Newsline 29 April 2016

Newsline 29 April 2016

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News, Blogs & Opinion

Bangladeshi government must act over killings and defend free speech

News | Wed, 27th Apr 2016

The National Secular Society has written to the Bangladeshi High Commission criticising their government's inaction over a spate of Islamist killings.

The most recent murders on Monday 25 April claimed the lives of Xulhaz Mannan, the editor of an LGBT magazine, and his friend, in a brutal attack. Previous killings have seen numerous secularist bloggers hacked to death by jihadists.

President of the National Secular Society Terry Sanderson urged the government of Bangladesh "to take concrete action to identify, find and prosecute the killers."

"An atmosphere of general impunity has been allowed to form in Bangladesh – in part due to your government's perceived unwillingness to act," he told the High Commissioner.

Because of this, Mr Sanderson wrote, "a corresponding escalation in in the frequency of these reprehensible crimes has been seen."

"We very much regret that Government of Bangladesh has implied that the writers should not be writing 'filthy things about our religion and our Prophet', thereby placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of the victims. It is no wonder then that the murderers continue to act with impunity silencing liberal and secular voices."

The letter said that action "taken by the Government has cemented the prohibition sought by the killers on criticism or open discussion about religion and its role in Bangladeshi society."

Shortly after the most recent murders it was reported that two Hindu teachers had been jailed in Bangladesh for 'insulting' Islam.

According to Associated Press reports, students at a high school in southern Bangladesh complained after an assistant teacher 'dismissed' the Quran and said there was no heaven.

A mob of parents, students and villagers then attacked the teachers with sticks, AP said.

After a rapid judicial process, the two were imprisoned with sentences of six months each under a colonial-era law which criminalises insulting religion.

The NSS wrote to the Bangladeshi High Commission that cases like this enforced the agenda of the killers by destroying freedom of speech in the ostensibly secular nation.

"Statements made by Bangladeshi officials and the prosecution of the two teachers sends a dangerous and deadly signal that the Government tacitly endorses the ends of the killers, while turning a blind eye to their mean," the Society told the High Commissioner.

The NSS has also made representations to the Foreign Office and called on the UK Government to express its concerns about the killings in the strongest terms to the Bangladeshi government and to demand an end to the Bangladeshi government's criticism of those exercising their freedom of expression, while urging a concerted effort to apprehend and punish the perpetrators behind the murders.

Academisation plans risk increasing religious influence in schools, warns NSS

News | Mon, 25th Apr 2016

The National Secular Society has warned that Government plans to convert all schools in England into academies could increase the level of religious influence in state education and see the Church of England gaining control of non-faith-based schools.

In a submission to the Education Committee's inquiry into the role of multi-academy trusts (MATs), the NSS warned community schools converting into academy status could become part of Church of England MATs, threatening their secular character with "serious implications" for parental rights, children and young people's religious freedom and employment discrimination.

Plans to merge four community schools in the North East with one CofE primary under a single academy trust controlled by the Church of England are already being considered by the Department for Education, in a move described as a "takeover".

Government guidance states a mixed-faith and non-faith trust must preserve the non-religious nature of their community schools. A local governing body for the community school must also be established.

However, the NSS has warned that safeguards to protect the secular nature of community schools are not sufficient.

Stephen Evans, the society's campaigns director, said: "If community schools are absorbed into Church led MATs it's hard to see how the non-religious schools within it can realistically be protected from an encroaching religious ethos, particularly if the most senior people in the trust are all advancing the interests of the church."

The NSS has also raised questions about land ownership, expressing concern that "public land will be transferred from local authorities and placed under control of the local diocese for 125 years, and, given the permission of the secretary of state, the church could use it however it likes".

The NSS response to the inquiry describes this as a "deeply anti-secular development" and urges the committee to raise the "democratic deficit of this potential 'land grab'" with the DfE.

Local authorities have also raised concerns over the Government seizing land and leasing it to third parties to run the schools, depriving the local area of control and accountability over the school.

Meanwhile, churches have been given unique safeguards from academisation, with the Government issuing two memoranda of understanding giving Church of England and Catholic schools special protection from forced academisation and strengthening their ability to promote a more rigorous religious ethos.

For Anglican schools the Government has said that it "respects the statutory right and requirement for the consent of various diocesan bodies to allow a church school to become an academy"; while non-religious schools are left vulnerable to a Church takeover.

In 2015 the Archbishops' Evangelism Task Group said that the Church had an "urgent need" to focus evangelism on children, young people and their parents in light of a catastrophic collapse in adult church attendance.

The earlier CofE 'Church School of the Future' report set out a strategy of expanding the number of Church schools to "intensify the religious input into lesson", calling for a new "concordat" between the Church and the Government to "reinforce and enhance" the Church's influence throughout the education system.

Mr Evans, said: "Academisation clearly risks increasing organised religion's influence over publicly funded education, at a time when religious affiliation is in sustained decline.

"The Church clearly regards controlling schools as central to its survival. But money intended for children's education shouldn't be used to prop up the Church.

"Local authority involvement and oversight has long acted as a break on the Church promoting an aggressive religious ethos – leading many to regard 'church schools' as a softer form of faith schools. However the decline of such accountability, coupled increasingly centralised diocese control of large MATs way well result in a significant increase in religiosity in both church and non-religious schools."

You can read the NSS submission to the Education Committee's inquiry into the performance, accountability, and governance of Multi-Academy Trusts here.

Also see: Church academy trust to absorb non-faith schools (Schools Week)

Independent Islamic schools undermining British values with gender segregation, says Ofsted

News | Wed, 27th Apr 2016

Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned that leaders in some independent Islamic schools are continuing to undermine British values, after inspectors found more evidence of gender segregation.

In a letter to Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education and Equalities Minister, the Ofsted chief wrote that inspectors "continue to find that staff are being segregated because of their gender in Muslim independent schools."

Ofsted Inspectors who inspected the Rabia Girls' and Boys' School in Luton "expressed their concern when, at the initial meeting with inspectors, the school insisted on segregating men and women through the use of a dividing screen across the middle of the room," he wrote.

In addition to the gender segregation in that meeting, inspectors "gathered evidence that male and female staff are segregated during whole-school staff training sessions. Male staff sit in one room and the session is simultaneously broadcast to female staff in another part of the school," Sir Michael wrote.

Despite improvements in the "inadequate" school elsewhere since the last inspection, the Ofsted inspectors "were so concerned about the behaviours modelled by the leaders of this school they informed the proprietor that the school would remain in the inadequate category despite improvements being made elsewhere."

Between 12 April and 21 April 2016 three inadequate faith schools were subject to emergency follow-up inspections by Ofsted, at the request of the Department for Education, and inspectors found extensive evidence of gender segregation.

Sir Michael said the pattern of gender segregation "clearly does not conform to the spirit of the equalities legislation".

The Chief Inspector added that despite the 2014 instructions issued by the DfE that all schools have a duty to "actively promote" British values, it was "clear" that these rules "are not being followed by some independent schools."

He went further and said that British values in some Islamic independent schools "are being actively undermined by some leaders, governors and proprietors."

Ofsted would remain tough in dealing with gender segregation he said, and any form of "segregation, without a good educational reason, is likely to lead to an inadequate inspection judgement for leadership and management."

Sir Michael has urged the Secretary of State "to further review the DfE guidance to independent schools on these matters and, if necessary, write to the proprietors of independent faith schools to clarify your expectations and to reaffirm the government's commitment to the promotion of British values."

In November 2015 Ofsted raised serious concerns about gender segregation in Islamic schools. In 2014 it warned that there was a "serious risk" to students' physical and/or educational welfare in six Islamic schools.

NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans said it was "very welcome to see Ofsted holding failing independent faith schools to account".

"We owe it to children and young people to ensure that all schools are held to certain standards regardless of how they're funded. Any school which enforces segregation against their own staff, discriminates against women and fails to give children the education they deserve isn't worthy of being called a school."

Sixth Former compared to Stalin for campaigning against mandatory prayers in school

News | Thu, 28th Apr 2016

A Northern Ireland councillor has been criticised after comparing a Sixth Form student's campaign against mandatory school worship to the "early stage" of Hitler and Stalin's rule.

Councillor William Blair of the TUV told campaigner Scott Moore that his efforts campaigning to allow schools to choose whether or not to hold collective worship, were like the policies of "Chairman Mao, Stalin and Hitler".

"I think this is a very early stage here of trying to get Christianity, in particular, out of all schools. Now, we've had it all over the whole world and I would be a reader of history. Chairman Mao, Stalin and Hitler – all of them wanted to do away with God and this is just the foot in the door and putting pressure onto young believers.

"I have read magazines and all over the world there is a great victimisation for a young person who would have faith in God. I think it is a very bad idea to interfere with a person's faith."

Another councillor, George Duddy of the DUP, accused Moore of "trying to remove Christianity from schools" and told him to speak to the churches about his concerns.

Moore was speaking to a meeting of Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council about his campaign, and said he received a "diverse" range of responses from councillors, including many supportive comments.

"It's unfortunate that Cllr. Blair feels the need to be so theatrical about all this – is he threatened by the popular support for my campaign, and the efforts to eliminate religious privilege in our society?"

Moore said that Blair's comments were "highly disrespectful" to those "who have faced genuine and real religious persecution in the past and present". The campaigner said that he thought councillor Blair should apologise for his "poor taste" comments.

Despite Blair's opposition, Moore told the local newspaper that "Most councillors thought I gave a great presentation and were quite welcoming," and he noted that some had offered their "strong support."

The 'Let Schools Choose' campaign is planning to speak to more councils in the future.

One councillor compared mandatory worship in schools to the prayers that council members are "forced" to sit through during meetings – a practice the National Secular Society has campaigned to end.

Another who supported Moore said he did not think that his own Christian faith should be imposed on anybody else.

After the meeting Moore said that while he was willing to talk to the churches about his concerns with current Northern Ireland law, he feared that they would be "opposed to even the most rational and incremental of steps towards greater parity of esteem for non-religious, minority religious and undecided young people".

NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans praised Moore's campaign and said "there is a growing consensus that collective worship should not be imposed on pupils.

"It's unfortunate that the insecurity of some believers leads them to respond to reasonable secular arguments with wild allegations whenever their religious privilege is challenged. It's absurd to equate secularism with extremism when all it seeks to do is ensure that freedoms of thought and conscience apply equally to all believers and non-believers alike.

"School pupils, like everyone else, should be free to decide for themselves what their religious beliefs are and how they manifest them. Of course, many young people in Britain aren't religious, which perhaps explains why organised religion is so eager to influence what goes on in schools."

In Northern Ireland, as in England, Wales and Scotland, there is no option for pupils to withdraw themselves from collective worship and only their parents can do so. The National Secular Society was instrumental in securing an opt-out for Sixth Form students in England.

In 2015 the Commission on Religion and Belief in Public Life said that schools in Northern Ireland should no longer be required to arrange daily acts of collective worship.

Follow Scott's campaign @Schools2Choose on Twitter.

Church review into abusive Bishop refuses to explicitly consider bullying of victims in its Terms of Reference

News | Thu, 28th Apr 2016

A victim of clerical abuse has refused to give evidence to a Church review of the Bishop Peter Ball case, after it declined to explicitly mention intimidation of victims in its Terms of Reference.

The Revd Graham Sawyer was seriously abused as a young man by former Anglican bishop Peter Ball and gave evidence at the trial at which the bishop was jailed last year, aged 83.

It took decades to bring Ball to justice and Reverend Sawyer asked that, given the role played by bullying in delaying justice in the Ball case, the Review into the matter set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury specifically address "bullying, intimidation and threats" made to victims. He asked for this request to be considered by Archbishop Welby personally.

Sharing Reverend Sawyer's concerns about the limits of the Review's Terms of Reference, the National Secular Society had also asked for the Review's Terms of Reference to be expanded to include "specific reference" to the "extent of historic and current bullying by senior figures in the Church of alleged victims and whistle-blowers."

However the Review has declined to do so, and the Review's chair, Dame Moira Gibb, told the National Secular Society that they will not make any changes to the Terms of Reference. She told the NSS that the Terms of Reference will not be amended "as we think they are sufficient to allow us to cover these issues."

In light of the Church's refusal to amend the Review's terms of reference to encompass bullying of victims by senior figures within the Church, Reverend Sawyer has said he will not speak to the Review or give evidence.

He told BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme that "It is clear that the [Review] is not going to cover [bullying and vilification], it should be explicit and it is not. … Why not say it? … No one from the Church has telephoned me to assure me they will cover those areas." The Church and the chair of the Review declined the BBC's request for an interview.

The National Secular Society had also asked that the Church explicitly consider "the extent to which Church officials sought – and/or encouraged others - to intervene with the CPS, the police and dissuading complainants from reporting to the police".

Ball had evaded justice for decades by falsely claiming his innocence and the Church went to inordinate lengths to protect him. This included intervening inappropriately with the police and Crown Prosecution Service in the 1990s. Evidence is mounting that victims and whistleblowers have been continually bullied in an attempt to silence them and that multiple complaints were ignored by the Church hierarchy.

Terry Sanderson, President of the NSS said: "For decades complainants were portrayed as fabricating their claims, something that had a devastating effect on victims, leading one to commit suicide. The catalogue of bullying by the Church against Graham Sawyer is horrific and continues even now.

"The institutional bullying and silencing almost succeeded in preventing Bishop Ball ever being brought to justice. The Church's obdurate refusal at the highest levels to specify them in the Terms of Reference should ring alarm bells about the seriousness of its intentions to look at them with the requisite priority. Maintaining the refusal means the principal witness Graham Sawyer, and perhaps others, will not give evidence and this further undermines the validity of the Review. At least he will be able to give his evidence to the Independent (Goddard) Inquiry set up by the Government.

"Given the fundamental importance of all this in delaying justice and compounding the abuse of victims, bullying should have been explicitly considered in the Review and named in the Terms of Reference."

Turkey: Call to replace secularism with a religious constitution met with opposition

News | Tue, 26th Apr 2016

The Turkish politician charged with redrafting the country's constitution has called for an Islamic constitution as opposition leaders warn that "Secularism is there to ensure that everyone has religious freedom."

Ismail Kahraman, speaker of Turkey's parliament, has been quoted saying that "the new constitution should not have secularism."

According to Reuters reports, Kahraman said that the new document "should be a religious constitution."

He added that a redrafted constitution "needs to discuss religion" and that "It should not be irreligious".

"As a Muslim country, why should we be in a situation where we are in retreat from religion?

"We are a Muslim country. As a consequence, we must have a religious constitution."

President Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) currently holds 317 seats in parliament and 330 are need to hold a referendum on a new constitution. To change the constitution the AKP would need to secure thirteen additional votes in parliament.

The leader of the Republic People's Party (CHP), the primary secularist opposition to Erdogan, with 134 seats in parliament, responded to Kahraman that "Secularism is the primary principle of social peace" in Turkey and that "Secularism is there to ensure that everyone has religious freedom."

"The chaos that reigns in the Middle East is the product of ways of thinking that, like you, make religion an instrument of politics," Kemal Kilicdaroglu told the speaker on Twitter.

There has been a sustained period of Islamisation under President Erdogan's rule and increasing authoritarianism. This stretched beyond Turkey's borders in recent weeks when German Chancellor Angela Merkel permitted the prosecution of German comedian Jan Böhmermann for mocking President Erdogan, following a complaint from the Turkish president.

In response to this use of Germany's archaic lèse majesté laws, the writer Douglas Murray introduced a "President Erdogan Offensive Poetry Competition" in the Spectator to defend freedom of speech.

Erdogan is also seeking the end of the parliamentary system in Turkey and a move towards a presidential model which would significantly strengthen his executive powers. There are therefore fears that a new constitution could reject secularism, enshrine Islam as Turkey's state religion and drastically increase the power of the Turkish presidency.

Kahraman however denied that an "executive presidency" would be a "dictatorship."

Following the outcry prompted by the speaker's comments, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed that "In the new constitution which we are preparing, the principle of secularism will be included as one guaranteeing individuals' freedom of religion and faith, and the state's equal distance to all faith groups."