NSS prominent at European meetings this week

National Secular Society Executive Director Keith Porteous Wood has been busy in Europe this week with a working lunch with the President of the European Commission in Brussels and a meeting at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg about what role religion should play in “the intercultural dialogue”.

Keith was accompanied to Brussels by the NSS staff member Stephen Evans as they participated in a working lunch with President Manuel Barroso. The event was to allow representatives of “civil society” — that is, non-religious groups — to express their concerns to the EC. Also present were members of the European Humanist Federation and a number of other organisations representing freethought, humanism and the Masons. (In Catholic countries Masonic lodges are far less religious than in Britain).

President Barroso also invited the President of the European Parliament, Hans Gert Pöttering, as co-host. At the lunch, Keith raised concerns about Sharia law and other human rights issues, matters to which President Barroso later responded constructively.

Earlier this week, the Council of Europe held a conference entitled The Religious Aspect of Intercultural Dialogue in Strasbourg, France. It was the second such conference, this time concerned with religious education and the role this is thought by some to play in improving intercultural relations. Keith Porteous Wood played an active role, which brought him into direct conflict with the representatives of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches. Comprehensive details of both events will be given in the next members’ Bulletin.