Newsline 30 September 2016

Newsline 30 September 2016

Today marks International Blasphemy Rights Day. Around the world people like Asia Bibi, Raif Badawi and Amos Yee face persecution for their beliefs or lack of belief. Blasphemy laws discriminate against atheists and religious minorities alike.

It was only relatively recently (in 2008) that the UK finally abolished its blasphemy law - something the NSS campaigned for over a century to achieve.

But society must always be vigilant against any return to blasphemy laws whether through the backdoor or by the assassin's veto. We campaign to preserve and protect free expression in the UK, without which there could be no secular democracy. Help us: join the National Secular Society today.

News, Blogs & Opinion

Protect the rights of the non-religious in education, says British Institute of Human Rights

News | Sat, 24th Sep 2016

The British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) has endorsed several recommendations made by the National Secular Society, in a submission to the United Nations.

The BIHR launched its Joint Civil Society Report, which is formed from evidence given by 175 civil society organisations across England, Scotland and Wales, including the NSS, and which has now been submitted to the United Nations for the UN's Universal Period Review of the UK.

The NSS also made a separate submission to the UN for the Universal Periodic Review.

The BIHR report reiterated a number concerns regarding state education raised by the NSS, including faith schools' ability to discriminate on religious grounds. The report said:

"There are concerns about the ability of state-funded religious schools to lawfully discriminate against non-religious families by selecting pupils based on religion, and the impact of plans to lift the current 50% selection limit which generally applies to new English schools.

"In England, the Government has opposed the equal inclusion of non-religious worldviews in statutory school religious education, despite a High Court case last year showing this is required."

The BIHR recommended that the state should ensure "non-religious worldviews form part of the statutory school religious education curriculum."

The NSS advocates for fundamental reform of the way religion and belief is taught in schools to ensure that non-religious worldviews are not side-lined.

The BIHR also highlighted secularist concerns over collective worship. The Joint Civil Society Report stated:

"All children in state schools are required to take part in collective worship (Christian in character); in England and Wales this is daily. There are concerns about the inadequacy of withdrawal rights, and that children with sufficient understanding are not able to withdraw themselves."

The Institute recommended that the Government should ensure "children are free to withdraw from religious observance".

On Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) the BIHR said that several submissions by civil society groups "raise concerns about the content and voluntary status of SRE. This echoes conclusions by a UK Parliamentary report that 'young people consistently report that the SRE they receive is inadequate' and by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education that SRE should cover sexual health."

The Institute said that the Government should "Provide adequate and compulsory Sex and Relationships Education to young people".

The National Secular Society said in its written evidence to the BIHR that the UK Government's failure to address the uneven provision of SRE in schools, after concerns were raised by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, was of great concern.

Aside from education, the NSS' evidence also included our concern over the disturbing rise in hate crime over recent years, of which 6% is related to religion, the BIHR noted.

The civil society submission said that the Government should ensure "robust data collection on hate crime, and take steps to ensure that groups most likely to be affected are better protected."

This is something the NSS called for in its written evidence, and has previously lobbied the Government to pursue. Last year the NSS met with a minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government to call for more sophisticated tracking of hate crime statistics and trends, to try and better understand and reduce religiously-motivated hate crime.

A key theme across all of the evidence received by the BIHR was concerns regarding the proposed repeal of the Human Rights Act with many civil society organisations expressing worries that a new Bill of Rights would offer weaker human rights protections.

Speaking at the launch, David Isaac, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said "any changes to human rights law mustn't weaken the protections we currently enjoy".

The British Institute of Human Rights Joint Civil Society Report can be read here:

https://www.bihr.org.uk/news/hrcheckreportnews

Inclusive education: divisive faith schools are the elephant in the room

Opinion | Fri, 30th Sep 2016

NSS campaigns director on why progressives of all political and religious stripes should unite in opposing Theresa May's plan to open a new wave of divisive 'faith schools'

As an advocate for secular education, my hopes were raised momentarily this week when I heard Labour's Shadow Education Secretary, Angela Rayner, announce to her party conference that she was launching an 'education not segregation' campaign.

I soon realised however that the focus was entirely on segregation by ability. In front of a sea of delegates waving 'education not segregation' placards, Rayner told delegates that grammar schools "entrench division and increase inequality".

Yet she had nothing to say about Theresa May's regressive, divisive and dangerous plan to abolish the 50% cap on faith-based admissions, paving the way for a new wave of discriminatory religious schools.

When it comes to segregation and discrimination on religious grounds, religion, it seems, gets a free pass.

This is somewhat surprising given that it was Labour's persona non grata, Tony Blair, who oversaw a massive expansion in state-funded religious schooling. Keen to demonstrate his multiculturalist credentials, it was Blair who paved the way for Britain's burgeoning religiously and ethnically segregated minority faith schools.

The Government's own data shows what a horribly ghettoised education system this is creating. Britain's Jewish, Sikh, Hindu and Muslim schools are monocultural zones, silos of segregation that do nothing to foster greater social cohesion.

The Government recognises this and so has come up with a hotchpotch of half-baked half measures and sticking plasters to ensure faith schools "promote cohesion". It wants to 'teach integration' rather than give children from minority backgrounds the opportunity to just do it. These proposals are mere window dressing to disguise the fact that the Government is too beholden to organised religion to take the most obvious measure to remedy the separatism and segregation - the phasing out of faith schools.

The ethnic diversity of Britain's Catholic community means Catholic schools are far less culturally monochrome, but they still divide pupils along religious lines. Indeed, it was the Catholic Education Service and Jewish Board of Deputies' refusal to accept quotas for offering school places to pupils of other faith and belief backgrounds that prompted the Government to scrap the cap and allow yet more religious selection.

Free schools were sold as a 'parent and teacher-led schools revolution', but a shortage of school places and a paucity of school sponsors has forced the Government to turn to religious organisations to fill the gap. By acquiescing to the Catholic Church's discriminatory demands Theresa May has demonstrated her willingness to sacrifice equality and cohesion on the altar of faith school expansion.

The Church of England, meanwhile, is busily preparing itself for a massive expansion of its influence in the nation's education. Given that so few people attend its churches these days, it has decided that taxpayer-funded schools are to be its pulpits of the future.

In its trademark 'holier-than-thou' tone, the CofE reacted to the Government's proposals to extend religious selection by reassuring the nation that "Our schools are not faith schools for the faithful, they are Church schools for the community".

But in its latest report setting out its vision for education, the CofE reaffirms its commitment to offering pupils "an encounter with Jesus Christ and with Christian faith and practice". But it's more than just 'an encounter' they offer - church schools across the country are increasingly finding themselves under pressure to push the Christian message.

But should evangelism really be a strategic objective of a publicly funded 21st century education system? Education should open young minds, not indoctrinate them.

And let's not forget, the faith schools that Theresa May wants to open will be our local schools. All this talk of 'parental choice' is a red herring. Religiously selective schools choose pupils, often on the basis of a baptism certificate or a parent's churchgoing activities. And besides, however 'inclusive' faith schools claim to be, the simple fact is many parents don't want somebody else's religion imposed on their children whilst at school. Faith schools limit choice for many parents, not least the rapidly growing non-religious majority.

David Blunkett famously once said he wanted to "bottle the magic" of Christian schools, but there's nothing magical about a 'faith ethos' when it comes to academic success. Where church schools do achieve marginally better results, it is usually down to faith-based selection which, as the evidence shows, leads to social selection which unfairly benefits middle class and better-off parents.

A further expansion of faith schools and religious selection is the antithesis of inclusive education. Religious groups may have played a positive role in the historical development of state education in Britain, but the time has come to look to the future, and religious schooling looks hopelessly out of step with the needs of children growing up in Britain today.

As senior Conservative MP Ken Clarke told Education Secretary Justine Greening in Parliament recently, "we need to live in a society where we reduce barriers and improve contacts and integration between people of all faiths." He was absolutely right in calling on Secretary of State to "reconsider pretty fundamentally" her faith school proposals.

If you want to break down the barriers that divide British citizens, dividing children up by their parents' religion is exactly the wrong way to go about it. MPs on all sides need to recognise this.

There's nothing anti-religious about advocating for secular schools that are open, inclusive and equally welcoming to all children, whatever their religion and belief backgrounds.

Religion is fine for those that want it, but Britain's rapidly changing religious landscape screams for the scaling back of religious control of the classroom.

That's why progressives of all political and religious stripes should unite in opposing Theresa May's plans to further entrench segregation and discrimination in our schools by saying no to yet more faith schools.

Commemorations held to celebrate NSS founder Charles Bradlaugh

News | Thu, 29th Sep 2016

Two commemorations have been held this month to celebrate the life and work of Charles Bradlaugh, who founded the National Secular Society 150 years ago.

Members of the NSS met at Bradlaugh's grave in Brookwood cemetery, near Woking, to pay their respects and hear a short speech from current NSS president Terry Sanderson celebrating Bradlaugh's achievements.

Mr Sanderson, the twelfth president of the Society, said that "Bradlaugh's contribution to Parliament, when he did eventually get in, was considerable, particularly the Oaths Act" which allowed MPs to affirm rather than swearing a religious oath.

"We can be confident that Bradlaugh would have been astounded to discover that Parliament was clearly delighted, albeit a century and a quarter after he left it, to accept the National Secular Society's proposal to commission a new bust in his honour. It will be placed prominently in the Houses of Parliament in November.

"I am proud to be the twelfth president of the NSS. So, today on behalf of you all, and the Society, we leave this wreath in Bradlaugh's memory to mark the 150th anniversary of another of Bradlaugh's achievements, of course, the founding the National Secular Society.

"Let us all express our gratitude for his creating our organisation. Over that time, the achievements of the NSS, and secularism, have been huge, significant well beyond the UK, and enduring. Surely he would have been proud that 150 years on, the NSS and the concept of secularism is assuming even greater, and growing, relevance all over the world."

Bradlaugh was elected to Parliament in 1880 for Northampton, but was unable to take up his seat on account of his atheism and his request to affirm rather than swear a religious oath.

He was briefly imprisoned in the Clock Tower under Big Ben, and waged a six year campaign to allow non-religious people elected to Parliament to take their seats without swearing a religious oath.

The Charles Bradlaugh Society also held a recent commemoration for Bradlaugh in Northampton, where they were joined by Philippe Besson from the International Association of Free Thought. Terry and our executive director, Keith Porteous Wood, also joined the Charles Bradlaugh Society for the event.

The commemoration in Northampton was held at Bradlaugh's statue which was raised by public subscription soon after Bradlaugh's death – but which is now standing on a traffic island just outside of the city centre. Ambitions to reposition it more centrally have been abandoned because of the fragility of the sculpture. It is made from terracotta, so moving it might cause catastrophic damage, and there are fears that a more central location would make it an attractive target for vandals.

The Bradlaugh Society also spoke at the event of their plans to protect and renovate Bradlaugh House in Lahore, Pakistan, which was originally built in Bradlaugh's honour for his championing of Indian independence. The building is now in a state of dilapidation and plans to renovate it are proving an uphill task because of the political situation in Pakistan.

As part of the NSS' 150th anniversary celebrations the Society hosted its recent conference, where attendees heard from the historian Deborah Lavin on Bradlaugh and the NSS' early history.

NSS: Andy Burnham’s claim that Muslims can’t trust the police is deeply divisive

News | Tue, 27th Sep 2016

The National Secular Society has criticised Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham for suggesting that British Muslims couldn't trust the police when they report hate crimes.

Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Labour Party Conference, Burnham said that the police had a "possible conflict of interest" when dealing with anti-Muslim hate crimes, and that the Government "almost legitimise" anti-Muslim "behaviour".

Burnham compared the Government's anti-extremism strategy with burkini bans in France, describing Prevent as "an approach to policy that singles out one community for different treatment".

According to a report in the Independent Labour's Shadow Home Secretary said: "There's a lot of people in this country not necessarily at risk from 'Islamic extremism' but it's far-right extremism. That's what we're talking about here, but where is the statutory duty on that? … There are so many issues with it that it needs a root and branch review."

In reality, the Government's guidance on Prevent says: "Our Prevent work is intended to deal with all kinds of terrorist threats to the UK. The most significant of these threats is currently from terrorist organisations in Syria and Iraq, and Al Qa'ida associated groups. But terrorists associated with the extreme right also pose a continued threat to our safety and security."

Burnham then told the group that there was a need for "trusted third parties for reporting hate crime".

"If people have a feeling that the bodies that they would go to are also simultaneously being asked to monitor them there's a possible conflict of interest there isn't there?"

Because of Prevent, Burnham said, "people won't feel able to come forward and say exactly what's happening to them and their family if they also feel they're being monitored in some way.

"Is there then a need to create trusted third parties for reporting hate crime so that it isn't the case that people have to go directly to the police or [possibly] the council?"

Mr Burnham suggested that Prevent was causing anti-Muslim attacks, and that the Government was effectively legitimising this.

He said: "If governments are doing things to almost legitimise things in some way by saying this community does need to be treated differently, it does need to be watched at a local level, because there's danger here in terms of behaviour, that is highly problematic."

The NSS responded that "Andy Burnham's cheap posturing on Prevent and comments about the police sow division and distrust. Whatever you think about Prevent, Mr Burnham's specific suggestion – that there is no duty to deal with far-right extremism – is simply false.

"It is incredibly irresponsible to suggest that Muslims might need to bypass the police to access justice and that Muslims can't trust the police.

"It is particularly incendiary for Mr Burnham to imply that the British state somehow legitimises anti-Muslim behaviour and even attacks on Muslims, which does seem to be the implication of his comments.

"Having groups that monitor and attacks and collect data is valuable, provided they collect reliable information on actual attacks and crimes, rather than including examples of vaguely defined 'hate speech' on social media. But that is very different to saying, as Mr Burnham did, that these groups should substitute the police so that Muslims don't ever need to 'go directly to the police' or local authorities."

Burnham was speaking to the controversial group Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND). MEND's chief executive Sufyan Ismail has accused Tell MAMA, a group which collects data on anti-Muslim attacks, of being "pro-Zionist" and said Muslims couldn't associate with it because it was "making all sorts of comments we might not agree with when it comes to homosexuality".

Before the General Election Sufyan Ismail claimed that "It's perfectly OK under UK law to hate Islam and Muslims, it's not a problem…if you're Muslim, [the law says] you can take liberties big time, that's why women are getting their hijabs ripped off."

Holy See ratification of UN Convention against Corruption dismissed as “window dressing”

News | Tue, 27th Sep 2016

The Holy See's ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption has been dismissed as mere "window dressing" by the National Secular Society.

Senior Vatican officials said the move would help ensure good governance not just internationally but of the city state itself. The Vatican has been rocked by numerous scandals including a far-reaching clergy sex abuse crisis, money laundering and corruption at the Vatican Bank.

Vatican Radio reported that Holy See had ratified the Convention with two reservations and three interpretative declarations. One of these reservations states that the Holy See reserves the right not to participate in any "appropriate mechanism or body to assist in the effective implementation of the Convention".

The National Secular Society, which has been active at the UN in holding the Catholic church to account over its failure to address child abuse within its ranks, said the Holy See's caveats meant the ratification amounted to "mere window dressing".

NSS executive director, Keith Porteous Wood, said: "The Vatican is among the most corrupt states in the world and is close to being ungovernable, as is evident from Gianluigi Nuzzi's book Merchants in the Temple, which reveals the shocking extent of corruption within the Vatican.

"This is the Catholic Church once more saying 'do as I say, not as I do', as is clear from it tellingly reserving the right to not participate in enforcement measures, which might require the Vatican to disclose its own difficulties in implementing and complying with this Convention."

NSS Speaks Out

NSS president Terry Sanderson spoke on LBC about female chess players being forced to wear the hijab after the world chess championships were awarded to Iran. The third part of his interview with Conatus News was published this week.

NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood appeared on the Voice of Islam radio station to discuss sharia 'law' and the principle of one law for all.

Our vice president Alistair McBay had a letter published in the The Scotsman on 28 September about the dangers of sectarianism and the benefits of a religiously neutral state.