BHA

A collection of 33 posts

BHA

Research Busts Faith School Academic Excellence Myth

I have previously written several articles laying out the problems with making the claim (particularly in the UK context) that faith schools are better for one reason or another: Are Faith Schools Better? An Issue of Correlation vs Causation Taxpayers Effectively Completely Fund Faith Schools ‘Faith’ schools three times more

BHA

Anti-abortion group receives grant from UK ‘tampon-tax’ fund

Why is this sort of crap happening more and more in the UK? This is from the British Humanist Association: The Government has received criticism for providing funding of £250,000 to Life, an anti-abortion organisation, who has previously made unevidenced claims about abortion, vaccinations and contraception. This grant was

Australia

UK MPs and Australia's Northern Territory on Abortion Law, Clinics and Buffer Zones

Things have been moving in the right direction for pro-choice advocates in certain parts of the world. The British Humanist Association reports on UK MPs: Members of the House of Commons yesterday voted by 172 to 142 in favour of a Ten Minute Rule bill brought by Diana Johnson MP,

BHA

‘Faith’ schools three times more socially selective than others, new research finds (again)

This unsurprising, yet important find, is reported by the British Humanist Association: English ‘faith’ schools are the most socially selective category of comprehensive school, and more than three times more socially selective than schools with no religious character, a new report from the Sutton Trust has found. The Sutton Trust

BHA

Illegal ‘faith’ schools reportedly given more than £100,000 in public funding

From the British Humanist Association: Unregistered ‘faith’ schools suspected by the Government as operating illegally have received more than £100,000 in public funding, it has been reported. Freedom of information requests submitted by The Independent found that £116,750 of Big Lottery Fund money has been awarded to seven

BHA

Incoming Today programme editor calls for humanists to be included on Thought for the Day

This has been an ongoing issue for years. Radio 4's flagship news programme in the morning, Today, has long had a Thought for the Day segment where religious figures come on and present their thought for the day - some kind of moral tract or piece relevant to

BHA

Peers accuse Government of ‘playing with fire’ over plans for unlimited religious selection in schools

From the British Humanist Association: Members of the House of Lords have strongly criticised the Government’s plans to remove the 50% cap on religious selection in new English ‘faith’ schools, as part of a parliamentary debate about the Government’s new grammar schools proposals. Peers raised serious concerns about

BHA

Roughly half of Scottish adults have no religion

From the British Humanist Association: Nearly 50% of adults in Scotland have no religion, according to the latest Scottish Household Survey (SHS), published by the Scottish Government. The 2015 survey found that 49.8% of adult Scots identified with no religion, up from 40% of the adult population when surveyed

BHA

Humanists join forces at the UN to speak out against racism and blasphemy laws in Greece

From the BHA: The British Humanist Association (BHA), in a joint statement with the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), European Humanist Federation (EHF), and Humanist Union of Greece (HUG) has spoken out against Greece’s blasphemy laws and the presence of explicitly racist political parties, as part of the

BHA

Government publishes plans to allow full religious discrimination in school admissions

From the BHA: Take action! The principle of integrated education is under attack like never before in this country following the Government’s announcement that it will introduce a new generation of state schools that can religiously discriminate against children for all of their places. We are encouraging everyone to

BHA

UK Govt Looking to Give Faith Schools 100% Selection on Faith

Theresa May is turning out to be a really bad PM, regressively appealing to the fringe right in the party, some of whom she has put into leadership positions in her cabinet (Liam Fox and David Davis, anybody?). She has decided that social mobility is just something for liberal lefties,

BHA

Anti-choice groups demand police investigation for Northern Ireland women using new abortion aftercare helpline

The BHA reports: Northern Ireland Humanists, the national organisation representing the non-religious in Northern Ireland, has expressed concerns over calls for police interference in anew abortion aftercare service launched by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS). The new service from BPAS aims to provide advice and support to women in

atheism

‘Long-term trend away from religion looks set to accelerate’: BHA Comments on Survey

From the BHA: Today sees the publication of the latest annual results from NatCen Social Research’s British Social Attitudes Survey. The question in the survey about religious belonging records 48% of the population as being of no religion, a one percent decline from the year before, and three percent

BHA

National first: University of Westminster appoints paid BHA accredited Secular Adviser

The BHA reports: The University of Westminster has broken new ground by appointing the UK’s first ever paid pastoral adviser for non-religious people. Isabel Millar, the university’s new Secular Adviser, comes to the university trained and accredited by the British Humanist Association (BHA), the UK’s national charity

BHA

Entirely the wrong direction of travel: Church of England announces 100 more church schools

From the BHA: The Church of England's educational empire-building continues, with its recent announcement of plans to build more than 100 discriminatory Anglican 'free schools', which will have the legal right to select 50% of school places on the basis of religion. As if that weren&

BHA

UN Children’s Rights Committee calls for end to compulsory worship in UK schools

A lot of people in the UK outside of education don't realise that there is still compulsory daily Christian worship (known as collective worship) within the state school system. This has been a valid target for the likes of the National Secular Society and the British Humanist Association

BHA

‘Faith Schoolers Anonymous’: Whistle-blowers’ shocking details about life in UK ‘faith’ schools

This is from the BHA: In a series of shocking revelations marking the launch of Faith Schoolers Anonymous, a new service for pupil whistle-blowers, bloggers from a range of ‘faith’ schools have shared their experiences of the education they received. Their accounts reveal instances of abuse, discrimination, and flagrant violations

atheism

Humanist weddings continue to surge in number, bucking national trend

From the BHA: The British Humanist Association (BHA) has called for legal recognition to be given to humanist weddings across the UK, as new national marriage figures in England and Wales show that marriages overall have declined in number at the same time as non-legal humanist weddings have surged in

BHA

How Elections in NI and Wales Stack up for Humanists

Here are some infographics produced by the British Humanist Association (BHA) detailing which parties support humanist ideals: It seems like the Greens, the Lib Dems and Alliance Party of Northern Ireland are the clear winners. I saw, on the BHA facebook page this comment: Can't we keep humanism

BHA

DfE bows to churches’ demands for privilege and protection in face of full academisation

The BHA reports, concerning the ongoing issues in the UK educations system (much of which I have reported on extensively here): The Department for Education (DfE) has published memoranda of understanding formally setting out its agreements with the Catholic Church and Church of England (CofE) on the arrangements that will

BHA

Private religious school failed by Ofsted for teaching young earth creationism as science

This, from the BHA: In news that could have wide implications for the teaching of creationism in private schools, an independent religious school in London has been criticised by Ofsted for having a policy which ‘promotes the teaching of incorrect content’ on evolution and creationism, and told that it does

BHA

BHA: Childhoods stolen, adulthoods ruined: we expose illegal 'faith' schools in London

The BHA reports (which has been taken up in the UK by national media outlets): An investigation carried out by the British Humanist Association (BHA) has revealed that a number of unregistered strictly Orthodox Charedi Jewish schools in north London – which the Government is aware are operating illegally – are nonetheless

BHA

Government moves to ban organisations from exposing law-breaking schools unfairly restricting access to children and parents

The BHA reports: Following a report published by the British Humanist Association (BHA) and Fair Admissions Campaign (FAC) last year revealing that almost every religiously-selective school in England is breaking the law, the Education Secretary has announced she now plans to ban groups and organisations from officially raising concerns about

BHA

National first as humanist ‘pastoral carer’ joins Leicester Hospitals

The BHA reports: Leicester Hospitals have become the first in the UK to employ a non-religious pastoral carer. Jane Flint, whose part-time post is being charitably funded, will provide pastoral support to patients, families, and staff with non-religious beliefs from 4 January. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has welcomed the

BHA

2015 Freedom of Thought Report finds escalation of non-religious persecution

The BHA has just announced the latest Freedom of Thought report: Global persecution of humanists, atheists and the non-religious has risen over the past year, a new, systematic report published today has found. The 2015 Freedom of Thought Report is the fourth edition of the annual publication, produced by the