|
The scientific consensus on slaughtering farm animals is overwhelming: it is more humane to stun animals before killing them than not to do so. And we argue that
politicians must listen to the vets rather than the clerics. Religion should not be an excuse to mistreat animals.
This week we revealed that 18 councils across the UK are supplying halal meat which has not been stunned before slaughter to schools. Many local authorities told
us they do not supply non-stun meat and cite animal welfare as the reason for not doing so. But in some areas serving children inhumanely slaughtered meat is
worryingly normalised. Kirklees Council in west Yorkshire, for example, supplies non-stunned halal to 40 schools.
This can be changed. Yesterday Lancashire County Council voted overwhelmingly to stop the supply of non-stunned non-poultry meat to schools – upholding a decision
it first made a year ago. We welcome the council's decision to face down some hardline local Muslim groups on this issue. But this is a reminder that councils'
jobs could be made much easier by principled action at a national level. The government needs to repeal the religious exemption to our animal welfare laws. If you agree, please sign our petition or write to your MP on the subject.
In other news there is now just over a week to go until our Healthcare &
Secularism conference in Birmingham next Saturday. We still have a handful of tickets left for this rare opportunity to find out more about, and
discuss, the most pressing secularist issues in the world of healthcare today. Our panellists will explore topics including conscientious objection, LGBT+
'conversion therapy', ritual genital cutting and assisted dying. Don't miss out – book your ticket now.
|
|
News & Opinion
|
|
|
At least 17 councils across the UK are supplying non-stunned halal meat to dozens of schools, NSS research has revealed.
The NSS has found that around one... Read More »
|
|
|
The National Secular Society has welcomed a vote from councillors in Lancashire which has ratified its decision to stop supplying most non-stunned halal...
Read More
»
|
|
|
Ten people are taking legal action against a religious order which ran two orphanages in central Scotland where large numbers of children were subjected...
Read More »
|
|
|
After a sharp rise in reported crimes in which religious hatred was a factor, Alastair Lichten says liberal democracies should challenge hatred and
bigotry... Read
More »
|
|
|
An Islamic school that breached the Equality Act by treating boys and girls unequally was among 10 failing independent faith schools recently issued
warning... Read
More »
|
|
|
The Australian government looks set to allow religious schools that receive public funds to dismiss teachers for their sexuality nationwide after leaks...
Read More »
|
|
|
Latest from the No More Faith Schools campaign
|
|
|
A girl of Muslim background and a girl with autism were among the children refused September places at state-funded faith schools because of
discriminatory... Read More »
|
|
|
Other news
The minister for faith has announced that seven more "faith and
belief groups" will be represented at the Cenotaph for the Remembrance Sunday service from this year. The groups include Humanists, Jains, Zoroastrians and
Copts.
Women cannot
get hold of the take-home abortion pill in swathes of Scotland a year after the Scottish government announced its introduction.
As ministers in Scotland consider proposals to allow people to self-declare their gender, officials have said equality laws
may be changed to give churches an opt-out from the plans.
Hackney Council in north London has removed a boundary line put up by
Orthodox Jewish rabbis after some people in the street it was in threatened to cut it down. No planning consent was obtained and residents were not consulted
before a very thin wire was strung from the lamp posts there last month.
On Tuesday women were allowed
to watch Iran play Bolivia at football in Tehran. Women have been banned from watching sport in person since shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979.
Queensland has become Australia's latest state to
decriminalise abortion, repealing a century-old law that made the practice punishable with prison time.
The favourite to be Brazil's next president, far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro, has signed a commitment to keep abortion illegal if
he wins power, backing the influential Catholic Church's stance.
To get all the latest news and views on secularism from the media in your inbox every morning, you can sign up to receive your daily media
briefing.
|
|
Healthcare & Secularism Conference
|
|
Featuring talks by academics and experts in the fields of medicine, law and ethics, the Healthcare & Secularism conference will give participants the opportunity to
discuss the most pressing secular medical issues today. These will include conscientious objection, ritual circumcision, pastoral care and assisted dying.
|
|
Secularism 2019: reclaiming religious freedom
|
|
What does "religious freedom" truly mean? While religious lobbyists commonly use terms like "religious freedom" to demand privileges, this conference will serve to highlight that true "religious freedom" means
freedom of belief for people of all religions and none. The conference will also explore the limits of religious freedom when it impedes on other human rights,
including bodily autonomy, equality and freedom of expression.
|
|
Quotes of the week
"I think this is an example of how space is shrinking for civil society organisations, for voices who are speaking for civic rights and peacebuilding. This
is not an attack on Gulalai Ismail, this is an attack on our civic freedom and liberty to speak out. This is an attack on our freedom of
speech."
Gulalai
Ismail, a human rights activist who was arrested in Pakistan last Friday. She has since been released but her passport has been confiscated and she
cannot leave the country
|
|
|
"The women in this study recall being terrified, not of taking abortion pills at home, but of being arrested. The current situation forcing abortion seekers to
travel is untenable and inhumane."
Emma
Campbell, co-chair of Alliance for Choice in Northern Ireland, responds to a report on the stigma facing women from NI who seek abortions. MPs will
debate decriminalising abortion in NI next week
|
|
|
"There are millions of mothers who are in this situation and, for me, every mother who protected her daughter, you know what you did. You know what you have
changed. You have changed the life of your great-great-great- grandchildren - and you will be looked at as their hero."
Hibo Wardere, who suffered FGM in
Somalia when she was young, on women who resist pressure to subject their daughters to the procedure
See our quotes of the week archive.
|
|
Read elsewhere
|
|
|
By Rosie Dawson, for Church Times
The level of access that Evangelicals have to the White House is unprecedented.
|
|
|
By Suhasini Raj and Kai Schultz, for The New York Times
On Wednesday Sabarimala Temple in southern India opened for the first time since the Supreme Court struck down a ban on women of childbearing age entering
it. It quickly became the latest battleground in a long-running conflict between India's modern, liberal court system and deeply conservative elements of its
ancient culture.
|
|
|
By Jamal Khashoggi, for The Washington Post
The Washington Post has published the final column from Jamal Khashoggi, the dissident who appears to have been killed by the Saudi regime.
Khashoggi calls for free speech in the Arab world.
|
|
|
NSS speaks out
Our chief executive Stephen Evans commented on the Church of England's failure to attend any of Amazon or Google's AGMs in the last three years in
The
Times. Stephen was quoted in the New
Statesman on evangelical groups which engage in debt counselling.
Our research on councils supplying schools with non-stunned meat was reported in Farming UK. The
Lancashire
Telegraph quoted our letter to councillors in Lancashire in advance of the vote on supplying non-stun meat to schools there.
The Birmingham
Mail extensively cited our 2017 findings on the compulsory hijab in schools in an article on Marks & Spencer selling hijabs as schoolwear for
very young children. Stephen also discussed hijabs in schools on BBC Radio Kent.
Our No More Faith Schools campaign was extensively cited by Patheos.
|
|
NSS scholarship
The application process for the second round of NSS scholarship funding, which supports students who conduct research relevant to secularism and the promotion of
human rights, is currently open.
We're inviting requests for grants ranging from £500-£3,000. The scholarship is open to anyone publishing research in English. The deadline for applications for
the current round of funding is 1 November.
You can find out more on our research & scholarships page.
|
|
Support our work
Please support our work so we can make the case for a fairer secular democracy for all.
|
|
|
Click the link if you'd rather read Newsline as a PDF.
|
|
|
|
