secularism - A Tippling Philosopher (Page 5)

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secularism

A collection of 149 posts

New figures show 40% of latest Free School proposals were from faith groups

The BHA reports (and for those who do not know what "free schools" are, see here): The Department for Education (DfE) has now published the names, locations, and religious characters of all Free School applications from the ‘tenth wave’, revealing that two fifths of applications submitted were from

BHA challenges Secretary of State on false allegation of ‘vexatious’ actions in open letter

The BHA (British Humanist ASsociation) write an open letter to (evangelical Christian) Education Secretary Nicky Morgan today. Their preamble and letter follow: Take action! We’ve written to Nicky Morgan to oppose the Government’s moves to prevent us and other civil society organisations from voicing concerns about the many

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

Interesting Interview with New Exec Director of SCA

Staks Rosch over at SIN has produced a good little interview of the incoming Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America (SCA), Larry Decker. It's an interesting read, and worth a few minutes. There are some fascinating paradigms involved with an "unaffiliated Christian" gay man

BHA exposé on unregistered, illegal Jewish schools which only teach about Judaism

The British Humanist Associuation are an organisation well worth supporting. And this news item is well worth watching: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hICjMR7Tj1w&utm_source=BHA+E-Bulletin+2014&utm_campaign=61baa45705-BHA_e_bulletin_2015_09_079_2_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=

Judge sides with Catholic hospital over contraceptive healthcare

This is a bit of a blow for progressive rights. Ack. This comes from the Guardian on Thursday: The California hospital cited ‘ethical and religious directives’ and refused to allow a doctor to tie the woman’s tubes immediately following childbirth A San Francisco judge on Thursday refused to order

Ex-Muslim speaker's Warwick University ban overturned following public pressure

Following what I reported from the BHA the other day, the Coventry Telegraph reports the following good and sensible news. Respect to Warwick SU for fully accepting it as a cock-up, apologising and reviewing their processes: Maryam Namazie had been banned by the university's students' union over

Warwick University Student Union bans atheist human rights activist from speaking

The BHA reports this annoyingly insane story. Please tweet them or email a complaint: The British Humanist Association (BHA) has reacted with alarm at news that a non-religious human rights activist, Maryam Namazie, has been denied the opportunity to speak at a student society event, seemingly be

Welsh Government wishes to replace ‘Religious Education’ subject in schools with ‘Religion, Philosophy and Ethics’

Welsh Government wishes to replace ‘Religious Education’ subject in schools with ‘Religion, Philosophy and Ethics’

This news comes from the British Humanist Association: Taking questions in the Senedd, the Welsh Minister for Education and Skills, Huw Lewis, has announced that he wants to see a transformation of the way in which Religious Education is taught in Wales. Under the new proposals, and in a signif

UK: 49% have no religion, Anglican Church collapse continues, Islam increases ten-fold since 1983

UK: 49% have no religion, Anglican Church collapse continues, Islam increases ten-fold since 1983

New findings by the National Centre for Social Research have confirmed the long-term collapse in affiliation with the Church of England and the huge increase in non-belief. Strikingly, the research also found that there had been a ten-fold increase in those identifying with Islam in the past 32 y

Free School praised by Michael Gove ordered to close due to bullying and religious bigotry

A Christian free school lauded by Education Secretary Michael Gove has been ordered to close after inspectors accused pupils of harbouring “prejudiced views” of children from other faiths which went unchallenged by their teachers.

My blog post prompts Daily Telegraph article!

This is exactly what the desired outcome was. Brilliant. My last blog entry was a reblogging of my podcast host's blog entry on my podcast colleague's position of being made to take his children to Mass as a result of a court ruling. Here is the

My colleague is forced to go to Mass by the UK courts

Yes, you heard it here. My colleague on the Skepticule podcast, Anonymous Steve, has been instructed thusly. It is just an incredible story. For those of you in Britain, such stupidity must change. Here is how Paul Orton (thanks to him for this piece), one of the hosts of the show where we do our se

By Adrian Pingstone (talk · contribs) (Self-photographed) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Tory MPs must pretend not to be "atheists and gay"

This is from The Independent, though what is equally as depressing in this day and age, is that the Bill to allow prayers at the beginning of Council meetings seems to have got through the House of Commons unopposed: Tory James Arbuthnot comes out as an atheist, claiming MPs must pretend to be re

Pertinent: Government's obsession with faith and free schools 'breeds social and racial segregation'

With another massacre, this time in Parisian France, and the issues with religious extremism, this is as pertinent as ever. This is from The Independent: Exclusive: Chair of Social Integration Commission says Government has ignored impact of education policies, and calls for schools to monitor how well children from different

Separation of Church and State is Crumbling in the States

Separation of Church and State is Crumbling in the States

One of the core tenets of the United States established by the Founding Fathers was the separation of Church and State — but an expanding Christian Right wants to turn the U.S. into a religious state, where ideology trumps law — and they just succeeded in Michigan.

Secular Humanism is a religion, legally speaking

Secular Humanism is a religion, legally speaking

From Think Progress: Atheists Score Major Win In Federal Court A federal district court in Oregon has declared Secular Humanism a religion, paving the way for the non-theistic community to obtain the same legal rights as groups such as Christianity. On Thursday, October 30, Senior District Judge Ancer Haggerty issued

'Extremist' nurseries to lose funding - Nicky Morgan

The post-Trojan horse shenanigans rumble on. The BHA are riding the secular wave - good on 'em. The BBC reports: Councils are to be given powers to stop funding early-years providers with links to extremism, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has announced. The move, in England, follows a letter-writing campaign

School governors: abolish rules on Christian assemblies

The National Governors' Association calls for the abolition of the 70-year-old rule that requires schools to hold a Christian assembly every day, saying it is "meaningless"

Taxpayers' cash should not be used to fund faith schools, say voters

OK, so if you have been following the debacle of the schools in Birmingham, UK, which have involved the schools inspectorate in the UK, you will know that there is a huge worry in the UK that certain schools are becoming worryingly victim to Islamic extremism. I will not explain

Concerns over religious hardliners inspecting independent 'faith schools'

These schools shouldn't even be allowed to exist, let alone be policed by their own. As the National Secular Society reports: The National Secular Society has expressed concern that inspectors with extremist views are working for the body responsible for inspecting Muslims and Christian independent

Sudanese woman who married a non-Muslim sentenced to death

This has been an ongoing saga which is nothing short of depressing. As the Guardian reports: Amnesty International joins condemnation of death penalty for Sudanese doctor found guilty of 'apostasy' for marrying Christian President Omar al-Bashir, an Islamist who seized power in a 1989 coup in

Headmaster sacked from Catholic school over marriage split

This, from the Telegraph: Headmaster sacked from Catholic school over marriage split A top Catholic school retracted its job offer to a new headteacher after governors learnt the chosen candidate had split up with his wife Christopher Belli was offered the top job at Corpus Christi RC High School in

Islamic take-over of UK schools being investigated

The government are continuing to look into the Islamification of certain schools in the Birmingham area as I reported (from the BBC) before. Here, the anti-terrorism unit has got involved. This is close to my teaching and secular heart (from the BBC again):

The protection of minors against excesses of sects

H/T to Gandolf for this one, in response to the article about the girl being taken out of a Christian school because she didn't look girly enough. God move for the European Union to be tackling such issues. This is from the Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. Read