News and Opinion

This is the first of a series of occasional postings aimed at helping secularists and humanists to counter misrepresentations and misperceptions and build the political, social and moral case for secularism and humanism. We are winning the argument but we still need to convert this into political pressure and action. In Leicester we prevented a second Church of England academy. But in addition to preventing we need to project the idea of a better way, a secular way, forward that all can share in. Apathy is the big problem. Support http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/endfaithschools/ Allan Hayes (1)Religion not a basis for most ( http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/newsarticleview.asp?article=2288 ) ( http://tinyurl.com/y2yejj ) In this poll: 62% chose ‘Human nature by itself gives us an understanding of what is right and wrong’, against 27% who said ‘People need religious teachings in order to understand what is right and wrong’. 62% said ‘scientific & other evidence provides the best wa...

Taslima Nasrin, the Bangladeshi writer, who currently lives in exile in Calcutta, India, calls for Muslim women to Burn the Burqa, and to do away with all other forms of purdah. Perhaps the Muslim women of Leicester could take a lead in bringing about this modernising and liberating reform. The article was published in Outlook India on 22 January. Taslima writes (page 2 of article): Irrespective of which book says it, which person advises, whoever commands, women should not have purdah. No veil, no chador, no hijab, no burqa, no headscarf. Women should not use any of these things because all these are instruments of disrespect. These are symbols of women's oppression. Through them, women are told that they are but the property of men, objects for their use. These coverings are used to keep women passive and submissive. Women are told to wear them so that they cannot exist with their self-respect, honour, confidence, separate identity, own opinion and ideals intact. When I first mo...