Sir Ian McKellen drew a final line under the blasphemy laws on Saturday, when he read the last work to be prosecuted for blasphemy at a celebratory event in central London.

A historic precedent was set at the European parliament today. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom Religion or Belief, Mrs Asma Jahangir, addressed the European Parliament, much as religious leaders such as the Pope and the Grand Mufti of Syria have done.

It is now a matter of urgency for the Church of England to be disestablished. The call comes in the wake of a report commissioned by the Church, published today, which demands more privileges, more money and more influence.

Speech given by Keith Porteous Wood to a joint congress of the International Humanist and Ethical Union and American Humanist Association in Washington DC on 6 June 2008

The National Secular Society has called on the Archbishop of Canterbury to discipline the Bishop of Rochester for his recent remarks about the supposed moral vacuum in Britain being filled by Islam.

The National Secular Society has called for a full public inquiry into the role of the West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) relative to the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary Undercover Mosque broadcast on 15 January 2007 that exposed the views of extremist Islamic clerics.

The National Secular Society says that it will consider legal action against the Government if it fails to follow the advice of its Joint Committee on Human Rights urging that pupils should be able to exempt themselves from Collective Worship and Religious Education.

Speech To Mark The 60th
Anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Given in Bussels, 16 April 2008, by NSS Executive Director Keith Porteous Wood. In attendance was José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission.

Alarm has been raised over a resolution passed at the United Nations Human Rights Council that threatens to restrict free speech.

The National Secular Society has written to the Secretary of State for Education demanding fines for schools which fail to follow the codes and that schools no longer be permitted to be their own admissions authorities.