News and Opinion

Sunday 26th January 6.30pm Burns Night at Secular Hall The traditional celebration of the life and works of Rabbie Burns with pipes, poetry and the Canora Ceilidh Trio. Includes tasty traditional fare and a shot of Scotch. Tickets £16 (£12 members). For tickets contact Mike either by email to tickets@Lsec.org.uk or phone 07722 782727. Please indicate if you want the vegetarian option.

Leicester Secular Society supports the call by the National Secular Society urging the Government to protect freedom of speech by rejecting calls to reintroduce "blasphemy" laws. Read more Image by Ali Burhan from Pixabay

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Support the campaign of the National and Leicester Secular Societies. End the archaic, unfair and undemocratic bishops’ bench in the House of Lords. CAMPAIGN ALERT! Support the Hereditary Peers Bill amendment! Gavin Williamson MP has tabled an amendment to the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, which would remove the automatic seats for bishops in the Lords. We need your help - ask your MP to support the amendment. Twenty-six Anglican bishops are given seats as of right in the House of Lords. This is unfair, undemocratic and undesirable. It's time to abolish the bishops' bench. Two archbishops and 24 bishops of the Church of England currently have automatic seats in the House of Lords. They are sometimes known as 'the lords spiritual'. We campaign for a secular upper house with no specific religious representation, whether of Christian denominations or any other faiths. In a secular state no religion or its leaders should have a privileged role...

Leicester Secular Society condemns the recent sectarian appeal to voters by “Make the Muslim Vote Count” https://themuslimvote.co.uk , a Birmingham based organisation which states that - “ Our goal is simple This election signals a shift for Muslims – no more political apathy. We will no longer tolerate being taken for granted. We are a powerful, united force of 4 million acting in unison. We are focused on seats where the Muslim vote can influence the outcome. We are here for the long term. In 2024, we will lay the foundations for our community’s political future.” Links to this organisation have appeared on election leaflets urging electors to vote for Claudia Webbe who is standing as an Independent in Leicester East. The organisation claims that "This is not a religious campaign - it is a political one” . However this is contradicted by their use of the word Muslim and their statement that "We are a powerful, united force of 4 million acting in unison."  ...

I would like to give thanks to humanity and in particular the Neuro Trauma team at Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, for saving my life. On the morning of Monday 27th May my wife discovered me unconscious on the bathroom floor. The emergency services took me down to Leicester A&E where a brain scan showed that blood had been leaking from a vein into my right cranium, putting pressure on the brain. The scan was sent through to the Neuro Trauma team at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham who said they needed to operate urgently. I was rushed to Nottingham and on Monday night operated on to remove the blood causing the problems and seal the vein.  I regained consciousness Tuesday morning with all my faculties (as far as I can tell). The surgeons assure me that I should be back to normal in a month or two. Without the human endeavour of millions of people that develop and support our communication and transport systems and in particular the ability to scan the brain, my treatment ...