News and Opinion

Dear Editor, It is not surprising a group of Sikh parents wish to see a large sum of public money spent on a school primarily for their children. With the shortage of school places, most parents are likely to be keen on new provision which favours them especially. Nor is it surprising that Keith Vaz MP should support a proposal that could win him a block of votes at the next election. (First Sikh secondary school bid, 17th September) The effect though of a school primarily for the children of Sikh parents is to shelter them to a large extent from contact with children from other backgrounds. That indeed is a virtue in the eyes of community leaders because no child is born a Sikh, nor a Catholic, a Moslem, an Anglican or any religious sect, there are only children born to parents in such sects or none. A likely way for those leaders to maintain a flock of followers is to try to prevent their children deciding against joining their sect, either by moving to another or to none at al...

 A young Muslim claimed at a meeting that I attended that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was "racist". We exchanged emails and it turned out that "racism" was being equated with being "eurocentric". My response appears below:- I don't think our disagreement is as profound as I thought it was when you asserted the the UDHR is "racist". As with all discussions words and differences in interpretations as to what they mean can result in people talking at cross purposes. This is a problem I encounter when discussing the existence of god(s). You need to define what you mean by god(s) before you can discuss. For example when Einstein refers to god, he means a Universe, which has no intelligence and is totally indifferent to humanity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_and_philosophical_views_of_Albert_Einstein To me racism is discrimination based a persons genetic make up that they cannot ...

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s claim “ for schools that are not of a religious character, confidence in any personal sense of ultimate values has diminished” is not only wrong, but also worrying. The claim that a moral system cannot be found without a religious framework needs evidence to support it. One might even argue that practices and beliefs based on religion ( at least some of them) can be considered immoral.  One of the main functions of religion is the social function where it helps members of that religion to develop social identity and in-group solidarity and favouritism. However, what we know from social psychology is that this process leads to a bias towards members of other religions (out-group members) and even prejudice. In certain circumstances, this could lead to violence.  Even if this was not intended, faith schools contribute to the development of this in-group / out-group bias. In that sense, it can contribute to division wi...

The Society had two related talks in July. The first, where we once again welcomed Maryam Namizie to the Hall on Sunday 17th July 2016, was entitled “Apostasy, Blasphemy and Resistance to Islam” and provided an update on her campaigning for Iran Solidarity, One Law for All and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. The second was given by Robbie Travers, a 20-year-old law student and commentator for the Gatestone Institute (a non-partisan, not-for-profit international policy council and think tank, dedicated to educating the public about what the mainstream media fails to report in promoting human rights and in particular freedom of expression). Both speakers highlighted the current threats to freedom of expression in the UK. Maryam has been experiencing limitations being placed on her freedom to set out her point of view with the recent advocacy for “safe spaces” at universities. She expressed concern that particularly in some universities many “liberals” and “socialists” now...

John Pendal John Pendal gave a very entertaining and thought-provoking talk on Sunday 10th July 2016. John is a gay comedian and an advocate for sexual liberty. He grew up in a religious family that was part of a strict Baptist Church which could not accept that homosexuality was anything more than a life choice. When he declared that he was gay, but intended to remain celibate, he was still expelled from the Church. He gradually moved into the Gay community and found he had a propensity for leather, becoming involved in that scene. He won the Mr Hoist title in 2003, the prize being that he was sponsored to enter the 25th annual International Mr Leather contest in Chicago in May 2003, which he also won. It turns out that the contest is about finding the person most able to act as an ambassador for those who like to indulge in leather. John took the year off work travelling to events full time from July 2003 to June 2004, covering 100,000 miles and visiting 28 cities in the US, ...

Stephen A Warden, Leicestershire chairman of the Society of St George had the following letter published in the Leicester Mercury on 14th December 2015 . The National Secular Society is making a deal of noise about another report, by the former judge Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, that is expected to recommend state schools should cease holding Christian assemblies so atheist children are not offended. Other faiths will be allowed to continue to hold religious assemblies should they wish. We Christians are pretty well hardened to the annual relentless calls from atheists and secular societies to curtail any and all religious content in public life. However, to single out English Christians would be against all that is English, fair and just. That would turn us toward those dark days when Christian expression resulted in state punishments. England has been a Christian nation since the late 7th century and has introduced Christ to so many countries that it would unthinkable we would even...

Dear Mr Vaz, I write to express deep disappointment at your support for blasphemy laws to be re-introduced to the UK. I write this as an open letter to encourage clarity on the matter. It is outrageous that someone, as senior within the Labour party as yourself, would put forward the outdated, regressive, and oppressive concept that faith and belief need legal protection. They do not. These ideas must be subject to as rigorous questioning, criticism, ridicule and offensive comment, as any other idea. Just because someone sincerely believes an idea does not give the person nor the idea any special privilege in being immune from normal human interaction, even if offensive criticism is offered. The line we draw, and it is a reasonable one, is that we do not permit the incitement of hatred nor violence. Everything else must remain within the law. It is the duty of everyone to be prepared to take offence on the chin rather than demand special privilege to avoid facing ...