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“The primary purpose of religion is to control women”.
(George Monbiot, Any Questions, Radio 4)
“I remember once saying, in despair, to my somewhat turbulent two-year-old son: “I suppose you know that Santa Claus knows what’s going on here,” and it was like waving a magic wand, and I remember thinking this is what the priests must have worked out a long time ago.”
(Christopher Hitchens, The Times)
“There was ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University challenging the graduates to confront ‘the radical secularists’ who ‘insist that religious belief is inherently divisive and that public debate can only proceed on secular terms.’ Excuse me, but how would you have a public debate in religious terms? A Scripture-quoting competition?”
(Carol Towarnicky, Philadelphia Daily News)
(Jackie Ashley, Guardian)
(Sami Zubada, Open Democracy)
The President and the vice President of the National Secular Society this week joined the BHA, and activists from Scotland, Wales and Derbyshire in a meeting with Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
In an interview in the Guardian, Oona King, the former MP and now chair of the new Institute for Community Cohesion says that despite the fact that “faith schools” are an obvious cause of separation, no politician will ever dare to oppose them.
The right of the Catholic Church in Scotland to select teachers in denominational schools on the basis of their religion was criticised on Thursday by John Quigley, the outgoing president of the Educational Institute of Scotland.
NSS Executive Director, Keith Porteous Wood was in Brussels on Tuesday attending a meeting of the Separation of Religion and Politics Working Party in the EU parliament.
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has launched a new “Coalition to defend freedom of religious and cultural expression." The coalition is being set up in the light of “claims that different communities and faith groups openly expressing their culture or faith threaten community relations in Britain.”
A new ‘joint’ community school and Catholic school was opened in Gateshead this week. But far from unifying the children, it has separate gates and car parks. From the reception area Catholic children turn left and non-Catholic children turn right.
An attempt in the House of Commons to require women to receive counselling before having an abortion was rejected by 182 votes to 107 this week. Also proposed was a seven-day cooling off period after counselling before a termination could take place to allow women to consider their options. Introducing the termination of pregnancy (counselling and miscellaneous provisions) bill, Tory Ann Winterton (Congleton) said it gave women considering abortion the full facts and time they needed to make the decision.
The Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien caused controversy last week by making veiled threats of withdrawal of communion to Catholic politicians at Westminster who did not support the proposals.
Editorial by Terry Sanderson
Prime Minister Tony Blair this week called on the “authentic voices of Islam, in their various schools and manifestations” to speak for themselves, and to reclaim from extremists “the true essence of religious belief.”
A fascinating report from the Dutch National Anti-Terrorism Co-ordinating Office indicates that Dutch Muslims seem to be losing interest in the debate about Islam and international jihad.
“Islamic Studies” will now be regarded as a strategically important subject the Government announced this week. This is in response to the findings of the independent review “Universities in England – meeting the needs and investing in the future” by Dr Ataullah Siddiqui which was published on Monday.
An armed gang smashed its way into a house in the Birmingham suburb of Erdington in search of a teenage Sikh girl whom, it is suspected, they intended to force to convert to Islam.
The Campaign Against Honour Killing (CAHK) in Germany has accused the legal system in the country of being indifferent to the suspicious death of a 17-year old girl known as Unsa.
Our dedicated performance of the exciting new play The Last Priest is booking well, so reserve your ticket now so that you don’t miss out.
Do you have a legal background, with interest in international and Canon Law? A new secular website would profit from a bit of your background advice and help in locating published legal commentary. If you think you can help, please write to tas@secularism.org.uk
A committee drafting the proposed new constitution for Thailand has said that it will not include a demand that Buddhism be made the state religion.
...for he has written one of the finest down-with-god books"...
Our £5,000 Irwin Prize for Secularist of the Year 2007 will be presented on 20 October in London.
Most people in Turkey believe the secular nature of their country is not in peril at the moment, according to a poll by ANDY-AR Social Research Centre. 68.4 per cent of respondents think secularism is not in danger, while 19.2 per cent fear it is.
Here you can see the ultimate destination of “faith schools” with a visit to a Hamas Kindergarten
On the Guardian website there are a couple of interesting podcasts this week one with Prof Richard Dawkins and the other with our Secularist of the Year for last year, Prof Steve Jones. There is also a discussion in the main science weekly show
You’ll feel terribly guilty about laughing at it, but this is the Passion of the Christ starring Benny Hill!
Want to help out with the latest atheist best-seller? From the latest Skeptic’s Dictionary newsletter, a book in progress whose chapter on morality-without-religion can be read for free.
This is what Bob Carroll – an Emeritus professor of philosophy - says about it: “I'm not going to argue about the existence of gods or claim that religion is a curse. My focus will be on why religion is unnecessary. I start the book by answering the challenge of theists regarding morality. Without God, they say, there can be no right or wrong. I called this book godless before an unspeakable excuse for a human being published a book with that title. The outline is complete, but only a draft of the chapter on morality has been written. I'm posting it here for readers of this newsletter to read and, I hope, comment on. Please send your comments and suggestions to author@skepdic.com
The NSS was quoted in an Observer story about an Iranian promoter of “faith schools” who has donated £1millon to the Labour Party
We were quoted in a Guardian story about Intelligent Design in CofE schools.
The NSS was quoted in an article in The Sunday Express about the abortion debate
Our Scottish representative Alistair McBay had a letter in the Herald about the ranting of Cardinal O’Brien over abortion.
Terry Sanderson took part in a debate about the interference of the church in politics on BBC Radio Wales on Monday.
Keith Porteous Wood was quoted in a story in the Daily Express about Blair’s speech to the Muslim conference. Unfortunately, the on-line link does not work.
Please send your letters for publication to letters@secularism.org.uk . We want to publish as many letters as possible, so please keep them brief. We reserve the right to edit. Opinions expressed in letters are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the NSS.
A tribute to Marlene Dietrich.
(Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL Thursday 28 June, 7.30pm) A fun evening of film and music as we explore the life and times of Marlene Dietrich, the world’s most glamorous atheist. We’ll explore her movie and stage career as well as her medal-winning war heroism as a determined anti-Nazi. This tribute evening will include generous film clips and a complete performance of her famous one-woman show, recorded in Sweden in1963 with Burt Bacharach as musical director. Tickets £10 see www.gayhumanist.com/marlene for more details.
Letters to Newsline
Letters for publication should be addressed to letters@secularism.org.uk. Please keep letters short so that others can have their say.
