Tags: faith schools

Derk Venema and Tanya Watkins

Ep 55: Pastafarianism and the meaning of ‘religion’

Posted: Tue, 24th Aug 2021

A spoof religion devised to mock creationism has attracted a global following. But what does 'religion' mean anyway?

In this episode, Emma Park speaks to three guests with different perspectives on Pastafarianism and the challenge that it poses to religious privilege.

Derk Venema (03:20) is an assistant professor in legal philosophy at the Open University of the Netherlands. He was the legal counsel for two Pastafarians who featured in the 2020 documentary I, Pastafari. Derk talks about their court cases, the difficulties of letting the state decide what counts as a religion, and the requirement that a religious belief should be 'serious'.

Captain Tanya Watkins (28:35) is the self-appointed leader of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in Australia. She discusses her failed attempts to have her church legally incorporated, as recognised religions can do, and explains why Pastafarianism is really about being nice to people – and eating pasta.

Dr Tony Meacham (43:17) is a law lecturer at Coventry University. He considers the challenge which movements like Pastafarianism pose to traditional definitions of 'religion', and the place of religion in English law.

Watch this episode on YouTube | Direct MP3 Link | Transcripts

Support the podcast, share with a friend, and leave a positive review everywhere you can.

Podcast produced by Emma Park for the National Secular Society (2021). All rights reserved.

Schools aren’t there to save the church - Opinion Out Loud Ep 012

Schools aren’t there to save the church - Opinion Out Loud Ep 012

Posted: Tue, 17th Aug 2021

The Church of England's new evangelical missional strategy should lead us to question its entitlement to proselytise in schools, argues Stephen Evans.

Kerry Benjoe

Ep 54: The Catholic Church and Canada’s residential schools

Posted: Tue, 20th Jul 2021

"Not one single residential school was ever built with a playground. But every single residential school had ample space for a cemetery."

Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School in Lebret, Saskatchewan, was one of the first such schools established by the Canadian government in the 19th century. From the beginning, it was run by the Catholic Church, which was actively involved in the forced removal of indigenous children from their families, in attempts to erase their links to their culture, and in training them up as cheap labour for colonial businesses.

In this episode, Emma Park is joined by the Canadian journalist Kerry Benjoe. Kerry was the first indigenous person to work for the Regina Leader-Post, her city's daily newspaper, and is now Indigenous Storyteller for CBC Saskatchewan. She attended Lebret from the age of 15 to 18, at a time when it had been taken over from the Church by the Star Blanket Cree Nation. She was in the fourth and final generation in her family to do so.

As a journalist, Kerry has spent years gathering stories, often harrowing, from the survivors of the residential schools. She shares some of these stories on the podcast, from humiliation and physical abuse to the loss of childhood. She explains why the recent discovery of graves at Kamloops residential school, also run by the Catholic Church, came as no surprise to the local indigenous community.

Please note that this episode contains distressing material.

Watch this episode on YouTube | Direct MP3 Link | Transcripts

Notes

Support the podcast, share with a friend, and leave a positive review everywhere you can.

Podcast produced by Emma Park for the National Secular Society (2021). All rights reserved.

Peter Tatchell and Terry Sanderson

Ep 53: Religion and LGBT rights: fifty years of change

Posted: Tue, 6th Jul 2021

The history of LGBT rights in the UK has involved persistent struggles against prejudice, entrenched views – and organised religion.

In this episode, Emma Park speaks to two leading campaigners for LGBT equality and social acceptance in Britain. Her first guest, Peter Tatchell, has been campaigning on these issues since 1967. Since 2011, he has directed the Peter Tatchell Foundation, which campaigns for human rights around the world. His story has been told in the documentary Hating Peter Tatchell, released this year on Netflix. Emma's second guest, Terry Sanderson, started campaigning for gay rights in 1969. Terry joined the National Secular Society in the 1990s and was its president from 2006 to 2017.

The two speakers talk to Emma Park about their long experience of fighting for LGBT rights from the late 1960s to today. Each of them shares personal memories of what it was like to be gay in those years, and some of the highlights of their campaigning. They also describe the resistance they encountered from religious organisations every step of the way. Finally, Peter discusses the ways in which such organisations continue to oppose LGBT equality today, and Terry considers how far it is possible to be both gay and religious.

Watch this episode on YouTube | Direct MP3 Link | Transcripts

Notes

Terri Haynes & Tracy Butler

Ep 52: A new Catholic school for Peterborough

Posted: Tue, 22nd Jun 2021

A new Catholic primary school is about to be constructed in Peterborough. It will be the first state-funded Catholic school in England for a decade.

The school is to be built in the growing housing development of Hampton Water. It has been pushed through despite strong opposition from local residents – even though their money has been used to help fund the construction.

In this episode, Emma Park speaks to a member of Peterborough City Council, Terri Haynes, along with Tracy Butler, a resident who was involved in the campaign against the school. They discuss some of the problems both with the principle and the process. These include their encounters with the Catholic Diocese of East Anglia, which proposed the new school, and the obscurity of the Department for Education's reasons for refusing a bid put forward by Hampton Academies Trust for a community ethos (non-faith) school. They also discuss why many parents of different faiths and none would have been happier with a non-denominational school for their children.

Emma is then joined by Alastair Lichten, the NSS's head of education and co-ordinator of the No More Faith Schools campaign, to put the Hampton Water case in the wider national context.

Watch this episode on YouTube | Direct MP3 Link | Transcripts

Notes

Support the podcast, share with a friend, and leave a positive review everywhere you can.

Podcast produced by Emma Park for the National Secular Society (2021). All rights reserved.

Parents’ religious wishes must not trump children’s safety and education - Opinion Out Loud Ep 009

Parents’ religious wishes must not trump children’s safety and education - Opinion Out Loud Ep 009

Posted: Tue, 15th Jun 2021

Every child has been withdrawn from sex education classes at an independent faith school. Megan Manson says the parental right of withdrawal is incompatible with children's right to an education that keeps them safe.

Subscribe to NSS Podcasts: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS | YouTube | Blubrry | TuneIn.

If you value the podcast please share it with a friend and leave us a positive review wherever you get it. You can also support future podcasts and our campaigns by joining the NSS or making a donation.