Newsline 24 January 2014

Newsline 24 January 2014

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News, Blogs & Opinion

Government drops plans to outlaw "annoying" behaviour

News | Fri, 24th Jan 2014

Government ministers have abandoned plans to replace anti-social behaviour orders with injunctions to prevent "nuisance and annoyance".

The move was welcomed by the National Secular Society, which as part of the Reform Clause 1 campaign, had argued that the law was too broadly drafted and posed a significant threat to free expression.

Under the original Government proposals, courts could impose injunctions on anyone engaging, or threatening to engage, in "conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to any person".

The move to drop the proposals follows a big defeat for the Government in the House of Lords, where Peers voted by 306 to 178 earlier this month to back an amendment by the crossbench peer Lord Dear, who claimed the move could criminalise any nuisance or annoying behaviour in the streets including peaceful protest and street preachers.

Ahead of the vote, the National Secular Society and Christian Institute wrote jointly to peers to express major concerns about threats to freedom expression posed by the proposals. Representatives of the two organisations discussed these concerns formally with Liberal Democrat Home Office minister, Norman Baker.

Mr Baker has now tabled amendments to the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill that will restore the original Asbo test, under which "harassment, alarm or distress" must be caused before a court can grant an injunction.

He said it had never been the Government's intention to prevent people exercising their freedom of speech or rights of protest but acknowledged that the "very large vote in the House of Lords that was indicative of widespread concern".

Keith Porteous Wood, National Secular Society executive director, said: "No one should be subjected to legal sanctions simply for causing annoyance. This law would have been exploited to silence the free expression of views some thought offensive or did not agree with."

"Clause 1 clearly failed to strike a reasonable balance between protecting the public from anti-social behaviour and protecting essential freedoms, and we are pleased the Government now acknowledges this."

The Government U-turn came after months of work by the Reform Clause 1 campaign, a coalition of religious, and secular civil liberty campaigners, including The Christian institute, the National Secular Society and the Justice and the Peter Tatchell Foundation. It received cross-party parliamentary support.

Mr Porteous Wood paid tribute to the effectiveness of Lord Deer's work on this issue the Lords, and also to the former DPP Lord Macdonald QC, who's legal opinion provided a particularly powerful criticism of the Bill.

Parliamentary candidate Maajid Nawaz under pressure for posting Jesus and Mo cartoon on twitter

News | Mon, 20th Jan 2014

A petition has been set up on Change.org in support of Maajid Nawaz, the Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn, who posted an innocuous 'Jesus and Mo' cartoon on his Twitter timeline and stated that he, as a Muslim, was not offended by the content.

His tweet followed a BBC Big Questions programme in which the cartoons were discussed and Maajid Nawaz was included as a studio guest. The cartoon depicts Jesus and Mo saying 'Hey' and 'How ya doin'" to each other.

Maajid is the co-founder and chair of the anti-extremism think tank Quilliam.

Following his tweet on 12 January, Mohammed Shafiq of the Ramadhan Foundation, Muslim commentator Mo Ansar and Bradford Respect MP George Galloway all took to Twitter calling for calling for Maajid Nawaz to be ousted from the post of the Liberal Democrats' PPC. A petition was then set up calling on Nick Clegg to remove Nawaz.

A counter petition has now been set up calling on the Liberal Democrats to give Nawaz their full support.

Organisers of the petition said: "Islamists and political opponents have mounted a campaign against Maajid Nawaz, resulting in numerous threats to his life. We note that this campaign, rather than being based on legitimate concerns of Muslims, is a political campaign which is being spear-headed by a group of Muslim reactionaries with a track record of promoting extremism. They are seeking to use Muslim communities in order to whip up hatred against a liberal and secular Muslims. We are concerned that this campaign will also be used by anti-Muslim extremists as evidence of Muslim intolerance and incompatibility with liberal values which could, in turn, fuel anti-Muslim bigotry."

Stephen Evans, campaigns manager at the National Secular Society said: "We simply can't have a climate where politicians are intimidated into silence by people who believe they have a right not to have their religious sensibilities offended. Anything other than complete Liberal Democrat support for Maajid could have a very chilling effect on free speech in this country."

You can add your name to the petition in support of Maajid here.

Britain’s first state-funded Hindu school plans large-scale expansion

News | Tue, 21st Jan 2014

Britain's only state-funded Hindu school, located in Harrow Middlesex, is planning a large-scale expansion which will make it one of the largest "faith schools" in the country.

Avanti House School announced on Monday 20 January 2014 that it has identified Whitchurch Playing Fields under Harrow Borough Council as the site where the secondary section of the school will eventually be shifted.

It is within miles of the school's current home, which includes a primary and secondary school set up.

The school is based on a "Hindu ethos" but claims to be open to the community at large. It specialises in maths and performing arts.

The new site, located in the heart of an area with a large population of Indian-origin, would accommodate 1,260 students after reaching full capacity.

Councillor Susan Hall told the school's proponents that a feasibility study will be carried out by the Education Funding Agency. If this is favourable it could lead to the school being opened at its new site in January 2016.

Hall said: "There is a pressing need for more school places in Harrow and a lack of suitable land for development. We have worked closely with the Avanti Schools Trust who already have a strong and indeed unique track record in Harrow serving our significant Hindu community.

"Harrow Council was of course a key partner in delivering the Krishna Avanti Primary School in 2008".

Stephen Evans, the NSS campaigns manager, told The Times: "Our objections to this school are really the same as for any other faith school. In a society already seeing rising tensions over race and religion, it is dangerously misguided to separate children on the grounds of their parents' religion at such a formative time in their lives. Minority faith schools further separate religious minorities from mainstream communities, creating self-imposed segregation. The only fair way forward is to ensure that no religion is allowed control of publicly-funded schools".

Cornwall consults on scrapping free transport to religious schools

News | Thu, 23rd Jan 2014

Cornwall County Council is under fire for considering the removal of subsidies for transport of pupils to religious schools.

The Council, which like others around the country is struggling with reduced budgets, estimates it must reduce its school transport bill by £12 million.

It will do this not only by cutting free transport to 'faith schools' but also free transport for all pupils who live within two or three miles of their primary school. This will not apply to low income families.

Concessionary fares may also be increased.

The Diocese of Truro has already made its objections known. It intends to formally object to the proposals.

Director of Education for the diocese, Sue Green, said "The Diocese would be extremely disappointed if the provision for transport to a school – for which a parent or carer has expressed a preference on the basis of religion or belief – was removed.

"This is not only important for those parents and carers who wish their children to attend a Church School, but also for those who do not.

"In response to the consultation, we shall be indicating that this discretionary provision should continue to be available."

Andrew Wallis, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said the plans were at the consultation stage and urged families to have their say.

The consultation closes on February 28. For more details on how to take part see here or on request by calling 0300 1234 100.

Church of England intensifies its bullying of the Girlguides over promise

News | Wed, 22nd Jan 2014

The Girlguides Movement is under heavy pressure from the Church of England to scrap its recently introduced secular promise and "re-instate God".

A motion has been put forward for debate at the next Church of England General Synod to be held in February. The motion – from conservative Christian Alison Ruoff – reads: "That this Synod believe that girls of all ages in the Girlguiding Movement should not suffer discrimination but be able to continue to promise to love God when enrolled rather than making a wholly secular promise".

In a briefing paper Ms Ruoff says, it "cannot be right" for Guide units which meet in church premises to be banned from being able to say "I love my God" in the promise. More than 120 other Synod members have signed in support of the motion.

Meanwhile, a Guide troop in Jesmond near Newcastle, has said that it will not embrace the new promise and has been warned by the Girlguide headquarters that it risks being expelled from the movement. It was given until 19 January to make the change, but its leaders were adamant that they would stick with the old religious oath whatever the consequences.

It is not clear whether the Girlguide Movement has yet carried out its threat and expelled the group.

Chief Guide Gill Slocombe said: "Girl Guiding is extremely sorry to hear of any Guide group leaving our organisation. By changing the wording of our promise, after an extensive consultation with over 44,000 people, we have opened our arms to welcome even more girls and adults – of all faiths and none ­– who will benefit from all the fantastic things we do in guiding".

Another Guide troop in Harrogate, Yorkshire also said last year that they would not use the new oath but eventually backed down after Jem Henderson, a volunteer with the group, who is an atheist, complained to the National Secular Society about the troop leadership's stance, accusing them of discriminating against non-believers.

Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, commented: "The Church of England's bullying over this does it no credit. The Guides are not a religious organisation and the Church has no business interfering in their internal decision-making. The Church would be the first to protest if anyone tried to tell it how to organise itself.

"The fact that Guide groups meet in church halls does not mean they belong to the Church. My local amateur symphony orchestra also performs in the local church, but I doubt if they'd tolerate a demand that they pray before performances. They'd soon find somewhere else to perform. Using Church halls – which the CofE assures us are a resource for the whole community – as a blackmail tool is reprehensible.

"The Church should get its boot off the Guides and leave them to organise in the way that their members want".

Catholic cognitive dissonance: Overlooking evil

Opinion | Thu, 23rd Jan 2014

The UN's recent examination of the Holy See presented yet more evidence of the Catholic Church's responsibility for, and cover-up of, child abuse. Yet the Catholic majority remains persistently silent, argues Terry Sanderson.

After the drubbing over child abuse that the Catholic Church (in its guise as the "Holy See") got at the United Nations in Geneva earlier this month, you would think that Catholics around the world would be horrified and angry.

But they aren't. There was little evidence of a widespread furious reaction to the arrogance and dissembling that Vatican representatives exhibited when confronted with crimes so enormous in their reach and depravity that they're almost incomprehensible.

Then a cleric was caught red handed in Rome trying to launder millions of pounds in "false donations" through the Vatican bank.

In the USA, the Archdiocese of Chicago has released thousands of pages of documents that reveal how its hierarchy routinely covered up child sex abuse and shuffled abusing priests from one diocese to another. The scale of it beggars the imagination

But no one seems to want to know about it. Catholics are, reportedly, rushing back to church, pouring money into its coffers again and feeling generally quite good about things now that they've got Pope Francis.

Ah yes, the smiling old granddad who is so good at making platitudes sound important and staging stunts that draw attention away from real issues.

Why are Catholics so easily seduced by this man? Why have they suddenly lost their concerns about child abuse, attacks on abortion rights, bans on contraception and Vatican gay-bashing? Do they really still think that he is going to do anything about any of the issues that appalled them when the previous Pope was on the throne?

Well, according to one writer – they never cared about those issues in the first place.

In a fascinating essay in The Week, Damian Linker explores what has been described as Catholic cognitive dissonance – the way that Catholics appear to be able to overlook the wickedness of their Church and screen out the evil.

They just want to feel good about being a Catholic, and Pope Francis delivers on that front. They want to cheer not jeer and so they don blinkers that permit them to see only the Pope.

But more than that – they don't care what the Church teaches or how ridiculous it is. They simply screen that out as well. They won't be agitating for doctrinal change because it will make absolutely no difference to them – they don't care if the church forbids contraception because they'll use it anyway. They don't care if the church bans abortion because they'll have one if it's pragmatic to do so. And so on.

An example of this can be seen in a film recently released called "Philomena" starring Judi Dench. It tells the story of an Irish woman who, as an unmarried but pregnant young girl was consigned to a Magdalene Asylum. There her child was taken away from her and sold for adoption to rich Americans. She was then kept in slavery for another four years, to pay the nuns back for their "kindness".

As an elderly woman Philomena has never forgotten her stolen child and with the help of a journalist, she goes in search of him. I won't spoil the story – which is true and takes many unexpected twists and turns – but needless to say, it does not show the Catholic Church in a good light. Its cruelty to this woman, and thousands like her, was scandalous.

And yet even so, she refuses to condemn the Church. She refuses to blame the nuns that ruined her life. And when the atheistic journalist rails against the religious fanaticism, she calls him a "feckin' eejit".

So what is the Catholic Church for? How does it maintain its grip in this way, even when it inflicts personal cruelty?

My own thought is simply that the Church has perfected the art of childhood indoctrination. "Cradle Catholics" often find it impossible to let go of their religious "identity". They are wracked with guilt if they are even vaguely critical of the Church, and they become angry and defensive if others are.

That is why the Catholic Church puts so much emphasis on controlling education wherever it can.

Just about every concordat that they have signed with nations around the world gives them the right to control education. They start the process early and they reinforce it ruthlessly. Even in Britain it is acceptable for children in state schools to be made to learn the catechism.

Some Catholics will be infuriated by this blog piece. How dare I suggest that the Church harbours evil or that its hierarchy is infested with wrongdoers? It seems that sometimes even sensible people cannot see beyond their need to make excuses for activities that would be unforgivable in any other context.

There is even one Catholic blogger who this week wrote an article defending the wartime Pope's concordat with the Nazis.

And I fully expect to be trounced by "Deacon Nick" on his blog Protect the Pope because he won't have a word said against the Holy Church however badly it behaves.

It will be interesting when the first figures are released about Mass attendance since the coming of Pope Francis. Will all those who have abandoned the church under Benedict now return, or will they stay away simply because they have realised that they don't believe in it any more?

Finland: Citizens’ initiative launched calling for separation of church and state

News | Tue, 21st Jan 2014

The collection of statements of support for a citizens' initiative for the separation of church and state in Finland began on Monday 20 January 2014. The initiative calls for legislative revisions to abolish the state church and to establish a state that is unbiased toward all religious convictions.

"I'm not expecting the Parliament to rush into revising the laws, but we must be able to have an objective debate about this," says Petri Karisma, the chair of the Union of Freethinkers of Finland.

"With the number of irreligious citizens already breaching the one-million mark, is the position of the state church still justified?" he asks.

Under the Finnish legislation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Orthodox Church of Finland are in a privileged position. Both churches are defined as public corporations and thus part of the public administration.

The freethinkers' union argues that the privileges enjoyed by the state churches violate the rights of members of other religions and, in particular, people with no religious affiliations.

"The constitution stipulates that people should not be discriminated based on their religious convictions. People also have the right to religion and conscience. Other legislation fails to comply with these principles," argues Karisma.

Advocates of the initiative believe religious conviction should be defined as a private matter. All religious convictions, they also emphasise, should be treated equally.

The initiative questions, for example, the state churches' right to levy taxes, which are collected at source by the state. Similarly, it points out that with public holidays set forth in the Church Act, the Parliament is unable to change them without the consent of the synod.

In addition, the advocates argue that pupils at Finnish schools should be allowed to choose between religious and ethics teaching regardless of their possible religious convictions.

"If asked, you don't have to reveal what party you voted for. But at schools, everyone must reveal their religious convictions, and religious teaching is determined on that basis," Karisma highlights.

The advocates similarly deem it peculiar that churches and religious communities are granted the right to officiate at weddings under the Marriage Act, but that no such right has been extended to non-religious groups or unregistered religious communities.

Religious activities should also be eradicated at schools and kindergartens, as well as at events of the Parliament, the Defence Forces and universities, they demand.

As justification, the initiative refers to the European Court of Human Rights' interpretation of the freedom of religion, according to which people have the right not to disclose their religious conviction or lack thereof.

By 2pm on Monday, the initiative had received roughly 350 statements of support. A minimum of 50,000 statements are needed for the proposal to be presented to the Parliament for consideration.

This article was originally published by the Helsinki Times and is reproduced here with permission.

Release British doctor accused of blasphemy, urges UK human rights group

News | Thu, 23rd Jan 2014

A UK-based human rights organisation is calling on the authorities in Pakistan to release a 72-year-old doctor who was arrested for 'posing as a Muslim' after being secretly filmed by a patient at his surgery.

Global Minorities Alliance, a Glasgow-based human rights organisation that advocates for the rights of minority communities the world over, denounced the imprisonment as a further example of Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws being used to persecute minorities and whip up religious hatred rather than seek justice in a country that is increasingly being divided by violence.

Mr Masood Ahmad, a member of the Ahmadiyya community, was charged under Pakistan's anti-Ahmadiyya blasphemy legislation after a religious leader posing as a patient attended his homeopathy clinic in Lahore and secretly recorded him reading a verse from the Quran.

Mr Ahmad, who has dual Pakistani/UK nationality and previously lived in London, was arrested shortly after and is now in prison awaiting trial. He has been refused bail and there have been calls from the angry mobs that gathered outside the courthouse for him to face the death penalty.

"In the past the police and the courts generally did not accept such accusations where the accuser had himself approached an Ahmadi at his home or job to discuss faith matters" said a spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan. "It is noteworthy that while the political leadership repeatedly condemns sectarianism and extremism in public, it encourages its law officers to upgrade and intensify religious prosecution of Ahmadis".

Ahmadis belong to the minority Ahmadiyya sect, which has the Quran as their holy book but believes that there was a Prophet after Muhammad. In 1984 they were declared 'non-Muslims' under Pakistani law. The Pakistan Penal Code 298- C states:

"An Ahmadi who refers to his faith as Islam, or preaches or propagates his faith, or invites others to accept his faith, by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representations, or in any manner whatsoever outrages the religious feelings of Muslims will be punished with up to three years in prison and is liable to pay a fine."

Laws like this leave Ahmadis at frequent risk of persecution, as accusations of blasphemy are often levelled in situations where there are personal grudges to be settled or where religious extremists have previously preached against the community; for example, some hard-line Mullahs claim that killing an Ahmadi would earn someone a place in heaven.

Speaking on the phone to Global Minorities Alliance, Mr Ahmad's son, Abbas Ahmad, said:

"My father has not made any mistakes or acted against the law. Anyone can listen to or read the Quran. He has never done anything wrong.

"We urge the Pakistan government to release my father so that he can be reunited with his family. I have been born and brought up in Pakistan and we believe the anti-Ahmadi laws are being misused by the public. Ahmadis are given less protection and such laws should be abolished".

Shahid Khan, Vice-Chairperson of Global Minorities Alliance, echoes Mr Ahmad's calls:

"We call on the Pakistan government to better protect its minorities to stop people like Mr Ahmad from being imprisoned over very trivial matters.

"We also demand that the government repeal anti-Ahmadiyya legislation. People are having their livelihoods destroyed and their families left devastated, all because they said the wrong thing to the wrong person and live in a country governed by laws which are used to persecute rather than prosecute. In this case it was even a private conversation which Mr Ahmad did not realise was being recorded, and one where he was encouraged to discuss religion by someone who was deliberately trying to entrap him.

"The government of Pakistan deliberately looks the other way while more and more people from the various minority communities are imprisoned for blasphemy. This is discrimination rather than justice and should stop before more violent acts are committed against minorities in the name of protecting the majority".

Mirza Waqas Ahmad, President of the UK Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, said:

"Dr Masood Ahmad is yet another victim of the infamous blasphemy laws, which specifically target and infringe on the basic human rights of Ahmadi Muslims and are a root cause of extremism and violence in Pakistan today. The international community needs to take collective action to bring an end to this state sponsored persecution of Ahmadi Muslims".

Abdul Abid, President of the Ahmadiyya Community in Scotland, agrees:

"It is not the fault of extremists who are using the law. It is the fault of the state that these laws were introduced on the demand of extreme members of the clergy, thus the government encouraged extremism and is now paying the price as the situation is out of control".

Pakistan's blasphemy laws do not only disadvantage Ahmadis, however. Last year, two bomb blasts in a Peshawar church left more than 60 dead and more than 100 injured. The church had previously received bomb threats but the authorities did not follow up on them, meaning the minority Christian community was not protected. In the aftermath of the attacks, Christians were arrested on blasphemy charges for protesting.

"This shows what can happen if the persecution of a minority community is allowed to continue unchecked," said Mr Khan. "Mr Ahmad may be one case but that is just the tip of the iceberg; around 20 Ahmadis were murdered in 2012 for their faith, and if the Pakistan authorities continue to do nothing then this will only escalate".

This article originally appeared in Pakistan Christian Post and is reproduced with kind permission.

NSS Speaks Out

Campaigns manager, Stephen Evans, was quoted in a story in The Times about the large-scale expansion of a state-funded Hindu school in Harrow (subscription).