Tags: Healthcare
Why we must reclaim religious freedom
Posted: Wed, 12 Sep 2018 by National Secular Society
There is an urgent case for resisting those who claim the mantle of 'religious freedom' without regard for others' rights. Here's why our Secularism 2019 conference will have the tagline 'reclaiming religious freedom'. Read More »
Religious freedom isn't a licence to violate others’ rights
Posted: Thu, 01 Mar 2018 by Stephen Evans
NSS CEO Stephen Evans explains why religious liberty is too important to leave to zealots to defend. Read More »
How cutting cultures deny dissenters their voice and identity
Posted: Fri, 23 Feb 2018 by Dr Antony Lempert
As Icelandic lawmakers consider whether to ban cutting infants' genitals for non-medical reasons, Dr Antony Lempert reflects on the ferocious backlash to the proposal in the UK. 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. Read More »
Abortion ruling is a missed opportunity to recognise the disparity in women’s reproductive health rights across the UK
Posted: Thu, 15 Jun 2017 by Dr Antony Lempert
Ensuring that NHS abortion services are made available, free of charge, to UK citizens travelling from Northern Ireland would be a way of mitigating the harm caused by a disparity in women's reproductive health rights across the UK, argues Dr Antony Lempert. Read More »
Irish National Maternity Hospital: “Keep your rosaries off my ovaries!”
Posted: Mon, 05 Jun 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
The determination to give a hospital to a disgraced religious order, in spite of public outrage, is the very antithesis of secularism. But the episode has prompted calls for fundamental changes in the relationship between church and state, writes Keith Porteous... 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 »
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 »
Forced cutting of young boys’ genitals violates the most fundamental medical ethics
Posted: Mon, 24 Oct 2016 by Dr Antony Lempert
Too often those who carry out forced cutting of young boys' genitals escape with gentle admonishment, rather than punishment commensurate with the severity of their actions, writes Dr Antony Lempert of the Secular Medical Forum. Read More »
Channel 4’s Dispatches reveals intimidating tactics of US-inspired anti-abortion campaigners
Posted: Thu, 06 Oct 2016 by Dr Antony Lempert
Dr Antony Lempert of the Secular Medical Forum reacts to Channel 4 Dispatches' programme that showed the shock tactics UK anti-abortion campaigners are importing from America. Read More »
NHS pastoral care should be a non-discriminatory service for all
Posted: Thu, 16 Jul 2015 by Stephen Evans
If NHS Trusts want to provide pastoral care for all, then there is no rationale for restricting the role of chaplain to those of faith, argues Stephen Evans.
God forbid – but if you or any your family end up in hospital, and feel the need for some emotional... Read More »
The Christian “fired for praying at work” – here’s the other side of the story
Posted: Thu, 23 Apr 2015 by Terry Sanderson
The British media unquestioningly promulgates the false narrative of Christians being discriminated against in the workplace. Terry Sanderson looks at the latest case involving a Christian disciplined for subjecting a subordinate to unwanted and intrusive... Read More »
The dishonesty of religious lobbying shines like a beacon
Posted: Tue, 03 Feb 2015 by Terry Sanderson
NSS President Terry Sanderson argues that the churches have changed their lobbying tactics, and are trying to impose their doctrines through misdirection and 'slippery slope' arguments.
The reaction of the Church of England and the Catholic Church to the debate... Read More »
It’s the Church’s Christian duty to support the health service, not leech off it
Posted: Mon, 13 May 2013 by Terry Sanderson
With the Archbishop of Westminster making the case for clerics in hospitals, Terry Sanderson questions why hospital chaplains are still funded by the public purse when the NHS needs all the help it can get. Read More »
Cracks appearing in NHS, but chaplains sail on regardless
Posted: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 by Terry Sanderson
Terry Sanderson suggests prayer will be the only "treatment" available in hospitals soon as they close and go bankrupt. Read More »
The Church of England should act now if it wants to save its hospital chaplaincy service
Posted: Tue, 06 Nov 2012 by Terry Sanderson
Terry Sanderson calls on the Church to relieve the struggling NHS of the financial burden of chaplaincy services, and for them to set up chaplaincy trusts to provide the necessary funding. Read More »
Hospitals axed, wages cut, frontline staff dispensed with – but Chaplains are sitting pretty
Posted: Sat, 15 Sep 2012 by Terry Sanderson
As our precious health services are falling one after another in the face of the recession, the Church must be very happy that the NHS is prepared to pick up the substantial wage bill for the clerics it should be paying for itself. Read More »
Male circumcision is an unwarranted breach of a child’s integrity – just like FGM
Posted: Tue, 31 Jul 2012 by Kenneth Houston
The Muslim-Jewish alliance of religious 'leaders' who condemned the recent German court ruling in Cologne on male circumcision stands as a testament to the need for secularism. Read More »
Ritual circumcision: religious rights of parents are at odds with the best interests of the child
Posted: Fri, 06 Jul 2012 by Dr Antony Lempert
Dr Antony Lempert of the Secular Medical Forum on the landmark German court ruling that parents do not have the right to circumcise their children without a medical reason. Read More »
Christian doctors claim jobs at risk if they refuse to do gender reassignment operations
Posted: Wed, 25 Apr 2012 by Tessa Kendall
Dr Peter Saunders of the Christian Medical Fellowship claims that doctors risk disciplinary action if they refuse to carry out gender reassignment surgery - but a doctor with objections wouldn't train in this surgical specialism in the first place. Read More »
Hapless MPs defend faith healers
Posted: Tue, 27 Mar 2012 by Martin Robbins
A cross-party group of MPs has attempted to bully the Advertising Standards Authority over its ruling against faith healers, attacking the suggestion that people who make health claims should be required to provide evidence for them. Read More »
