secularism - A Tippling Philosopher (Page 2)

Assessing the Claim that "Christians Are the Most Persecuted Group"

I was involved in an argument on Facebook concerning the news of the cathedral in the Frensch city of Nantes. This was fresh news: it was only just happening. And yet, already, the person in question wrote this comment alongside a video of the burning building: There are people who

Education

Welsh Government introduces new Bill requiring Religion, Values, and Ethics lessons to be fully inclusive of humanism

From Humanists UK: A new Welsh Government Bill that will change the law on religious education to make it clear that humanism must be taught about equally alongside the major religions has been laid before the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) this week. Wales Humanists – which has long campaigned for a curriculum

2020 Election

2020 Election Statewide Predictions & Nonreligious Trump Voters

I'm a big fan of the YouTube channel Political Forecast - Election Predictions. In his latest video, as ever, he takes you through a state by state analysis of the election, putting Biden and Trump head to head. It comes out more favourably for Biden than it has

Church

Trump Demands Governors Open Churches "Right Now"

Special dispensation for churches because those religious types get me my votes! CNBC: More than 1.58 million cases and at least 95,052 deaths from the coronavirus have been confirmed in the U.S. so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Trump said at a veterans event

faith schools

Morals Without Religion - Alice Roberts

I like Prof. Alice Roberts. She is a scientist and author who is excellent at communicating science on TV and other media and, now, humanism. She is relatively newly appointed to the President of Humanists UK. She courted controversy courtesy of the Times and other right-wing newspapers when, in an

Coronavirus

Volunteers at New York CV Hospital Must Agree to "Statement of Faith"

According to the website of the organisation running a field hospital in New York, volunteers must agree to a pretty eyebrow-raising statement of faith: The organization that set up the coronavirus field hospital in Central Park seemingly makes volunteers agree to their faith-based code, including defining marriage "exclusively the

Australia

Australian Religious Discrimination Bill Backfires on Christians

Sorry I've been incommunicado as of late - a chest infection + MS = yuck. An interesting article appeared recently in the Sydney Morning Herald discussing the implications of a new religious discrimination bill that looks to adversely affect the very people that are championing it: the law of unintended

AHA

Atheists Call Out Kentucky Sheriff’s Religious Promotion

From the American Humanist Association: Following blatant promotion of Christian nationalism by the sheriff of Ohio County, KY, attorneys at the American Humanist Association are warning the publicly-funded office of future legal ramifications. On November 24, 2019, the office’s public Facebook page posted an explicitly Christian prayer, reading in

secularism

School concedes in collective worship legal case – will provide alternative assemblies

This is genuinely brilliant news for those who have long campaigned for the UK statutory requirement for schools to provide Christian collective worship, technically on a daily basis. In reality, it doesn't happen a great deal, but there are certainly schools that do, and this is outside of

Religion and Society

AG Barr: Secularist Assault on Religion; Lack of Faith to Blame for Everything

The Attorney General in the US is a controversial figure for a whole host of reasons. The other day, this devout Catholic raged against militant secularists in a speech he gave to Notre Dame law students. Mother Jones reports: In a speech at University of Notre Dame’s law school

AHA

Freethinkers Protest Iowa Public School Visit to Bible Play

From the American Humanist Association: Attorneys at the American Humanist Association (AHA) sent a letter late Friday to officials at the Cherokee Community School District in Cherokee, Iowa, on behalf of a parent of a local first grade student. The student's class plans to visit a private Christian

AHA

MS School District Routinely Ignores Constitution, Atheists Argue

From the American Humanist Association: The American Humanist Association (AHA) legal team just admonished leaders at the Bay St. Louis-Waveland School District in southern Mississippi after repeated constitutional violations. These egregious violations of the constitutionally-mandated separation of church and state include prayer over the intercom at football games, a football

Islam

Brain-Damaged Raqeeb: Does Religion Get Special Treatment in Life Support Decision?

Five-year-old Tafida Raqeeb has been on life support at a hospital in London after suffering a brain injury in February. Initially, the decision-makers in the health service had argued that she should be allowed to die and not moved to Genoa in Italy due to there being no hope of

prayer

Atheists Protest High School Football Team Prayer in Georgia

This is from the American Humanist Association: The legal team at the American Humanist Association warned Griffin-Spalding School Systems this afternoon of their recent unconstitutional school prayer activity. The Griffin First United Methodist Church hosted a breakfast and sermon for football players at Spalding High School, in clear violation of

secularism

Trump Signs Order to Allow Churches to Be More Political

Whilst Trump goes about setting the media world alight with ridiculous tweets (including this one where he tweeted a classified image of Iran!), the Republicans get away with fulfilling all of their wildest fantasies, which Trump gladly signs off. Back in 2017, it concerned deconstructing the separation of church and

AHA

Atheists Cheer Resolution to Combat International Blasphemy Laws

This is from the American Humanist Association: Leaders at the American Humanist Association (AHA) celebrated the re-introduction of H.Res. 512, developed to combat international religious discrimination. The AHA’s legislative advocacy team was proud to work with Representatives Raskin (D-MD) and Meadows (R-NC) to introduce the resolution, which encourages

prayer

Federal Court Bans School-Sponsored Graduation Prayers in South Carolina School District

This is from the American Humanist Association: The U.S. District Court of South Carolina ruled in favor of the American Humanist Association (AHA) in its longstanding lawsuit against Greenville County School District over school-sponsored prayers, Christian hymns, and the use of religious venues at public school graduations. The order,

Blasphemy

UK Supermarket Sacks Man for Sharing Comic Sketch Mocking Religion

This is not something you often hear about in the UK and so it has come as a little bit of a surprise to me. If you can't mock religion, then you are ring-fencing a worldview and inoculating it from analysis and criticism. There are certainly some freedom

secularism

Alabama Megachurch Can Now Have Its Own Police Force

Oh dear. A change in law has allowed for a plan for an Alabama megachurch to have its own morality police. CNN report: An Alabama megachurch plans to start its own police force thanks to a new law permitting the church to do just that. The law, signed by Gov.

secularism

Supreme Court Approves Publicly-Funded Christian Favoritism

This is from the American Humanist Association: The U.S. Supreme Court today reversed the earlier U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit decision in the ongoing Bladensburg cross litigation. The court will allow the Bladensburg cross to stand, but will not upset the overarching national precedent forbidding

atheism

ATP Interviews Luciano Gonzalez on Atheism, Activism, Latin and South America

This is the last interview I did whilst I was in isolation in the clinic in Moscow. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed chatting with fellow Patheos Nonreligious blogger, at "Sin God", Luciano Joshua Gonzalez-Vega. We touch many bases and I think it is

discrimination

Texas 'religious freedom' bill opens door to LGBT discrimination, opponents say

Things are a mess, this way and that, in the States. The Guardian reports on the latest worry: Civil rights advocates are condemning a proposed Texas law they say opens the door to discrimination against the LGBT community and religious minorities. The Texas state senate passed Senate Bill 17 earlier

secularism

Humanist Legal Center Seeks God-Free Mississippi License Plates

This is from the American Humanist Association: The American Humanist Association’s legal center is demanding that Mississippi state officials make license plates without “In God We Trust” available to motorists at no additional cost. A new state statute makes “In God We Trust” the default license plate. To avoid

secularism

Nonreligious Assert Religious Freedom in Invocations at PA House of Representatives

These small victories in terms of secularism and freedom of religion are important in reflecting trends and showing an overall change in US society. This is from the American Humanist Association: Attorneys at the American Humanist Association (AHA) have just filed an amicus, or friend-of-the-court, brief at the Third Circuit

AHA

Humanists Conclude Oral Arguments at the Supreme Court

From the American Humanist Association: American Humanist Association Senior Counsel Monica Miller has concluded oral arguments in defense of the First Amendment before the Supreme Court of the United States. Miller argued that the 40-foot-tall Christian cross in the center of a busy intersection in Bladensburg, MD is in violation