secularism

A collection of 149 posts

Blasphemy

Pakistani couple get death sentences for blasphemy

Being a Christian, or any non-Muslim, in Pakistan is hard. Blasphemy laws restrict any kind of free speech and freethought. Here, the BBC reports on yet another case of backwards thinking. It makes me so sad.

Education

Education and religion: Invention or not, tactics in alleged Birmingham school plot are familiar

The Guardian reports, following up from a story which I reposted here: Experienced headteachers say they recognise ploy outlined in document about alleged Islamic plot to 'take over' schools

Education

'Islamic takeover plot' in Birmingham schools investigated

As a teacher, I cannot tell you how much this worries me. I will be striking later this month in opposition to this government push on 'free schools' an academies which is thinly veiled attempt to privatise education and politically liberalise it. I could bore you for hours on the ramifications and

Creationism

Scaramanga takes on Accelerated Christian Education. And wins.

Jonny Scaramanga came to do a talk about his experiences with Christian education at Portsmouth Skeptics in the Pub recently. I was gutted to have missed it - I was really looking forward to that one. However, keeping a tab on his blog, it seems clear that he is embroiled in a right ding-dong with h

Satanism

Satanists plan statue to stand alongside Ten Commandments in Oklahoma

In their zeal to tout their faith in the public square, conservatives in Oklahoma may have unwittingly opened the door to a wide range of religious groups, including Satanists who are seeking to put their own statue next to a Ten Commandments monument outside the statehouse.

BHA

Baroness Warsi gets her facts wrong about Britain, 'faith' and politics

From the British Humanist Association, by email: We were very disappointed last week by comments made by Baroness Warsi, the Minister for Faith and Communities. She addressed a gathering of students at Churchill College, Cambridge, and stated that the UK's coalition government was one of the most

Education

An Indictment of British (Faith) Free Schools

I am a big advocate of the state education sector in Britain. I hate Michael Gove, the Conservative Education Minister, with a passion. He is trying to deregulate and effectively privatise the education system. I will joining my brothers and sisters on strike on the 17th October. I will be

Education

Concerns raised about gender and religious discrimination at Derby Muslim Free School

The Derby Telegraph has reported that Al-Madinah School, a Muslim Free School that opened in Derby in September 2012, is forcing all female members of staff to wear a hijab (whether Muslim or not), and is requiring girls to sit at the back of classrooms. The Sunday Times is further reporting that re

Demographics of Religion

British Social Attitudes Survey shows 48% of Britons non religious

The results of the 30th British Social Attitudes Survey (BSA) released last week show almost half of the population say that they do not belong to a religion. The increase in the non religious is almost entirely mirrored by a decline in the proportion of people who describe themselves as belonging t

BBC

BBC reduces the amount of religion it broadcasts

The BBC has published its annual report which shows that the amount of time devoted to religion on the various BBC platforms has reduced over the past year. In the 2012/2013 period BBC1 broadcast 99 hours of religion as opposed to 102 hours in the previous year.

faith schools

Faith schools cannot continue their immoral policy of discrimination

"How are the mighty fallen!" is a biblical verse that will not only be well-known by the Roman Catholic state school, the London Oratory, but now applies directly to them. The school – famously chosen by both Tony Blair and Nick Clegg for their sons – has just been criticised by the Office of the Sc

National Secular Society

Secularism For Beginners

Jesus of Nazareth is attributed with saying many things. "Blessed are the meek" was one. "My kingdom is not of this world" was another. As far as we know, he never said, "This thing's never gonna fly unless my followers can secure a whole raft of legal, political and economic privileges."

atheism

Full transcript of House of Lords Debate on Atheism and Humanism

As reported here, the House of Lords recently had what can only be described as a fascinating debate. Whilst some non-UK visitors to this blog may not be able to access the video, thanks to Chris Street at HASSNERS (where you can find the transcript with really useful notes and comments), here is th

humanism

Absolutely awesome! Humanism and Atheism debated in the House of Lords

You must must watch this. Hopefully I can embed the video. Watch it from 2.12pm onwards. This is why I love this country. Discussing philosophy fairly and squarely within the confines of our Parliamentary system (even if the House of Lords is our non-elected part). If I can't get it to embed, che

atheism

Rudd replaces first Aussie woman Prime Minister and open atheist. Boo!

The Australian Labor Party have ousted their PM ahead of the elections which they will probably lose. This upsets me. I have always admired Gillard. Forthright and a good leader, in my books. And an atheist, too. When interviewed in 2010, she said: “I think it would be inconceivable, if I were

atheism

Scout Association amends vow to God in bid to appease atheists and other faiths

As I reported the other day, the Girlguides have dropped the pledge to God from their vow. Now it appears that the Scouts are doing similarly, as the Telegraph reports: The movement has bowed to pressure from atheists and, from later this year, will offer an alternative promise for those join

Religion and Society

God vow dropped from Girlguiding UK promise

The Telegraph and Daily Mail are predictably up in arms about this great news (something I have reported before). The BBC reports: Girls will no longer have to pledge their devotion to God when they join the Guides and Brownies in the UK. It comes after a consultation found a new Girlguidi

Islam

The threat to Turkey is SERIOUS

The shitstorm going down in Turkey deserves more attention. I mean that our governments should be coming out and decrying the Turkish conservative government's attempts to drive out secularism in the historically secular country. I get enraged when I read about what is going on there. Here is an ost

equality

Christians' discrimination cases rejected by human rights court

Three British Christians who argued that their beliefs saw them wrongly disciplined by their employers for actions such as refusing to counsel same-sex couples have lost their legal battle at the European court of human rights.

Islam

Is Turkey's secular system in danger?

Those who founded the Republic in 1923 might well be turning in their graves: their vision of Turkey as a strictly secularist and nationalist state - not just a separation of state and religion, but also the removal of religion from all aspects of public life - is being questioned. In the lead-up

Education

Islamic 'inspired' stabbing; government approves 25 faith schools; exclusivist policies abound

So a British soldier was stabbed to death in public, the atrocity being caught and shared on social media. They stayed around to be arrested, not afraid of the consequences, and this is the scary thing. Now there is a widespread Muslim backlash. To make matters worse, the government has admitted tha

Arizona

Atheist State Lawmaker Quotes Carl Sagan Instead of Doing Prayer Before House Session

An atheist state lawmaker tasked with delivering the opening prayer for this afternoon's session of the House of Representatives asked that people not bow their heads. Democratic Representative Juan Mendez, of Tempe, instead spoke about his "secular humanist tradition" and even quoted author Carl

Philosophy

Factfile: Hypatia of Alexandria

Due to the fact that wiki has some great starter articles, and I don't necessarily have the time to write some of my own, but feel that there are some people who deserve greater notoriety. As a result, once in a while, I will randomly copy over an interesting wiki article and perhaps promote discuss

Bangladesh

Protesters demand blasphemy law in Bangladesh

More misery for atheists and secularists in Bangladesh (see this very moving interview I shared the other day). The country is going seriously backwards. As AlJazeera reports: