Opinion
Home schooling debate must prompt wider discussion of children’s rights
As supporters of a new Bill aim to see home schooling in England registered for the first time, education and schools... Read More »
A lesson in silencing dissent: the controversy of hijab in schools
Yasmin Rehman was among campaigners who recently met Ofsted's chief inspector to discuss veiling in schools. Now,... Read More »
Big ideas for religious education?
The latest report into the problems with religious education reiterates the need to start with a fundamental examination... Read More »
Our business was harassed by Christian fundamentalists – now it’s the best known in Lewis
The National Secular Society recently reported the case of Leona Rawlinson, the owner of TweedTastic in Stornoway... Read More »
State recognition of Islamic nikah marriages is no way to empower Muslim women
Most women in the UK who have Islamic weddings are missing out on their legal rights. The solution to this problem... Read More »
Who controls religious education?
Necessary reforms of religious education are being frustrated by religion's lingering influence. It's time to liberate... Read More »
De facto blasphemy laws are alive and well
It is now 38 years since Monty Python's Life of Brian was released in November 1979, despite protests. But Chris Sloggett... Read More »
The folly of the civil service’s ‘faith and belief champion’
A new civil service appointment may be intended to promote 'inclusion'. But insistently bringing religion into the... Read More »
Interfaith must embrace secularism
Interfaith Week is underway. Megan Manson says interfaith dialogue must embrace secularist principles to remain relevant,... Read More »
The 'war on Christmas' is coming
The myth of a culture war on Christmas may be comical and its claims endlessly debunked, but its promotion is part... Read More »
Whence secularism in Africa?
Secularism and controversies regarding the relationship between religion and state have deep roots in Africa's socio–political... Read More »
Abuse Inquiry to investigate Benedictine institutions
An upcoming hearing of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse will be an opportunity to examine the reality... Read More »
Protecting freedom of belief for the many and the few
Ahead of International Freedom of Religion or Belief Day, Megan Manson looks at democratic secularism's changing role... Read More »
To spank or not to spank – a biblical right?
With Christian groups leading the opposition to Scotland's new smacking ban, Alistair McBay explores the many instances... Read More »
Book review: ‘The rage: the vicious circle of Islamist and far-right extremism’
Julia Ebner's new book explores the symbiotic relationship between Islamist and (other) far right extremism, how Islamist... Read More »
Al-Hijrah School ruling: The fight to end segregation has only just begun
The ruling that an Islamic faith school's policy of gender segregation is unlawful should force us to have have a... Read More »
Religious Right supports state backed prayers, until they’re Islamic
Claims of ecumenicalism and pluralism are often used to smuggle exclusively Christian privilege into public institutions.... Read More »
UNESCO: Putting religious privilege above gender equality
UNESCO says gender equality is one of its top priorities. But Megan Manson says it is protecting misogynistic attitudes... Read More »
Book review: ‘The Jesus Candidate: Political religion in a secular age’
Megan Manson and Alastair Lichten consider the importance of the Christian secularist view in James Paul Lusk's book.... Read More »
Secularism and National Libraries Week #LibraryLetters
Ahead of Libraries Week 2017 Alastair Lichten argues that libraries' values of free expression and pluralism illustrate... Read More »
'British values': a source of unity in polarised times
Efforts to promote 'British values' in schools are being criticised, mainly on account of their name, but these four... Read More »
The legacy of decades of abuse in a Catholic children's home
Hundreds of children died at Smyllum Park, a home in Lanarkshire run by the Catholic Church between 1864 and 1981.... Read More »
Lessons from the frontline of Islamic fundamentalism
Megan Manson explores autobiographies by two Muslim secularists whose lives have been directly intertwined with Islamist... Read More »
Britain should embrace secularism as it loses its religion
As new data suggests non-belief is at a record high, Chris Sloggett says secularists should be more assertive in making... Read More »
Cardinal Murphy O'Connor's cover-up of child abusers must be a lesson to the Catholic Church
Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the former Archbishop of Westminster, died on 1 September. NSS executive director Keith Porteous... Read More »
