Newsline 22 February 2019
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On Monday MPs will debate a petition to allow parents to opt their children out from relationships and sex education. Religious protests against RSE and teaching
about LGBT people's existence are growing louder. Teaching shouldn't be watered down because of religious concerns, so we're urging our supporters to
write to their MPs and ask them to protect RSE.
Elsewhere this week we have details of a troubling ruling on a teacher who was sacked for living with her boyfriend and refusing to lie about it. As Catholic
Church leaders discuss child abuse, we outline the steps the Vatican would take if it was serious about tackling the issue.
And we've got details of our latest confirmed speaker for our Secularism 2019
conference, Izzy Posen. His decision to share his remarkable story will do a significant service to those whose lives are severely restricted by the unquestioning
culture of some closed religious communities. If you haven't got your ticket to the conference yet, they are on sale now for £50 – or just £25 for members.
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News & Opinion
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The chief inspector of England's schools has said all children should learn about same-sex couples amid increasingly loud religious campaigns against
education... Read More »
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The National Secular Society has said a ruling that a woman who was sacked for living with her boyfriend did not suffer religious discrimination
"undermines... Read More »
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As the Catholic Church unveils another inadequate plan to tackle child abuse, this open letter from Keith Porteous Wood highlights some steps the pope...
Read
More »
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The National Secular Society has urged the Scottish government to protect free speech and abolish blasphemy laws as it considers proposals to change
legislation... Read More »
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An independent Jewish faith school in north London has been found 'inadequate' in all areas in an Ofsted inspection which could trigger its deregistering...
Read More »
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Northern Ireland's equalities practices are furthering the harmful narrative that the country is made up of two communities and restricting citizens'
ability... Read More »
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The National Secular Society is pleased to announce that Izzy Posen, who dissented from his strict upbringing in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, will...
Read More
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Other news
The BBC has said it
will give viewers information about abortion after it was criticised following an episode of the popular drama Call the Midwife.
A consumer watchdog has warned
that some shoppers are unwittingly buying meat from animals which have not been stunned before slaughter.
A report from the foreign affairs committee has called on the government to extend
equal marriage to the British Overseas Territories.
A comic creator has given
up rights to a series featuring Jesus Christ as a superhero's peace-loving sidekick after receiving heated backlash from conservative Christians,
particularly in the US.
The Church of England has accused the BBC of
'marginalising' Songs of Praise after moving the show to a lunchtime slot. The BBC has defended the move, partly on the basis that it allows
the show to be available on iPlayer for longer.
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB did
not show a Bundesliga football match last week because a female referee was officiating, according to reports.
A Saudi mobile application that lets men track and restrict the movements of women in the kingdom has come under increased scrutiny, with an American senator and rights groups urging Apple
and Google to remove it from their platforms.
Stay up to date with all the latest news and views on secularism - subscribe to
get your daily media briefing from the NSS.
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Read elsewhere
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By Elizabeth Dias, for the New York Times
The crisis over sexuality in the Catholic Church goes beyond abuse. It goes to the heart of the priesthood, into a closet that is trapping thousands of men.
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By Paul Brian, for the New Statesman
An interview with Robert Biedroń, who wants to separate church from state in a country defined by Catholic nationalism.
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Buy your tickets: Secularism 2019
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Izzy Posen is the latest confirmed speaker at our Secularism
2019 conference at the Tower Hotel in central London on 18 May. You can buy your tickets now.
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Quotes of the week
"It emerged that many, many people at the school and the abbey — teachers, support staff, heads, monks, abbots — knew what was happening to me and possibly
hundreds of other young boys. The abuse was able to continue undetected, decade after decade, because the secretive culture of the Catholic Church valued abusers
more than children. The frightening part is that, as events at the IICSA hearings were to show, it still does."
Stephen Bleach on the IICSA inquiry's hearings into abuse at Ealing Abbey and St Benedict's School in west London
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"The friends, cousins and relatives of the devil."
The pope
describes people who regularly criticise the Catholic Church
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Watch: Jayne Ozanne on 'gay conversion therapy'
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This week the Ozanne Foundation published data showing the shocking impact of gay 'conversion therapy' on the mental health of those subjected to it. The foundation's Jayne Ozanne, who
spoke about the
findings on Channel 4 this week, talked about
this abusive practice and her experience of it at our Healthcare & Secularism conference in October.
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Petition comments of the week: faith-free sex education
"All children need a full education about sex and relationships. The religious or other beliefs of their parents, guardians or teachers should not be allowed
to influence this in any way, nor should such beliefs be assumed to be those of the children, who have a right to make up their own minds as soon as they are old
enough to do so."
Jim, Luton
"School children have the right to be told about sexual relations in a way that is not coloured by religious prejudice."
Chloe, London
If you believe in faith-free relationships & sex education, please remember to urge your
MP to defend it in the debate on it in parliament on Monday.
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Petition comment of the week: reform Thought For The Day
"The majority of people in the UK have no religious belief. That does not make us second class citizens who you have the right to ignore. We have valid
opinions that should be expressed."
Bruce, Lancashire
Sign our petition and explain why you support reform of BBC Radio 4's Thought For The Day.
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NSS speaks out
Our spokesperson Chris Sloggett was quoted in The Telegraph &
Argus as Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire continued to obfuscate over its policy of serving non-stun halal meat in schools.
We were quoted in Slough & South Bucks Express on a school in Berkshire which cut ties with an Islamic 'weekend school' after we raised
concerns about speakers it had hosted.
We were also mentioned in The Press &
Journal on the campaign to open a public swimming pool on the Isle of Lewis on Sundays.
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Support our work
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