NSS Opinion
To spank or not to spank – a biblical right?
Posted: Sat, 21 Oct 2017 by Alistair McBay
With Christian groups leading the opposition to Scotland's new smacking ban, Alistair McBay explores the many instances of Christian schools and campaigners demanding the ability to spank children as a religious or even biblical right.
This week the Scottish... Read More »
Book review: ‘The rage: the vicious circle of Islamist and far-right extremism’
Posted: Tue, 17 Oct 2017 by Dale Claridge
Julia Ebner's new book explores the symbiotic relationship between Islamist and (other) far right extremism, how Islamist and anti-Muslim narratives feed each other, and how we can challenge both.
While its roots predate 2001, Islamist terrorism has plagued... Read More »
Al-Hijrah School ruling: The fight to end segregation has only just begun
Posted: Sat, 14 Oct 2017 by Megan Manson
The ruling that an Islamic faith school's policy of gender segregation is unlawful should force us to have have a broader conversation about the religious segregation and inequality our children face in UK schools, argues Megan Manson
Make no mistake: the ruling... Read More »
Religious Right supports state backed prayers, until they’re Islamic
Posted: Thu, 12 Oct 2017 by Paul Lusk
Claims of ecumenicalism and pluralism are often used to smuggle exclusively Christian privilege into public institutions. Christian secularist Paul Lusk asks what we should do about that.
Christian Concern has criticised Oldham council for holding Islamic prayers... Read More »
UNESCO: Putting religious privilege above gender equality
Posted: Wed, 11 Oct 2017 by Megan Manson
UNESCO says gender equality is one of its top priorities. But Megan Manson says it is protecting misogynistic attitudes by awarding World Heritage Status to religious sites that practise sexual discrimination.
As the UK's United Nations Universal Periodic Review... Read More »
Book review: ‘The Jesus Candidate: Political religion in a secular age’
Posted: Fri, 06 Oct 2017 by Megan Manson
Megan Manson and Alastair Lichten consider the importance of the Christian secularist view in James Paul Lusk's book. Lusk argues that attempts to re-establish Christian religious privilege and roll back equalities, undermine true religious freedom.
Thoughts... Read More »
Secularism and National Libraries Week #LibraryLetters
Posted: Thu, 05 Oct 2017 by Alastair Lichten
Ahead of Libraries Week 2017 Alastair Lichten argues that libraries' values of free expression and pluralism illustrate how a vibrant secular democracy should work.
Our public services – the majority of which are thankfully free from religious discrimination... Read More »
'British values': a source of unity in polarised times
Posted: Thu, 05 Oct 2017 by Lottie Moore
Efforts to promote 'British values' in schools are being criticised, mainly on account of their name, but these four clear values already underpin our education, and are something to which we should aspire, argues Lottie Moore.
In 2014 the government made it... Read More »
The legacy of decades of abuse in a Catholic children's home
Posted: Thu, 21 Sep 2017 by Mark Boules
Hundreds of children died at Smyllum Park, a home in Lanarkshire run by the Catholic Church between 1864 and 1981. As an order of nuns considers selling the land, calls for a memorial are mounting. Mark Boules reflects on what is left after decades of abuse... Read More »
Lessons from the frontline of Islamic fundamentalism
Posted: Thu, 21 Sep 2017 by Megan Manson
Megan Manson explores autobiographies by two Muslim secularists whose lives have been directly intertwined with Islamist extremism, and asks if the secular pluralism extremists most fear could be our best hope.
"Extremists have shown what frightens them the... Read More »
Britain should embrace secularism as it loses its religion
Posted: Fri, 08 Sep 2017 by Chris Sloggett
As new data suggests non-belief is at a record high, Chris Sloggett says secularists should be more assertive in making the case for freedom of and from religion. This article was originally published by the International Business Times; reprinted here with... Read More »
Cardinal Murphy O'Connor's cover-up of child abusers must be a lesson to the Catholic Church
Posted: Fri, 08 Sep 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the former Archbishop of Westminster, died on 1 September. NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood seeks to set the historical record straight with this alternative obituary. This piece was originally published on Conatus News. It... Read More »
Beware the drip drip of religious exemptions
Posted: Sat, 02 Sep 2017 by Stephen Evans
As a theme park lifts its ban on Sikh ceremonial swords, NSS campaigns director Stephen Evans questions the wisdom behind religious exemptions from generally applicable rules.
The latest submission to religious demands came this week when a popular theme park... Read More »
Ireland’s hospitals: some welcome secularisation
Posted: Fri, 01 Sep 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood detects a long-overdue and decisive turn towards secularism in publicly funded healthcare in Ireland, an area in which the Catholic Church has until now been predominant.
The Catholic Church in Ireland has, until recently,... Read More »
The confessional shouldn’t shield child abuse from reporting
Posted: Wed, 16 Aug 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
The Australian abuse commission is right not to exempt the confessional from reporting obligations, and its rigour should provide a model to reverse the backsliding already all too clear in the UK, argues Keith Porteous Wood.
Should priests be legally bound... Read More »
Newcastle: what's faith got to do with it?
Posted: Thu, 10 Aug 2017 by Yasmin Rehman
A group of mainly Muslim men has been convicted for sexual abuse in another British city. Amid a predictable response, Yasmin Rehman says child protection does not require the involvement of faith groups or 'community leaders'.
Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford,... Read More »
Food for thought! Imposing worship in Australian schools
Posted: Thu, 10 Aug 2017 by A Parent
Blinkers go on when the topic is religion. So one parent in a Queensland school thought she would use food to explain the impact of the school's version of 'inclusiveness', which involves telling them her child can go somewhere else while the prayer is being... Read More »
Sam Brownback: Trump’s new man is no fan of religious freedom
Posted: Wed, 09 Aug 2017 by Chris Sloggett
The record of President Trump's new nominee exposes the hypocrisy of the US religious right. Chris Sloggett argues that its opponents must challenge the ingrained assumption that faith is a good thing.
"Religious freedom is the first freedom. The choice of... Read More »
The BBC is overdoing religion
Posted: Mon, 31 Jul 2017 by Terry Sanderson
New figures show that the BBC is devoting hundreds of hours of programming to religion each year. NSS president Terry Sanderson argues that more of its scarce resources should be spent elsewhere.
In its recently published annual report, the BBC reveals the... Read More »
Church of England’s links with insurer undermines justice for survivors of clergy abuse
Posted: Wed, 26 Jul 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
Anglican abuse victims believe the Church's close links with its insurer results in lower settlements to victims. NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood thinks they've got a point, and offers solutions to put things right.
An insurance company connected... Read More »
Intolerant religion mustn’t dictate England’s education policy
Posted: Wed, 26 Jul 2017 by Stephen Evans
The government is under fire over proposals to lift the cap on faith-based admissions in faith schools. Stephen Evans says the plans should be abandoned - and religious groups' role in education rolled back.
Following criticism of the government's divisive... Read More »
Never mind joining SACREs, we should be abolishing them
Posted: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 by Keith Sharpe
A parent's legal challenge to the exclusion of a humanist representative from the local body responsible for overseeing religious education highlights the need for urgent reform of this contested area of the curriculum, argues Keith Sharpe.
A humanist parent... Read More »
The PM must be held to account for her faith school obsession
Posted: Thu, 20 Jul 2017 by Chris Sloggett
Theresa May's plans to expand faith schools in Britain are ill-judged. In response, Chris Sloggett argues, it is up to secularists to make a principled case: state education must be grounded in reason and free intellectual enquiry.
Books in the library promoting... Read More »
Separate is not equal – not in this ‘faith’ school
Posted: Tue, 11 Jul 2017 by Stephen Evans
Turning a blind eye to discriminatory gender discrimination in Islamic schools would be disaster for future generations of British girls growing up in Muslim communities, argues Stephen Evans.
I was in court this week for Ofsted's appeal of a ruling that gender... Read More »
The greater the religious fervency, the greater the homophobia
Posted: Fri, 07 Jul 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
On Pride weekend, NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood highlights the interconnectedness between the fight for secularism and equality for LGBTQ people.
Homosexuality, or at least homosexual activity, especially by men, has been a long-standing subject... Read More »
