NSS Opinion
Casework focus: community schools and religious takeovers
Posted: Thu, 11 May 2017 by Alastair Lichten
Parents and staff regularly contact the NSS over concerns related to religious influence in their schools. Campaigns officer Alastair Lichten looks at a typical example of the casework we receive and what lessons can be learned.
A small rural primary school... Read More »
CofE talks to the electorate, but is anyone listening?
Posted: Mon, 08 May 2017 by Terry Sanderson
Religious leaders are free to speak out on politics, but they shouldn't expect their views to be given any special weight, and politicians shouldn't assume that clerics speak for anyone but themselves, argues Terry Sanderson.
The Church of England has published... Read More »
As a nation we’re thinking about our future, here’s our secular manifesto for change
Posted: Thu, 27 Apr 2017 by National Secular Society
Ahead of the General Election we're calling on political parties to embrace a series of secular reforms, drawn from our recently published secular manifesto, that make society, our education system, and the law fairer for all.
As electioneering gets into full... Read More »
This is not a ‘Christian country’
Posted: Tue, 18 Apr 2017 by Harry Small
Despite many remaining anachronisms in our constitution, the UK is not a Christian country in any meaningful legal sense: but politicians continue to repeat this myth.
Theresa May's father was an Anglican priest, as she likes to remind us frequently. And on... Read More »
The Catholic Church in Scotland is still playing the victim card to stifle criticism
Posted: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 by Alistair McBay
There is some lingering anti-Catholic bigotry in Scotland, writes NSS vice president Alistair McBay, but the Church is playing victim while supporting a segregated education system which can only worsen prejudice.
"As one brought up a Catholic, I know only... Read More »
Religious programming isn’t popular, and no amount of hounding from the Church will change that
Posted: Tue, 04 Apr 2017 by Terry Sanderson
The BBC still produces a considerable amount of religious programmes – but the numbers who watch it are so small they barely register in viewing figures. More religion on TV isn't what the public want, and it won't be good for the BBC, writes Terry Sanderson.... Read More »
Prime Minister and CofE promote fake ‘war on Easter’
Posted: Tue, 04 Apr 2017 by Terry Sanderson
After several media outlets falsely claimed that the National Trust and Cadbury were 'airbrushing' Easter out of their Easter egg hunt, Terry Sanderson argues that the Prime Minister's involvement in this trumped-up propaganda exercise was the real disgrace.... Read More »
Caste discrimination: Fear of upsetting religious groups must not impede social justice
Posted: Fri, 31 Mar 2017 by Stephen Evans
Caste discrimination is the latest area where misplaced sensitivity could allow deference to religion to trump social justice, argues Stephen Evans.
The Government's recently launched consultation on caste discrimination reveals something very alarming. Despite... Read More »
Who is running Ireland – the Government or the Church?
Posted: Mon, 27 Mar 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
The reach and power of the Catholic Church has waned considerably in recent years in Ireland. But there are troubling signs that its undue influence over the country is returning, writes Keith Porteous Wood.
It is difficult to envisage now, but when the UK... Read More »
Why are we still allowing religion to retard young people’s education and health rights?
Posted: Thu, 09 Mar 2017 by Stephen Evans
The Government's proposals on Relationships and Sex Education are a welcome step in the right direction – but religious opt outs mean many children will continue to be left behind, writes Stephen Evans.
The Government's move to make Relationships and... Read More »
The human rights of women and secularism go hand in hand
Posted: Wed, 08 Mar 2017 by Alastair Lichten
On International Women's Day 2017 NSS campaigns officer Alastair Lichten reflects on the intersection of gender and religious privilege, and what the secularist movement can learn from IWD.
The theocratic mindset has always had a particular obsession with policing... Read More »
Mass grave full of children's remains at Catholic home reveals atrocities on a massive scale
Posted: Tue, 07 Mar 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
With the latest revelations about human remains in an Irish Mother and Baby home, Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society, seeks answers about how such atrocities could have happened on such a scale, and what can be done now.... Read More »
A faith-based education system is deeply inefficient
Posted: Tue, 07 Mar 2017 by Benjamin Jones
Both the Government and the Labour Party have wilful blind spots around faith schools, and as the Government looks set to launch a new wave of faith schools amid an education funding crisis, how can such an inefficient system be justified?
The Prime Minister... Read More »
Britain’s ‘Christian right’: seeking solace in a narrative of discrimination
Posted: Thu, 02 Mar 2017 by Prof. Steven Kettell
The 'Christian right' in the UK may not be anywhere near as powerful as its US counterpart, but it still tries to exert influence on public policy. This has become increasingly difficult as fewer Britons identify themselves as Christian. Steven Kettell finds... Read More »
Stop pharmacies refusing prescriptions for emergency contraception on religious grounds
Posted: Fri, 17 Feb 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
With the regulator considering curtailing 'conscience' objections to contraception prescriptions, Keith Porteous Wood urges supporters to respond to the consultation in the interests of vulnerable patients.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has launched... Read More »
A judge’s decision to separate a transgender parent from her Jewish Orthodox children was deeply misguided
Posted: Fri, 10 Feb 2017 by Dr Antony Lempert
The decision to separate a transgender parent from her children gets to the heart of why faith-based harm is perpetuated and is frequently unchallenged, writes Dr Antony Lempert of the Secular Medical Forum.
A recent ruling in the Family Court of Manchester... Read More »
It’s time for an end to special religious privileges: we need a secular state
Posted: Wed, 08 Feb 2017 by Prof. Steven Kettell
Should the Anglican peers in the Lords be joined by religious leaders from other faiths? Ought the BBC be required to make religious programmes? Should religious groups enjoy more legal protection? The Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life... Read More »
President Trump: American theocrat
Posted: Tue, 31 Jan 2017 by Alastair Lichten
Donald Trump may be America's latest 'atheist president', but his presidency has put Christian Nationalism at the heart of its policy agenda.
Modern theocracy whether of the Islamist, Christian Dominionist or Hindu Nationalist variety is about belief, but it... Read More »
Faith schools mustn’t be allowed to stymie young people’s sexual health and well-being
Posted: Thu, 12 Jan 2017 by Stephen Evans
Political sensitivity about faith schools is getting in the way of providing evidence-based, age-appropriate sex and relationships education (SRE) to all children. We can't wait forever for the Government's proposals on SRE, writes Stephen Evans.
The latest... Read More »
A faith ethos is no magic solution for improving schools
Posted: Sat, 07 Jan 2017 by Alistair McBay
There are success stories and failures in schools of all types, including faith schools, despite what the churches would have people believe. NSS vice president Alistair McBay debunks the myth that 'faith school' is a byword for success.
2016 was another interesting... Read More »
Norway’s separation of Church and State: a work in progress
Posted: Wed, 04 Jan 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
Norway's supposed separation of Church and State, effective from 1 January 2017, is a very positive step, but it's still a work in progress, writes Keith Porteous Wood.
Both Norway and the United Kingdom have populations that are very secular in outlook, with... Read More »
Sister Sarah Kuteh: up steps the next so called victim of ‘Christian persecution’
Posted: Wed, 14 Dec 2016 by Stephen Evans
It has been another week in which we've seen Christians in the Middle East losing their lives to violence and persecution, but much media attention in the UK has instead focussed around the plight of a nurse, supposedly sacked for "offering to pray with her... Read More »
Sabbatarians have imposed their dogma on islanders for long enough, help them put a stop to it
Posted: Thu, 08 Dec 2016 by Alistair McBay
The National Secular Society is helping campaigners on the Isle of Lewis open a sports centre on a Sunday, currently blocked by a council who won't allow it on the Sabbath. It's hardly the first time Sabbatarians on Lewis have played this game.
The attempt... Read More »
The Casey Review lays bare the failure to integrate Muslim minorities
Posted: Mon, 05 Dec 2016 by Benjamin Jones
Dame Louise Casey offers a damning critique of mass immigration undertaken without serious efforts to integrate new arrivals, but she shies away from properly tackling faith schools, and the problems she identifies may be intractable.
The Casey Review is a... Read More »
Clerics shouldn’t be the gatekeepers to publicly funded schools
Posted: Fri, 25 Nov 2016 by Stephen Evans
A progressive education policy would seek to break down barriers between people of different faiths and beliefs, not erect them, writes NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans.
The schools adjudicator recently ruled against a new policy across all Catholic schools... Read More »
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