Author: Stephen Evans
The DfE must show leadership when religious hardliners turn on schools
The start of an investigation into the Batley Grammar affair raises questions over the government's willingness to...
Faith groups have no business inspecting schools
Publicly funded school inspections which enable clerics to exert undue influence should have no place in a modern...
Regressive religious demands shouldn't hold sway over political decisions
Much of a pre-election letter from Scotland's Catholic bishops highlights the risks of allowing religious dogma to...
A lesson in blasphemy
After a teacher was suspended for showing cartoons of Muhammad in class, Stephen Evans says we shouldn't accept a...
Women in NI should have the same abortion rights as other UK citizens
Other people's religious beliefs shouldn't be allowed to continue to thwart women's access to safe and accessible...
The lockdown exemption for communal worship represents a dangerous double standard
With the country again plunged into a strict lockdown, Stephen Evans questions the rationale behind and wisdom of...
All I want for Christmas is freedom of and from religion
Opponents often erect a straw man of secularism to justify demands for religious privilege. But freedom of religion...
Religion is not a justification for discrimination
A shadow minister was wrong to say religious registrars should be able to opt out of providing same-sex marriages....
Church and state should be separate
Ahead of the NSS's 2020 Bradlaugh Lecture on the subject, Stephen Evans says the disestablishment of the Church of...
Those providing public services – including religious groups – should respect reasonable boundaries
Following a call for a greater role for religion in public services, Stephen Evans argues that any expansion of faith-based...
The Scottish hate crime bill is a threat to free and open debate
As ministers reportedly consider changing Scotland's hate crime bill to address free expression concerns, Stephen...
Why make a spectacle out of religion in the courtroom?
Stephen Evans argues that the current system of religious oaths and affirmations should be replaced by a universal...
We must protect pupils’ educational rights where schools consistently fail
Religious schools that censor textbooks, teach creationism and limit pupils' chances aren't respecting the right to...
Places of worship shouldn’t reopen prematurely
As a group of religious leaders threatens legal action over the closure of places of worship during the coronavirus...
Will Wales lead the way in reforming Religious Education?
The Welsh government's plans to reform RE risk being a missed opportunity for more radical reform of the way we approach...
Why respect religious demands to keep pupils in the dark?
After a select committee chair urged more leeway for a faith school which has long censored textbooks, Stephen Evans...
The bishops’ bench is an affront to democracy. Let’s scrap it
A new bill proposes to end Church of England bishops' automatic right to sit in parliament. This religious privilege...
Promote religious freedom in schools: abolish the worship requirement
A private member's bill to replace compulsory worship with inclusive assemblies should prompt the government to reform...
Don’t let controlling ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups undermine sex education
Sex education empowers young people. The government must stand up to those making faux religious freedom arguments...
Medical regulators shouldn’t let doctors push religion on patients
The General Medical Council has decided not to pursue a case against a GP who was accused of pushing religion on a...
Why the blind spot when it comes to faith schools?
Politicians need to end their fetishisation of faith schools and face the fact that a religiously divided education...
Election 2019: pledges that should be in the parties’ manifestos
As the UK's political parties consider their manifestos for the upcoming election, NSS chief executive Stephen Evans...
The Catholic Church’s snub to the child abuse inquiry speaks volumes
The Holy See's refusal to fully assist the UK's sexual abuse inquiry reveals unchangeable deficiencies within the...
Time to stop pretending we have a ‘national church’
As affiliation to Anglicanism continues its rapid decline the Church of England's privileges are increasingly unsustainable,...
Islam, like any other religion, must be fair game for criticism
The disqualification of a GCSE student who criticised halal meat is a reminder of the need to resist censorious offence-taking...
