainstream party, for a third of our state education to be provided in so-called 'faith schools', where religious organisations control the school, with the school's running costs provided by the state.

The case against faith schools is well explained by the National Secular Society and I have no intention of simply repeating the arguments. Instead I want to provide an account of what faith schools are really like for pupils. I believe accounts like mine, on my experiences so far at my local Catholic School, will show what the reality is for so many pupils in our state schools.

I was sent to my school in 2011. With effectively irreligious parents, who even sympathise with many of the criticisms against some of the failures of the Church in the past and present, I found this decision very confusing and protested it at the time. Nonetheless, my other school options were limited. Faith schools are so often presented as providing choice for parents and students, but this was a school that I never wished to attend. I was sent there because it was the best performing local school, but many parents and pupils have no choice at all in their local schools; so often faith schools are the only viable option.

Interestingly, I was permitted to stop attending my local Anglican church after my admission, leading me to believe that I was only made to attend so that I could be signed off as a practising Christian by the vicar, a widespread practice across the country. Under the admissions policy, this gave me an advantage over other people; another example of the unfairness of faith schools. According to statistics published in the school's Diocesan Report, we can deduce that there are around 24 non-Catholics at school with over 650 pupils. This hardly seems diverse or representative of my local community.

I was apprehensive before I started, and I was disappointed when I arrived. Since I have started attending my school, I have felt out-of-place because I feel so philosophically compromised by what the school is doing. I have been called out for not standing up in Mass. I've been told that "not responding with a significant amplitude to prayers" amounts to not supporting the school. I've had a request to self-withdraw from Mass denied on the grounds that it would 'encourage others to do so'. Despite parents supposedly having the legal right to withdraw their children, I've also had a request from my parents (who subsequently withdrew it upon its rejection) dismissed on the same grounds.

I've also seen students refusing to lead prayer told that "they have to" and that they should "go to another school" if they're unwilling.

Despite being a firm believer in equality myself, my school's SRE policy refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of same-sex marriage and clearly states it's disapproval of gay relationships. Just imagine how homosexual pupils are made to feel by that. I expect better from a publicly funded school.

I have one final year left at school. Little can be done about my situation now, I'm too far into my education, but I think it has left a permanent scar on me. I will not look, as many do, at my secondary education with joy and nostalgia, but with disappointment and neuralgia. I urge readers to make their opposition to faith schools known to their MPs, join the NSS, and campaign in as many ways as they can to see this institutional discrimination come to an end.

This post was written by a current Sixth Form student at a Catholic faith school. The identity of the student has been kept anonymous at their request. The views expressed in our blogs are those of the authors and may not represent the views of the NSS.

Church of ‘witch-slapping’ pastor withdraws application to open UK school

News | Tue, 25th Aug 2015

A Christian group that linked child disobedience with witchcraft has withdrawn its application to open an independent school after the NSS called on the DfE not to grant the school registered status.

The organisation behind the proposed school, which has its headquarters in Nigeria, is known as Living Faith Church Worldwide and also Winners' Chapel International (WCI).

The organisation's bid to open its first UK school in Kent was thwarted by the NSS after the Society drew the media's attention to the church's teachings and video footage of its leader, the preacher David Oyedepo, slapping a young girl after accusing her of being a witch.

The Department for Education has confirmed to the National Secular Society that the application to register Kingdom Heritage Model School has been withdrawn and that there is no longer an application from the group "under consideration".

Kingdom Heritage Model School had previously advertised for a headteacher, listing responsibilities that included ensuring an "an atmosphere that encourages respect for authority, strong character, obedience and a Christ-like spirit". The school, which pledged to teach "Biblical truths" in each subject, previously posted pictures of the school's 'opening' on its Facebook page, which has since been removed.

The application to open a school had been supported by the Evangelical Alliance who said that "the context of what happens in Nigeria and what happens here is very different."

A spokesperson for the National Secular Society said: "There is no context in which it is acceptable to slap a child for being a witch. It is appalling to suggest otherwise and no group like that should play any part in our education system."

The Metropolitan Police warned in 2012 that there was a "clear and immediate risk of significant harm" to children believed to be witches and that views about spirit possession could lead to "extreme physical and emotional abuse and to child deaths".

Quebec ‘hate speech’ law will target “people who would write against … the Islamic religion”

News | Wed, 2nd Sep 2015

The Quebec National Assembly is considering a bill that would be used to criminalise criticism of Islam under the aegis of banning "hate speech".

Bill 59, introduced in the National Assembly by Minister of Justice Stéphanie Vallée, is ostensibly designed to crackdown on hate speech, but the head of the Quebec Human Rights Commission (QHRC), Jacques Frémont, has been quoted saying that he would use the new powers to target "people who would write against … the Islamic religion … on a website or on a Facebook page."

The law would allow the QHRC to "apply for a court order requiring [alleged hate speech] to cease" and would further impose a fine up to $10,000 if "a person has engaged in or disseminated such speech". The exact monetary value of the fine would be determined by the Human Rights Tribunal.

The act states that the purpose of the various prohibitions is not to limit speech which "legitimately" informs the public but it casts an extraordinarily broad net, stating not only that hate speech will be punished by law but that "a person [who] has acted in such a manner as to cause such speech to be engaged in" will also face penalties.

Under the proposed law, the QHRC would keep a list – available online – of all those who have been engaged in 'hate speech', as determined by the Tribunal. This measure has been compared with the registration of sex offenders, to which only police have access.

In another particularly troubling detail, the Commission would not need to wait for a complainant to come forward and it could initiate an investigation itself.

The legislation would also allow the Commission to apply to a court for "any emergency measure" if the Commission has "reason to believe" that a threat to "health or safety" exists. This will allow the Commission to "put an end to the threat."

An NSS spokesperson commented: "It is very worrying to see a democratic legislature using tricks taken straight from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) playbook to effectively ban blasphemy and criticism of religion.

"It is an Orwellian nightmare that the proposed law in Quebec would leave a human rights body tasked with determining the monetary fine for criticising religion, and that the QHRC is seemingly boasting about its potential role in using this legislation as a de facto blasphemy law.

"Nor is this a problem limited to Quebec. In Northern Ireland a Christian preacher, James McConnell, is currently being prosecuted for what authorities call a 'grossly offensive' sermon in which he criticised Islam. We haven't seen any evidence of incitement to violence in his remarks.

"None of these events are isolated. They all take place in the broader context of a relentless assault on free speech being pursued though any number of means. Aside from violence and terror, this agenda is being advanced at the UN by the OIC, and in legislatures such as this case in Quebec, or in the UAE, which recently made it illegal to 'offend God'.

"The OIC desperately wants to see criticism of Islam criminalised globally, and too many 'useful idiots' in the West buy into their perversion of 'human rights' language to achieve this sinister aim. In August a senior Saudi official said that free expression was an 'abuse of religious rights'. The West must not be lazy in resisting this; or worse, compliant, as this piece of legislation is. Religions shouldn't have rights, and religious believers have no 'right' to remain unoffended by satire, criticism or ridicule."

Kentucky clerk acting under “God’s authority” in defying court over gay marriage

News | Wed, 2nd Sep 2015

A county clerk in Kentucky has persisted in denying same-sex couples marriage licenses, in open defiance of a federal court order.

Kim Davis, the clerk in Rowan County, said that she was acting with "God's authority". On Monday 31 August a one-line court ruling denied Davis' application for a stay, however she continued to fail to grant licenses.

Davis was then confronted by a gay couple about her continuing refusal to issue marriage licenses and when asked why she was not complying with the order, said "because I'm not".

She was then asked under "whose authority" she was refusing to issue marriage licenses when Davis replied that she was acting "under God's authority".

The clerk is now in direct defiance of the US Supreme Court and has said that any "validation" of same-sex marriage on her part would "forever echo in her conscience".

US District Judge David Bunning said that Davis has violated the First Amendment's wall of separation between church and state by "openly adopting a policy that promotes her own religious convictions at the expense of others."

One of Davis' supporters, Pastor Randy Smith, said that God has "higher authority than the Supreme Court." He said that same-sex marriage was an "abomination".

Davis has been described by her lawyer as a Christian with "sincerely held religious belief that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, only." However she has been called an "unlikely" candidate to wage a culture war, after it emerged that she has been married four times and given birth to children outside of marriage.

Funding row sees Israel’s Christian schools close down in strike against cuts

News | Wed, 2nd Sep 2015

All 45 Christian schools in Israel have closed in a strike to protest against funding cuts to their budget from the Israeli government.

Christian Schools in Israel released a statement blaming "the policies of the Ministry of Education" for "drying up" the funds needed to run the schools.

They are calling for their funds to be 'equalised' with other comparable schools and they accused the Israeli government of starting a "systematic campaign against our schools by unilaterally cutting its support from about 45%, compared to what was before, to 29% of the total cost of a primary school."

The schools have said regulations limiting tuition charges were "a death strike" that prevented them "from being able to work".

The schools were offered their full funding if they agreed to be recognised as "official" schools and formally brought into the state system, but they declined this offer. The change would have protected their budgets and allowed them to continue as Christian schools. No explanation was offered in the statement about why the schools did not accept the offer of becoming "official" schools.

While the schools are primarily run by the Catholic Church, 40% of pupils at the Christian schools are from Muslim families. The remaining 60% of students are from Christian families. The schools are currently "partially funded" by the state.

In addition to disputes over funding, Christian Schools in Israel have accused the Ministry of Education of obstructing the schools by not allowing "primary school teachers to participate in training courses designed for teachers".

They said the decision to go on strike was not done "lightly", but only "after a long study and careful thinking". The organisation has promised "several protests" alongside the strike action and it has committed to "compensate the students for any educational loss when this crisis is over".

The dispute comes as warnings appeared in Haaretz that Jewish religious groups are using Israeli government money to proselytise in schools. An official with knowledge of the education system said that the involvement of Orthodox religious groups in schools could even lead to 'greater extremism in the religious school system'.

There have been heightened religious tensions in Israel after attacks by Jewish extremists on Christian places of worship.