Newsline 1st July 2005
Quotes Of The Week
Essays Of The Week
Creationists Hit The Jackpot with Academies
How Religion Is Taking Over Our Schools
Norfolk Schools Take 'Scary Bits' Out Of R.E. Classes
Muslim MP Doesn't Understand The Religious Hatred Bill - But He's On The Committee Examining It
BBC Religious Seminar: Look Out For An Increase In Religious Propaganda
Churches Get Extra Cash For Repairs While Other Heritage Buildings Crumble
In The Face Of Huge Catholic Pressure, Canada And Spain Legalise Gay Marriage
US Supreme Court Rules On Public Displays Of Religion - And Comes Up With A Mess
Iran Goes Back To Mediaeval Barbarity
Casino Stacks the Odds in its Favour with "Shower Jesus"
NSS Speaks Out
Happy Atheists
Letters To Newsline
Quotes Of The Week
"The challenge for unbelievers is how to continue to ask awkward questions and uncover uncomfortable truths when the supporters of religion are armed with ever more sophisticated tools of protest. In this environment, the media and governments must be resolute in arguing that the right to offend might sometimes be the price to be paid to expose truths or produce challenging art."
(Sarfraz Manzoor, Index on Censorship)
"It's now common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that,' as if that gives them certain rights. It's no more than a whine. 'I'm offended by that.' Well, so f****** what?"
(Stephen Fry)
Essays Of The Week
Reading, writing and religion
Catholic political power reviving in Europe
Thou shalt not be indecisive
You ain’t seen nothing yet
Creationists Hit The Jackpot with Academies
Christian fundamentalists anxious to push their barmy creationist theories think all their birthdays have come at once with Mr Blair's Academy school programme. For a relatively small amount (in fundamentalist terms) they can take over a school and push crackpot theories on to children with no questions asked.
Christian multi-millionaire Bob Edmiston is now proposing sponsorship of a second city academy at Woodway Park School in Coventry. The super-rich Christian evangelist is already putting out propaganda aimed at reassuring the community it is aimed at. The council has agreed to go forward with the proposition.
However, not all councillors are happy with the development. Cllr Dave Nellist said: "This is far more dangerous than faith schools. Forty per cent of the academy sponsors are Christian and they are all fundamentalist Christians. There is the question of other academies teaching creationism on a par with evolution which is going back to the middle ages. If I won the lottery would I be able to open an academy on Marxist principles?"
Cllr Derek Benefield said: "I am concerned that the government is playing politics with our children. A secular state school is going to be replaced, in effect, by a religious school. At the moment, religious schools are optional. In this case, parents who live in the catchment area may be forced to send their children to this school against their will if places are not available in other schools. This totally flies in the face of Tony Blair's talk about parental 'choice'."
Christian groups appear keen to gain a strong presence in the academy programme. Christian charity the Oasis Trust set up an 'academies consultancy' shortly after the expansion drive was announced to help other religious propagandists to sponsor the new secondaries. Mr Edmiston's Grace Academy in Chelmsley Wood will replace Whitesmore School and is due to open in September 2006.
Ken Purchase, Labour MP for Wolverhampton North East, attacked the move and his party's policy on academies. "I think Labour's policy on this is an absolute disaster," he said. "I say keep religion out of education. Leave that job to the parents and the church. If churches wish people to become Christian and Gurdwaras wish them to become Sikh and people from the Muslim faith want them to learn Islam they have a perfect right to do so. I absolutely defend their right to do this. But keep it out of our schools."
Cllr John Blundell, Coventry City Council's cabinet member for children's services, said: "This is the beginning of the process and not the end and there will be opportunity for a full exploration of the issue." He was confident Woodway Park sponsor Mr Edmiston would continue to run the school with input from Coventry City Council and wouldn't impose his religious views on pupils
Bob Edmiston's right-hand man in charge of the academy project, Steve Chase, tried to soothe the mounting concerns when he said the schools would be open to anyone "of any faith or even no faith" (note that he does not say that those of non-Christian, no-religious origin will have equal access – they might get a place if there are any left after deserving people get in). It will have a "Christian ethos" with "Christian values and principles." So what might that involve?
He told the Coventry Evening News: "They are probably more towards the values society generally would want children to have anyway – honesty, integrity, work ethic, caring, concern for others, a sense of social responsibility, good behaviour, respect for others, tolerance, all those sorts of things."
But then the truth is slipped in ever so quietly. The school will teach creationism as well as Darwin's theory of evolution, in the "appropriate lessons" and it would teach children about other religious faiths, he said.
Mr Chase told the Evening News: "What we've said is we will teach evolution — because it is a theory still, unless someone has found the missing link and proofs to put it to bed once and for all — and creationism, in the appropriate subjects. Certainly evolution is usually taught in science and creationism is usually in RE, but that would not exclude a closer look at comparative theories of the origins of the world in either subject."
Mr Edmiston, as sponsor, commits to putting £2 million into the academy – which, as one of the richest men in the country, amounts to pocket money for him. The government (through our taxes) will then turn over another £25 million to create a new building for the school. Taxpayers will also be responsible for all ongoing costs – running into tens of millions over the years. In exchange, Mr Edmiston gets the opportunity to promote his mad ideas to a captive audience of children.
Edmiston's fortune comes from the IM Group, which imports Subarus and Daihatsu cars. He also founded the evangelical charity Christian Vision, which has a network of Christian radio stations around the world, broadcasting religious propaganda to South America, India, Africa, China and Indonesia.
Asked to define creationism, Mr Chase said: "If you ask 20 people you'll get 20 different answers. It will range from extreme dogma - and this won't just be Christian, but quite a few religions - (which) say God created and that's that. He did it in six days and then had a day off. That's the Christian version. Many faiths have slightly different slants on that. Many faiths believe in a creator. At the other extreme, even within faith circles, it would be was creation through evolution. In the end, none of it is proved conclusively. It's Darwin's theory, isn't it? The theory of evolution. It has various different interpretations of that. I wouldn't want to say, myself. They are not mutually exclusive necessarily."
Any activists in Coventry who would like to oppose this academy please note: the Council promises to consult on the matter in September and October.
See also:
How Religion Is Taking Over Our Schools
When asked in a parliamentary question how many faith schools have been established in England since 1997, and how many she expects to be established in the next five years, Minister for Schools Jacqui Smith revealed: “There have been 145 voluntary aided schools (schools within which the majority of governors are appointed by the faith body) opened in England since 1997 (of these one closed in 1998 and two closed in 2001), with a further 31 proposals received for the next five years. Faith schools can be proposed by promoters at any time and, as such, the Department is currently only aware of schools proposed up to 2007. There have also been some 48 voluntary controlled schools (schools within which the majority of governors are appointed by the local education authority and have a strong link to the faith body) opened since 1997, with a further 21 proposals received for the period to 2007.”
Norfolk Schools Take 'Scary Bits' Out Of R.E. Classes
NORFOLK SCHOOLS TAKE ‘SCARY BITS’ OUT OF R.E. CLASSES
Norfolk County Council have defied tabloid claims of “political correctness gone mad” and rubber-stamped their new RE guidelines that dump the scary terms like “Holy Ghost” from lessons.
Among the guidelines — which were condemned by education campaigners — was advice to: stop talking about the body and blood of Christ as it suggests cannibalism, to axe the phrase Old Testament because it was too old-fashioned and not to use the phrase Wailing Wall as it is too negative
But at a meeting of the county council’s cabinet this week, the syllabus was given the go-ahead by the authority – with the advice relating to the Wailing Wall, the Holy Ghost and the Eucharist staying in.
Fred Corbett, the county council’s assistant director of children’s services, who is also clerk to the Norfolk standing advisory council for religious education (Sacre), told the meeting: “There was a lot of media interest when this first came before cabinet in April. But these were support papers that have been used in a similar way in other parts of the country. We have taken the opportunity to amend that paper after some of the concerns that were raised. This syllabus has strong support from teachers in Norfolk — they have warmly welcomed it.” The guidelines will be available for teachers to refer to in all Norfolk schools, but are not compulsory.
Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society, said: “Wouldn’t it be a lot easier if they simply dumped religious indoctrination instead of trying to make it sound as though it isn’t religious indoctrination?”
Muslim MP Doesn't Understand The Religious Hatred Bill - But He's On The Committee Examining It
There was a very telling exchange last week on Radio 4’s Westminster Hour, when the newly-elected Muslim MP Shahid Malik — who is on the Commons Committee that has been examining the Bill this week — was challenged by Tory MP Andrew Selou and Lib Dem Alistair Carmichael to describe an offence that would be caught by this Bill that would not already be covered by existing legislation.
Mr Malik replied: “Well, I think that you know the answer that you’re gonna get from that which is that it is for judges and the judiciary to actually interpret the law, to develop case law etc – but what I would say is… at this moment in time you’ve got a white, Muslim woman, a convert, and you have a white woman who isn’t a Muslim, and the white woman who isn’t a Muslim incites hatred towards the white woman who is a Muslim. I don’t see how that can be dealt with under current legislation.”
Alistair Carmichael responded: “The situation that Shahid has just outlined, to my mind, would be covered by the English law of incitement to harassment.”
Malik tried to recover by saying: “The difference would be, and it’s an important difference, there wouldn’t be any aggravating factors.” Mr Carmichael responded: “It could be religiously aggravated under existing legislation as well.”
So – what exactly would this law catch? We’re still waiting for an explanation from those who are so anxious for it to be enacted.
Meanwhile, The Mail on Sunday reported a poll by the British Polling Index which showed that 56 per cent of respondents thought the religious hatred law would censor religious comment. 73% believe the measure is designed mainly to please Muslim groups in Britain, and only 19% think it is a necessary measure to promote racial harmony with 69% saying it is not needed. A similar number oppose the measure in principle, with only 12% supporting it.
The remaining stages of the Bill will take place in the Commons on 11th July. It will then go to the House of Lords for another good kicking in the autumn.
See also:
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Write to your MP asking him or her to vote against the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill. Here are some arguments you might use:
The measures are unnecessary – existing legislation covers all conceivable offences in this area.
The Bill is Draconian, with high penalties and very low conviction thresholds
The Bill will have a massive adverse impact on freedom of expression, particularly through self-censorship. Unreasonable views are far better dealt with by debate, than being allowed to fester unchallenged.
Bringing the courts into disputes will exacerbate, rather than calm, community tensions. Those refused permission to proceed and those losing cases will be regarded as martyrs and receive generous publicity.
The Attorney General’s approval is only a limited safeguard, especially if to refuse prosecutions might alienate a significant section of the community shortly prior to a general election.
MP’s email addresses are given on http://www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/alms.cfm. Letters can be sent to them at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.
BBC Religious Seminar: Look Out For An Increase In Religious Propaganda
The BBC's seminar "Taking Belief Seriously", which was held in May, bodes ill for those of us who feel that the BBC is going to be made a platform for an increasing amount of religious propaganda. A report of the seminar is available on-line.
The report shows how the BBC is being pushed by powerful religious lobbies into broadcasting more and more religion-themed programmes and introducing religion into other programming.
Religious enthusiasts - who made up the vast majority of the participants - spoke of the increasing part religion was playing in society as a whole and therefore why it was essential that religion was explored more seriously in broadcasting. The fact that audiences are so small for these programmes and research shows that viewers and listeners do not value religious programmes was dismissed.
It was acknowledged that religious comedy and satire had become almost a no-go area. The idea of a scathing religious satire on BBC is now unthinkable. Only respectful and affectionate comedy would be permitted to explore religious themes (such as the Vicar of Dibley).
It was acknowledged that atheists and others with non-religious belief systems were almost entirely neglected.
See also:
Churches Get Extra Cash For Repairs While Other Heritage Buildings Crumble
While listed places of worship are given preferential funding, thousands of secular buildings that represent Britain’s heritage are crumbling and becoming derelict according to English Heritage. The organisation’s chief executive, Simon Thurley, said that thousands of schools, hospitals, libraries, town halls and law courts, police stations and Ministry of Defence buildings were falling out of use suddenly because they could not be fitted with the necessary cabling for new technology. Mr Thurley said: “We are living through an extraordinary period in which there is potentially destruction of historic buildings on a scale not seen since Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.” He gave the example of Easington Colliery primary school in County Durham, built in 1911. English Heritage wanted to preserve it as a community centre, but the council has decided to knock it down.
But, of course, churches are spared this carnage because of the privileges that have been give to them by the government. With this in mind, Honorary Associate Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham North, asked the following question in the House of Commons: “To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend the 100 per cent. VAT refund on repairs to listed religious buildings to listed buildings of non-religious and secular significance.”
Ivan Lewis for the Government replied: “The Government is negotiating with our EU partners to achieve a reduced rate of VAT for repairs to listed places of worship. The Listed Places of Worship Grant scheme is due to continue until March 2008, unless a reduced rate is achieved earlier. The Government recognises the importance of these buildings within their communities and that the need to use specialist craftsmen and costly materials means that their upkeep can be a heavy burden, particularly on small congregations. The same considerations do not apply to all listed buildings. Approved alterations to certain charity, or residential, listed buildings are VAT zero-rated.”
In The Face Of Huge Catholic Pressure, Canada And Spain Legalise Gay Marriage
At the end of July, marriage will be legally possible between gay couples in Canada and Spain. The Canadian House of Commons approved the new law on Tuesday, despite huge opposition from religious bodies. The Vatican, which has agitated against gay marriage throughout the world, will be furious. See here for full story: Canadian lawmakers approve bill to legalize gay marriage
In Spain the Congress of Deputies (equivalent to our House of Commons) overturned a decision by the Senate to reject the Bill, making gay marriage legal. The conference of Catholic bishops said: “It is necessary to oppose these unfair laws through all legitimate means,” apparently alluding to its hint last month that town hall officials who oppose gay marriage should refuse to preside over such ceremonies.
See here: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4764762
US Supreme Court Rules On Public Displays Of Religion - And Comes Up With A Mess
In a major showdown over the presentation of religious symbols and sacred text on public property, the US Supreme Court has made it somewhat easier for government officials to justify displays like the Ten Commandments. But at the same time, the nation's highest court put officials on notice that their motives must be clearly secular for such displays to pass constitutional muster.
Full story here: Supreme Court splits on Ten Commandments.
Iran Goes Back To Mediaeval Barbarity
There are fears that the election in Iran of a “hard-line” religious President will lead to a return of the country’s widespread human rights abuses. Alarm bells were rung last week by Amnesty International as it revealed that an Iranian court had sentenced a man to have his eyes gouged out for a crime he committed 20 years ago as a teenager.
Amnesty condemned the sentence, reported in the Iranian daily Etemaad, but local human rights groups say it is unusual for these barbaric punishments to be carried out.
Etemaad says the accused, identified only as Vahid, was 16 when he threw a bottle of acid at another man during a fight in a vegetable market in 1993. The top opened — Vahid insists accidentally — and blinded his victim in both eyes. A court said the crime should be judged as qisas, a category for which the Koran stipulates specific punishments, in this case an eye for an eye. The paper said the sentence was to pour acid on Vahid’s eyes, but an appeals court ruled it should be done surgically so as not to harm other parts of his face. Amnesty described the sentence as “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment amounting to torture”. It called for a change of sentence.
If you want to protest against this sentence, please join Amnesty’s campaign here: Iran: Man sentenced to have eyes gouged out
Casino Stacks the Odds in its Favour with "Shower Jesus"
GoldenPalace.com, the online casino famous for outrageous eBay purchases, has acquired a water-stained piece of plaster from a Pittsburgh man’s bathroom that purportedly resembles Jesus (although how anybody knows what Jesus looks like is not explained). GoldenPalace.com spent $1,999.99 for the so-called “divine stain”.
June 11 was the fateful day that the image appeared to Jeffrey Rigo, 30, as he stepped out of the shower. He cut the plaster piece from his wall and put it up for auction on eBay under the name ‘Shower Jesus’. The eBay page received an enormous amount of attention from website visitors, which in turn sparked the attention of publicity connoisseurs GoldenPalace.com, who have changed the face of marketing with their innovative and unconventional advertising strategies.
“This water stain from the shower just fits right in with the other purchases we’ve made. For us, it’s a no-brainer,” said Drew Black, a spokesman for the casino. “The public is interested in these things, and we get the exposure.”
NSS Speaks Out
The NSS was quoted in an article on Spiked-online.
Keith Porteous Wood was interviewed by David Aaronovitch for a programme looking at politics and religion to be shown on BBC. He was also interviewed by The God Channel.
Terry Sanderson had a letter in the Independent this week about the religious hatred law.
The NSS was quoted in an article in the Economist about the religious hatred law.
Happy Atheists
The latest attempt to convince people that they “need” religion was broadcast on Channel 4 recently under the title Spirituality Shopper. The critics found it risible, shallow and — not to put too fine a point on it — stupid. As Robert McNeil, the TV critic of the Scotsman put it: “Religion, once the opium of the masses, is now the bilge of the bourgeoisie”. In the last episode a non-believer who was depressed after the break-up of his marriage and the death of his father was exposed to Tai Chi, pagan drumming and Muslim prayer to try to help him. He found the “pagan drumming” a useful way to have fun (but what was ‘pagan’ about it was unclear) and you could see he found the Tai Chi faintly ridiculous (which it was). The Muslim prayers were meaningless to him. In fact, when he went to the mosque to join in the bum-waving, the spectacle of some ghastly imam ranting against “Western values” and the satanic wrongness of non-believers, he actually became quite hostile towards it. He remained a non-believer at the end, but the activity had shaken him out of his slough of despond. One imagines that going to the gym or the bingo would have had much the same effect.
Religion doesn’t have the answers, and “spirituality” turns out to mean whatever anybody wants it to mean. But still the producers of this brain-dead programme insist that most people “feel an inner emptiness, a sense that their life has no meaning.”
How lucky we atheists are to be spared all this time-wasting, useless maundering about the widely vaunted but yet unproven “God-shaped hole” in our lives. A previous president of the NSS, Chapman Cohen (who was in office from 1915 to 1951), was writing about the same propaganda way back when.
“Atheists decline to be as miserable as Christians assure them they ought to be,” he said. “Instead of weeping, atheists laugh. Instead of being miserable, they are happy. Christians are not only perplexed at the sight of happy atheists, they are annoyed. If atheists are happy, it must be because they lack the fine moral development of the Christian. If they were only better, they should know how poor is the happiness they feel as atheists.
“But the happiness of an atheist is neither the vacuous enjoyment of a fool, nor the short-lived pleasure of a rogue. It is rather the expression of a disposition that has ceased to torture itself with foolish fancies, or perplex itself with useless beliefs.”
The brilliant 19th century American atheist Robert Ingersoll put it even more succinctly: “The notion that faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence upon reason, observation, and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd for refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of insanity and ignorance called ‘faith.’”
Read more about Chapman Cohen.
And Ingersoll.
Letters To Newsline
Please write to tas@secularism.org.uk (Please keep 'em brief - no more than 250 words)
From John Cowen:
With Mary Whitehouse long gone, it's easy to imagine that nothing's off-limits any more in the UK's media. Apart, that is, from open, critical discussion of individual religions, or the justification for any kind of belief in a god. Some kind of unwritten code seems to be in perpetual force to stifle such debate. Anyone doubting this is invited to consider the likelihood of the following programme concepts actually making it to air:
· Any Religious Questions – a live audience asks assorted 'faith leaders' to explain why each thinks the others have got it all wrong on key moral and religious issues
· Bad Newsnight Special – Jeremy Paxman invites Archbishop Rowan Williams to discuss the deaths of 300,000 in the tsunami, in the light of his assertion throughout the St Paul's memorial service that "God is Love".
· Evolution Schmevolution – Richard Dawkins and Peter Vardy debate the notion of Intelligent Design and the underlying science
· Afterthought for the Day – John Humphrys grills each speaker immediately following the day's blandishments
· Believe it or not – Bishops, rabbis, mullahs and witches offer their insights on homosexuality, contraception, abortion, the treatment of women, the death penalty, the devil, evil spirits and the afterlife – chaired by Jeremy Paxman
· Big Bother – A group of housemates drawn from different faiths argue out their beliefs and demonstrate their rituals for the house's all-seeing cameras
· Heaven's Kitchen – Jamie Oliver's favourite pork recipes are deconstructed by a dietician, a vicar, a mullah and a rabbi.
· Celibacy Love Island – A group of nuns are confronted by all manner of temptations as they compete to become Bride of Christ. Warning: contains strongly religious language and possibly scenes of flagellation. (Holy phwoar!)
From Rob Green:
I sent the following email to the Times letters editor. "Sir, Since the Times includes a 'Faith' page and employs a 'Religious Affairs' correspondent , is it not time that you set aside resources to publish a daily segment voicing the balancing views of secular organisations, such as the Humanist Society or National Secular Society? Such an approach might go a little way to dispel the view that religion receives somewhat more than its fair share of publicity in our tainted democracy."
Naturally they didn't print my comments or otherwise respond but, unless I've overlooked it (which would be entirely possible!) the "Faith Page" has seemed to be missing from the paper. It is unlikely in the extreme that opinionated ordinary readers like me affect Times editorial decisions so I wondered if anyone at NSS knows what — if anything — has happened to their policy regarding the regular "Faith section" in the newspaper. Since they do still employ a 'religious affairs' correspondent obviously religionist placemen / women are still retained on Mr Murdoch's payroll. Maybe the NSS should offer its own 'secular' correspondent as a balance - at a reasonable charge of course?
Ed responds: Regrettably, Rob, the Faith Page in the Times is alive and well and in every Saturday. The paper gives such emphasis to religion that sometimes one wonders why it just doesn't amalgamate with the Church Times and have done with it. You might find this article about the preponderance of religious people working in the British media interesting: http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,7558,1515147,00.html and here: http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1514143,00.html
From Will Lyons:
I thought I might issue a timely reminder that July 10th marks the 80th anniversary of the Scopes trial and it would be interesting for a lot of readers to go to the following address for some comment contemporary to the events:
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/menck01.htm#SCOPES1
Ed writes: And don't forget, you can buy a DVD of a dramatic recreation of that trial from the NSS. Inherit the Wind is a superb courtroom drama starring Spencer Tracy about creationism versus evolution based loosely on the Scopes trial. It's £11.99 (inc. p&p) from NSS, PO Box 130, London W5 1DQ.
From Richard Philpot:
I understand Clive Greedus' misgivings about the name Black Vote (Newsline last week) but it is not about dividing into groups but an organisation dedicated to encouraging ethnic minorities to VOTE, not who or what to vote for, and as such is an integral part of a democratic and representative society. I have just written to the Labour Party to say I will resign if the Religious Incitement bill goes through; I doubt I will receive an answer! I have been a member of the labour party since 1983 but I have been an atheist much, much longer. Good luck to all in the fight for rationalism.
From the Dreadful Ape:
I have written yet another article on the Religious Hatred Bill. http://oneampfuse.blogspot.com/2005/06/groups-and-persons-unite-against.html It argues that:
1) The Bill's adherents either do not understand it or, for example, in the case of the MCB, have an expectation that the Bill will provide a level of protection that is incompatible with reason.
2) That arguments based closely on the activities of the BNP (the real harm the adherents are trying to address) are deficient.
Since amendments were proposed in the Commons committee stage, there is a further contribution, here: http://oneampfuse.blogspot.com/2005/06/racial-and-religious-hatred-bill.html
From Tony Akkermans:
Sometimes I feel that we are our own worst enemies. Take the government's proposed Religious Hatred legislation. This is so obviously going to come a cropper in the courts (modern juries will not put up with nanny statism of this magnitude - remember the obscenity trials, Lady Chatterley etc.) that we should see it as an opportunity to teach them a lesson.
The trouble with opposing daft ideas is that the daftest parts are then left out, making the sanitised version much more broadly acceptable and much more difficult to get rid of at a later stage. So instead of worrying away at the more ludicrous aspects of their political correctness we should egg the busybodies on into ever more daring ventures of mind control. Let's suggest to them that to allege that the prophet Mohammed was a paedophile or Jesus a homosexual, should carry a mandatory life sentence.
After all this sounds eminently reasonable when comparing with what was meted out to Salman Rushdie. But seriously, let us bear in mind the point that Barbara Smoker made about there being religious indoctrination in British schools and none in the States and then compare the relative religiosity in the two countries. Counterproductive or what.
From David Holohan:
Perhaps NSS members would like to know that Monday 15th August is the Feast of the Assumption, which, according to my diary is called 'Maria Himmelfahrt' in German. You can always rely on German to come up 'trumps'! But as a name, it seems to have got to the bottom of it!
