Newsline 6 December 2013

Newsline 6 December 2013

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News, Blogs & Opinion

NSS welcomes appeal court ruling against Christian who refused to work on Sundays

News | Thu, 5th Dec 2013

A Christian woman who claimed she had been constructively dismissed from her job as a care worker because she refused to work on Sundays has lost her case at the Court of Appeal. The decision has been welcomed by the National Secular Society.

Celestina Mba took Merton Council in London to an employment tribunal when she was told it was no longer possible to accommodate her request not to work Sunday shifts. Her original contract made clear that she would be expected to work weekends and bank holidays when necessary.

Mrs Mba, a Baptist Christian and mother-of-three, argued that she should be free to obey the Fourth Commandment in the Bible and rest and pray on the Sabbath.

However, London Borough of Merton council said it had a duty to ensure children had weekend care and there was no viable alternative.

Her original case of constructive dismissal failed on the grounds that observing the Sabbath was not a "core component" of the Christian faith because some believers were prepared to work on a Sunday. The case also turned partly on whether the employer could justify Sunday working as a "legitimate business need".

The tribunal dismissed her case, reasoning that "Sunday working was not a core component of the Christian faith" and because other Christians worked on that day she could not reasonably demand to have each Sunday off.

She appealed to an Employment Appeals Tribunal but her appeal was dismissed.

With the support of the Christian Legal Centre, Ms Mba took her case to the Court of Appeal, which today ruled that the previous decisions should be upheld, even though the judges thought there had been "legal errors" in the previous decisions.

The Court said that the faith of the individual believer should be recognised and in principle protected. Employment Tribunals must balance the religious beliefs of their employees in relation to business need. The Court recognised that Sunday observance is a valid and genuine expression of faith for many Christians and cannot be simply jettisoned because not all Christians share that view. In the judgment, Lord Justice Kay said: "It is clear … that for some Christians working on a Sundays is unacceptable."

Celestina Mba, said of her local authority employer: "They were trying to break my faith and see if I really believed in the Lord's Day. Merton disrespected my Christian faith. I said to the Court that the Council would not treat other faiths like they treat Christians. It was like giving pork to a Muslim every meal-time and then disciplining them for not eating it!

"If they really needed someone to work on a Sunday, they should have recruited that person and I would have been glad to leave. I had offered to take unpopular shifts and work anti-socials in order to protect Sundays."

The Court of Appeal found that the earlier courts had applied the wrong test to Merton's decision. Lord Justice Maurice Kay said "I am satisfied that there was an error of law in the decision of the ET and that it was repeated in the judgment of the EAT."

However, in spite of this, the Appeal Court refused to reconsider the findings of facts made by the Employment Tribunal or to order a new hearing to apply the correct test to the facts of the case. Thus, the dismissal of Celestina was upheld.

In his ruling, Lord Justice Maurice Kay concluded: "After the most anxious consideration, I have come to the conclusion that, in all the circumstances of this case, and notwithstanding the legal errors to which I have referred, the decision of the ET that the imposition of the PCP was proportionate was 'plainly and unarguably right'."

The Christian Legal Centre was anxious to try to minimise this latest defeat by claiming the Appeal Court's judgment was "a big step forward for the treatment of Christians."

Andrea Minichiello Williams, Barrister and Director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: "At last the courts are beginning to demonstrate greater understanding of what it means to be a Christian. Christian identity extends beyond private belief into daily life. We pray that the tide is turning. Many Christians will now be able to argue that their employer must respect their rights of Sabbath worship."

But Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: "The guidance for the Employment Discrimination Regulations already instructs employers to make reasonable accommodation for religious requests (and for requests on other grounds). But they accept that if granting such requests would negatively impact a business or service, then it can be refused. In this sense nothing has changed.

"If Ms Mba had won her case it could have potentially caused chaos in the workplace because other religions also have holy days that believers might want to observe. A ruling in favour of Ms Mba would have also had to be extended to all other faiths.

"It's not hard to imagine the negative impact on some businesses it all the Christians wanted Sunday off and all the Muslims wanted Friday off and all the Jews wanted Saturday off."

Mr Sanderson said he hoped that the Christian Legal Centre would not pursue this matter further as it would be a costly waste of time for them and for the taxpayer.

Merton Council leader Stephen Alambritis told the BBC: "Children in local authority care who have severe disabilities and who need weekend support, and their families who rely on this support, can feel reassured that their children's care and support will be consistent.

"Wherever possible, we accommodate our employees' needs and requirements."

Read the Court of Appeal ruling in full (PDF)

Vatican ducks questions from UN on the worldwide child abuse in Catholic institutions

News | Tue, 3rd Dec 2013

The Vatican has failed to answer detailed questions by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on cases of child sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy, brothers or nuns or brought to the attention of the Holy See. These formal questions were raised as part of the review of the reports the UN Committee require states that have ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child to provide every five years.

In a formal response to the UN Committee's 'list of issues' or questions, the Holy See based its failure to answer them on the legal technicality that it is "related but separate and distinct from the Catholic Church". It added: "it is not the practice of the Holy See to disclose information on the religious discipline of members of the clergy or religious according to canon law, unless there is a related matter concerning international judicial cooperation with a State and the request by the State is made, generally, through specific procedures".

The UN Committee prefaced its questions by pointing to "the recognition by the Holy See of sexual violence against children committed by members of the clergy, brothers and nuns in numerous countries around the world, and given the scale of the abuses".

Keith Porteous Wood of the (UK) National Secular Society, which, together with victims groups, has submitted evidence about such abuse to the Committee earlier this year, commented: "Under the direct control of the Pope, the Church operates a firm 'command and control structure' over the worldwide Church, particularly over the handling of clerical rape and sexual violence offences. It requires that it is sent all records of the tens of thousands of these criminal offences, and secretes them centrally.

"The huge scale of rape and sexual violence in Catholic institutions worldwide over the last 50 years is a matter of public record, and more is still regularly being reported. The Holy See's and the Church's culpability lies in the fact that, that scale of abuse would have been hugely reduced had those in the Church been required to invariably report credible allegations and suspicions to civil authorities. Instead, there is evidence that in many cases abusers were moved by the Church to other locations where they frequently resumed their sexual violence that has ruined so many lives.

"The Holy See's brazen failure, on arcane legal technicalities, to provide the information sought by the Committee is a new low point in the Church's lamentable record over child abuse.

"Many will be disappointed and surprised by this slap in the face to both the tens if not hundreds of thousands of suffering victims and to a United Nations body.

"The Holy See, under the Pope, uses its considerable diplomatic might to promote the doctrines and the self-interest of the Catholic Church and clearly commands and controls child abuse policy in the Church worldwide, including through its own (canon) "law". It is both shameless and unacceptable for it to undermine the UN's efforts, made in the interest of protecting past and future victims, by refusing to provide the information that the UN seeks.

The Holy See's earlier report to the Committee can be read here.

This report gave rise to the Committee's "List of Issues" (questions), which can be found here.

You can read the Holy See's response to the questions here.

NSS intervenes in bid to prevent Church takeover of Suffolk community school

News | Wed, 4th Dec 2013

The National Secular Society is assisting local parents to block a proposal to convert a Suffolk community school to a Church of England school.

Parents at Dell Primary school in Lowestoft contacted the NSS after Suffolk County Council issued a Statutory Notice to change the status of the school from Community to Church of England Voluntary Aided. In order to achieve this, the legal process requires the existing community school to be closed and a new Voluntary Aided school to be opened.

The NSS has written to Suffolk County Council with concerns over the consultation process, which it says was biased and failed to inform parents of a number of significant implications of converting the status of the school. This contravenes Department for Education guidance (pdf) which requires those bringing forward proposals to "provide sufficient information for those being consulted to form a considered view on the matters on which they are being consulted".

Unlike community schools, which are controlled by the local authority, Voluntary Aided schools are their own 'admissions authority' and are allowed to select or discriminate against prospective pupils on religious grounds if oversubscribed. In addition, the governing body employs the staff and can apply a religious test in appointing, remunerating and promoting all teachers. Voluntary Aided faith schools are also free to devise their own religious education syllabus rather than follow the locally agreed syllabus.

The Church of England has recently signalled its intention to intensify the religious input across the whole curriculum and life of its schools, which are funded by the State.

One parent concerned about the proposals is mother of two Claudette Brewer. She told the NSS: "I do not want my children to be educated at a school that has the freedom to impose its own religious beliefs on pupils, and the freedom to discriminate against those that do not conform to those beliefs".

The proposals for the school to take on a religious character have been brought forward by the school's governing body, and appear to have been initiated by the local authority appointed school governor, who is also the local vicar.

According to the school governors: "Dell Primary School already has very strong links with St Mark's Church. Canon Ian Bentley, the vicar there, has been a governor at the school for three years and plays an active role in its development. Becoming a Church of England voluntary aided school is a natural way to cement these links and strengthen our bond with the local church community."

Waveney, in which Dell primary is situated, is the least religious area in Suffolk, judged by it having the lowest percentage of Sunday attendance at 5.3% of the local population in 2005. Less than 3% of 22 to 44-year-old age group (those most likely to be parents) attend a local church of any denomination on Sunday. Only around a third of church attendees in Suffolk attend an Anglican church.

Stephen Evans, campaigns manager at the National Secular Society, said: "This proposal appears to serve the needs of the Church rather than local families and the population of Suffolk as a whole.

"If Suffolk County Council agree to this proposal it will drastically reduce choice for local parents who do not want their children to receive an education with a distinctive Christian character.

"We have raised a number of concerns with Suffolk County Council about this proposal and we very much hope they reject it. It would certainly be inappropriate to proceed on the basis on a biased consultation that failed to enable local taxpayers to make a fully informed decision about the future of their local school."

Image: Alex McGregor

New research reveals socio-economic segregation impact of faith schools

News | Tue, 3rd Dec 2013

New research published by the Fair Admissions Campaign has highlighted the extent to which faith-based admissions policies create socio-economic segregation.

According to the findings, comprehensive secondary schools with no religious character admit 11% more pupils eligible for free school meals than live in their local areas. Comprehensive Church of England secondaries admit 10% fewer; Roman Catholic secondaries 24% fewer; Jewish secondaries 61% fewer; and Muslim secondaries 25% fewer.

Campaigners say the findings reveal a "clear correlation" between the degree of religious selection and how socio-economically exclusive schools are. According to the figures, non-religiously selective Church of England comprehensives admitted 4% more pupils eligible for free school meals than would be expected compared to their area. In contrast, Church of England schools whose admission criteria allowed for full selection on religious grounds admitted 31% fewer children on free school meals.

Chairman of the Accord coalition for inclusive education Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain said that the data poses some "very awkward questions" for the state-funded faith school sector.

"This new research exposes the hypocrisy of those who claim religiously selective schools serve the community at large", he said.

"It reveals that they not only further segregate children on religious and ethnic grounds, but also are skewed towards serving the affluent at the expense of the deprived."

Last month, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby issued a statement saying he fully supported current policy for Church of England schools to set their own admissions criteria, including that of faith.

Stephen Evans, campaigns manager at the National Secular Society, said: "School admissions policies that discriminate on religious grounds are not only unfair, they also encourage socio-economic segregation and impede community cohesion. The time has come to end the exemptions from equality legislation that permits publicly-funded schools to select or turn away pupils on the basis of their parents' religious beliefs.

"Rather than acquiescing to demands from parents and faith groups to divide children along religious lines, we need an inclusive education system that values and caters for all pupils equally, regardless of religion or belief. The very concept of faith schools undermines the foundations of fairness, mutual respect and understanding that is so essential to the future of a pluralistic Britain."

Map of English secondary schools by religious and socio-economic selection

Fair Admissions Campaign map: in-depth briefing (PDF)

Section 5 reform to come into effect in February

News | Wed, 4th Dec 2013

A free speech reform backed by The National Secular Society will come into effect on 1 February next year.

From that date the word "insulting" will be removed from Section 5 of the Public Order Act – a provision that permitted the police to arrest people because someone else thought their words or behaviour "insulting". This resulted in people being arrested for preaching against homosexuality in the street and, in one case, for calling a policeman's horse "gay". Others had been arrested for calling Scientology "a cult" and for saying "woof" to a dog.

The NSS worked together with the Christian Institute and others to campaign against the "insulting" provision and after a hard-fought effort, the Government agreed to the reform.

Despite Government resistance, the House of Lords overwhelmingly supported reforming Section 5 in December last year, voting 150 to 54 in favour of an amendment to remove the word "insulting".

In January the Government gave way and agreed to the move, which will now come into place following guidance for police forces on the change.

Other supporters of Reform Section 5 campaign included comedian Rowan Atkinson and the Peter Tatchell Foundation.

Simon Calvert, the Campaign Director for Reform Section 5 (RS5), said: "We are delighted that this important change will come into force soon. We campaigned for this change because we believe that while insults are rude and we'd like to see fewer of them, the police and courts really don't need to get involved. This campaign was an unusual alliance, but we all agreed that Section 5 needed reforming for the sake of free speech."

However Mr Calvert warned that under the new Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill sweeping new powers could be a fresh challenge to free speech. Under Clause 1 of the Bill, ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders) would be replaced by Injunctions to Prevent Nuisance and Annoyance (IPNAs).

The law is so broad and the safeguards are so weak that the proposed new law could catch legitimate public protest.

One senior lawyer, Lord Macdonald QC, has warned the proposals are extremely broad and could result in "serious and unforeseeable interferences in individual rights, to the greater public detriment".

The NSS again has joined a coalition of groups to oppose this development.

Catholic sex abuse scandal: how will Pope Francis make the Church accountable?

Opinion | Wed, 4th Dec 2013

The Vatican's refusal to provide information requested by the United Nations on the alleged sexual abuse of children could mean Pope Francis's honeymoon period ends in ignominy, just like his predecessor, argues Terry Sanderson.

Did you know that the Pope "sneaks out" of the Vatican at night dressed as an ordinary priest so that he can minister to the homeless and destitute on the streets of Rome?

Isn't it marvellous?

Did you know that Pope Francis once worked as a bouncer at a nightclub?

How wonderful – he's just like one of us – a working man.

As the propaganda piles up, Pope Francis basks in the adulation of the uncritical masses.

But wait. What's this? The sex abuse scandal that so tormented his predecessor seems to be emerging again after being swept under the rug during Francis's honeymoon period.

The Holy See (the political wing of the Vatican) has at last responded to questions put to it by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child about the global issue of child rape by priests.

Or, more accurately, it has not responded. It says that it has nothing to do with what goes on in the dioceses and parishes of its churches. Therefore it cannot be held responsible in any way for the unspeakable things that some of its priests do to defenceless children.

And just when the Vatican thought it had distracted us from the horrors that thousands of its priests have perpetrated, it all starts slithering back again.

The Los Angeles Times has carried out an investigation into Cardinal Roger Mahoney and his decades-long cover-up of child rape by priests. The exposé is based on "nearly 23,000 pages of internal documents from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and various religious orders that were made public this year in compliance with court orders". And even then, only in the face of bitter opposition from the Church.

The paper revealed in an editorial that, following the investigation, it had received an unprecedented number of letters from readers condemning the Church.

Meanwhile, more cases emerge all round the world. So many in fact, that news of them hardly gets any further than local newspapers any more.

And sometimes the sheer spitefulness and cynicism employed to evade paying compensation to victims is breath-taking, especially from an institution that purports to dictate morality to the rest of us. In Australia a man who is terminally ill and who was sodomised repeatedly by a number of priests has won compensation, but a year later he has not seen a penny of it. Why is the church delaying?

In Minnesota, a court has ordered a diocese to hand over the names of 33 priests who are suspected of abusing and raping children. It has only taken 30 years to get to this stage – and the names haven't been handed over yet.

It's not that the Vatican is unaware of the problem – as its chief prosecutor of paedophile priests has made clear. Father Robert Oliver says, "Rome is 'well aware' of how frustrated many people are with perceived confusion about how to hold bishops accountable when they're accused of failing to make a 'zero tolerance' policy stick and hopes a solution will emerge from debates over curial reform under Pope Francis".

Haven't we been here before? Didn't Benedict promise that reform would come if we were patient? Well, we were patient (in some cases, 30 years patient) and nothing much happened. Ineffective "zero tolerance" policies were supposedly introduced, but still the cover-ups continue.

Is Francis going to be any different? Last week he had an opportunity to at least apologise for the disgusting record of his Church. At a meeting with Dutch bishops he was supposed to say (according to notes handed out before the meeting) "I wish to express my compassion and to ensure my closeness in prayer to every victim of sexual abuse, and to their families; I ask you to continue to support them along the painful path of healing, that they have undertaken with courage".

In the event, he didn't say it and preferred instead to just talk generally with the bishops who represent a country with its own major abuse scandal. A public inquiry recently showed that tens of thousands of children had been raped by Dutch priests, and now the church is paying out millions in compensation.

In return, the bishops told the Pope that the Catholic Church is dying on its feet in the Netherlands. Hundreds of churches have closed and more than 23,000 Catholics quit the Dutch Church in 2010, the peak of an exodus in which an average 18,000 have left each year since 2006. (This year, however, only about 7,500 had left by October.)

And so, as we are regaled with tales of Francis's marvellous humanity, his love of the poor and suffering, the tens of thousands – maybe even millions - of victims around the globe wait and hope that something will change. Francis seems too busy being adored at present to be bothered with them.

When one bishop asked a victim who had taken him to court "What can I do to make it better?" The victim replied: "Give me back my childhood".

That is the scale of Francis's problem and if he isn't careful, his glorious honeymoon is going to end in ignominy, just like his predecessor.

The God Question – a Trojan horse for Intelligent Design

Opinion | Fri, 29th Nov 2013

Intelligent Design is back in shiny new packaging, labelled as 'evidence based and balanced' and getting into the science classrooms in Scotland, argues Alistair McBay.

"To be sure, Darwin's theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions."
Judge John Jones, Pennsylvania 2008, Kitzmiller et al v Dover Area School District.

Earlier this week I went to the launch of the God Question in the memorial chapel at Glasgow University, a subject about which I wrote in an earlier blog. This is a series of slick and expensively produced DVDs and workbooks that pitch science against God, claiming to review the evidence for and against the existence of God and to leave viewers to draw their own conclusions.

I was advised by the producer that, to the extent that there were any references in it to young earth creationism (YEC), it was only to make a point of ensuring its inclusion as one line of argument. He added that he felt the YECs, with whom he held no truck, had muddied the waters and got in the way of a valid and necessary debate that this new resource was positioned to present – namely to what extent, if any, science had destroyed belief in God, or whether science left room for God, and perhaps even revealed the hand of God at work. When I asked him to tell me who the sponsors of the programme were, he declined to answer, while assuring me I should read nothing Machiavellian into their desire to remain anonymous.

Professor Richard Dawkins is named at the outset of the presentation as the villain of the piece, with his book "The God Delusion" and Channel 4 series "The Root of All Evil?" cast as the motivating factors behind the production of the God Question. Professor Dawkins is listed as a contributor to the God Question, although the clips of him used in the presentation appeared to be culled from YouTube. No doubt Professor Dawkins will be reviewing this resource himself. As I sat through the presentation, it proved to be everything I had initially suspected it to be, namely a paean to Intelligent Design (ID) and whether the evidence — scientific evidence — pointed to the universe being a series of chance happenings or the result of the intervention of a creative mind behind the processes at work.

Having followed the ID debate closely, the presentation was all too familiar, with the room for God presented as a valid alternative view, or perhaps even conclusion, to pure scientific arguments. This was on the basis that many eminent scientists are also religious believers, and so this justifies room for debate around the need for a creator or creative mind at work behind the universe. In the Cosmos section, we were asked to marvel at how swiftly the universe became ordered after Big Bang, with established laws of physics set down such that had the quantities of the basic elements in the universe been even minutely different to what they are, there would be nothing. And how could something as awe-inspiring and mysterious as the universe and the human brain spring from nothing? As I listened I wished that the producers had asked Lawrence Krauss to contribute to their programme on the basis of his seminal work "A Universe from Nothing" which addresses that issue for once and for all, not least in reviewing what is meant by 'nothing'. It seems a huge mistake on their part not to include Professor Krauss's work.

In the evolution section, we were told that God versus Darwin was a false choice, and the reality was much more complicated than that. We were encouraged at various points to consider whether everything we knew about the universe, or evolution, or the human brain and consciousness, was the subject of chance and random occurrences, or evidence of intention and purposeful design. We were told that the evidence must be allowed to speak for itself, which does rather depend on what and whose evidence is presented, how it is presented, and by whom.

We were also informed that the 'God' in question was not the 'magician in the sky', and certainly not the God of the YECs, but while being told what this God wasn't, we were never told what this God actually was! There was no definition of what or who was the 'God' in the title, leaving the audience with the inference that 'God' was the convenient name for the mind at work, the creative input that manifested itself in the specific design that lay behind the universe, rather than the universe being the outcome of a series of chance happenings with no purpose.

We were told that the programmes presented the evidence from both sides of the debate. The first problem is that this presupposes there is a valid debate to be had in the first place which I would argue there is not. The second problem is that the two sides of the debate are not equally presented. Science is put on the spot, with which I have no problem. However, the issue of the 'designer' is not subjected to the same intensive forensic process, leaving the viewer with nothing more than the notion of an unseen guiding hand, occasionally in a 'God of the Gaps' scenario. The scientific evidence provided by science is analysed to justify what is presented as two equally valid alternatives, one of which is in fact anti-science!

The closing address to the audience was given by Mike McGrath, the head of the Scottish Catholic Education Service who stated that the God Question had 'huge potential' and that as well as the subject matter being raised in RME (Religious and Moral Education) classes it was also valid to discuss the issues raised in science classes. This is further confirmed by an advertisement for a national conference today in Scotland organised by SCES for Catholic schools to review the product, which states:

The conference is aimed at teachers of Religious Education and teachers of Science in Catholic schools. In both curricular areas teachers are expected to engage senior phase students in exploring the links between Science and Religion and in addressing significant moral and ethical issues in today's world. The conference will illustrate how useful this resource can be in supporting this area of learning and it will address ways in which Catholic schools might extend teachers' understanding of Church teaching on some challenging issues."

And so back to the quote at the beginning of this blog from Judge John Jones in Pennsylvania in December 2008. Intelligent Design may not have wormed its way into the science classrooms in Dover County, Pennsylvania, but five years on it is now back in shiny new packaging, labelled as 'evidence based and balanced' and getting into the science classrooms in Scotland. And with the enthusiastic support of the Church of Scotland and the Scottish Catholic Church, we also now know that turkeys definitely do not vote for Christmas.

Alistair McBay is the NSS spokesperson in Scotland. The views expressed in our blogs are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the NSS.

Netherlands scraps blasphemy law – but seeks a way to replace it

News | Thu, 5th Dec 2013

The upper House of the Dutch parliament has voted to abolish the country's blasphemy law (Article 147), which has been on the statute books since 1932. However, it still remains illegal under Dutch law to be disrespectful to police officers or to insult Queen Beatrix.

There had been some doubt about whether the abolition would go through after the Coalition Government tried to placate smaller religious parties – the votes of which it needs in order to get its economic policy through.

As a compromise, another parliamentary decision was approved that will permit an amendment to another statute in order to outlaw "serious insult to religion".

Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: "The blasphemy law in the Netherlands was more or less a dead duck anyway and hasn't been used for decades. Courts regarded it as unusable. Introducing something else in its place could be very much worse. Protecting religion from 'insult' gives the green light to every extremist in the country to start using the law to try to restrict free speech."

Read this week's Newsline in full (PDF)

NSS Speaks Out

The BBC picked up our story about the Vatican refusing to co-operate with the UN on its inquiry into sex abuse by priests. It was carried on several news bulletins as well as on the website. It was also carried in The Guardian, Raw Story, and Malta Today.

The NSS was widely quoted on the case of Celestina Mba, the Christian woman who lost her appeal against her employer who had refused permission for her to take every Sunday off work. We were quoted in The Guardianand Terry Sanderson was interviewed on BBC Radio WM.

NSS Scottish spokesperson, Alistair McBay, had a letter published in the Hebrides News.

The NSS was quoted in an article in The Voice about whether Christians are "under attack" and NSS executive director, Keith Porteous Wood, was quoted in a Times report about gender segregation on university campuses (subscription).

NSS AGM next Saturday!

The Annual General Meeting of the National Secular Society will take place on Saturday 14 December 2013 at Conway Hall, London. The meeting start at 1.30pm (registration opens at 1pm).

There will also be a memorial meeting for Bill McIlroy who died this year and who contributed so much to the NSS. This will begin at 11.30am, just before the AGM, all welcome.

Full information here.