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A campaign by predominantly Muslim parents to force a school in Birmingham to stop teaching lessons about diversity is gathering pace. Parents who object to the
fact the lessons refer to LGBT people's existence have petitioned and protested against the school. Some have targeted a teacher who pioneered the lessons
personally. And in a coordinated act of bullying, 600 children were withdrawn from the school last week in an attempt to force it to change course.
It's been widely reported that the school has dropped the lessons as a result. We're pleased to say this is – at least for now – inaccurate. But the school needs
support. That's why this week we wrote to the Department for Education, urging it to stand up for children's right to a decent education and defend teachers who
are just doing their jobs.
This episode is part of a broader pattern of religious pressure on schools to provide a bespoke educational experience which mirrors parents' beliefs, even when
those views are based on bigotry or restrict children's horizons.
This cannot be the future of our education system. Giving ground to the religious groups' demands would set a damaging precedent. We're acutely aware of this, and
pushing back firmly. If you think that's worthwhile work, please consider joining or
donating to the NSS. Thank you for your support.
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News & Opinion
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The National Secular Society has urged the government to support a primary school in Birmingham which is under pressure to stop teaching lessons on LGBT...
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The National Secular Society has called on the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children to reconsider its position on non-therapeutic...
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The most senior Catholic official in France, the archbishop of Lyon Philippe Barbarin, has been convicted of covering up sexual abuse and given a six
month... Read
More »
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The National Secular Society has said a code of practice for out-of-school educational settings (OOSES) should be mandatory in response to a government...
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A community group has renewed an offer to pay for trial Sunday openings of a leisure centre on the Isle of Lewis amid Sabbatarian opposition.
Families into... Read More »
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The No More Faith Schools campaign's focus is on challenging the religious designation of state-funded schools. Alastair Lichten explains why.
The No More... Read More »
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As protesters demand the end of Sudan's Islamist regime, Nahla Mahmoud says a secular democracy is the only way to protect the rights of the Sudanese
people.... Read More »
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Read elsewhere
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By the University of Manchester's Religion, law and the constitution project
Some parents are demanding that their children be prevented from accessing knowledge. But the law around parental responsibility exists for the benefit of
children, not parents.
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By Eliza Griswold, for The New Yorker
A populist Indian prime minister has legitimised India's more militant groups, and targeted attacks against religious minorities are on the rise.
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Buy your tickets: Secularism 2019
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We'll be discussing topics including freedom of expression, genital cutting and pluralism and religious orthodoxy at our Secularism 2019 conference in London on Saturday 18 May. You can buy your tickets now.
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Secular Medical Forum chair to speak on genital cutting
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The chair of our Secular Medical Forum, Dr Antony Lempert, will speak at a conference on defending children's
bodily integrity at the University of Leeds on 27 April.
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Quotes of the week
"There is nothing 'adult' about being gay or bisexual, any more than there is about being straight."
Ollie Cole on claims that teaching children about
LGBT+ people is not 'age appropriate'
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"If we let those who are bigoted, or just plain misguided, win this argument, the message is reinforced to every LGBT student that they are still outsiders and
far less valued in this world."
Alan Clark calls for LGBT education to be mandatory in a letter to The Guardian
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Petition comments of the week: non-therapeutic infant circumcision
"I resent that someone cut me without my permission. I would like to have had the choice."
Peter, Suffolk
"I was given no choice as a baby by my supposedly religious parents who had no scientific or social basis for cutting me."
Jon, Devon
"If the law would not allow the removal of a baby's little finger at the parents' request, why does it allow the removal of part of the penis?"
Brian, North Yorkshire
Add your name to the petition and explain why infant boys should be legally protected
from unnecessary forced genital cutting.
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From the archive: International Women's Day
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On International Women's Day 2018, Megan Manson celebrated the stories of seven brave and determined women in the UK who religious hardliners tried and
failed to bully.
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Western academics who claim secularism undermines women's rights are not merely wrong; their assertions are a slap in the face of women fighting for their
rights under religious tyranny, says Megan Manson.
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On International Women's Day 2017 NSS campaigns officer Alastair Lichten reflected on the intersection of gender and religious privilege, and considered what
the secularist movement could learn from IWD.
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In a long read for International Women's Day 2018, Dr Fatou Sow said secularism was a feminist issue and reflected on its particular importance to women in
Africa.
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NSS speaks out
Our chief executive Stephen Evans discussed the religious opposition to lessons about diversity in Birmingham on LBC and talkRADIO.
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And finally...
Pupils at a Catholic school in Redditch in Worcestershire have suffered burns after having ash smudged on their
foreheads during an Ash Wednesday assembly.
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Support our work
Please support our work so we can make the case for a fairer secular democracy for all.
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