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Religion & Law

National Secular Society News

News related to freedoms of the non-religious.
By National Secular Society

Post Frequency: 1.1/day

Last Entry: March 24, 2011 at 21:00:00

Religious Education: why the Church of England will fight any changes

Posted on June 17, 2010
The Guardian reported on Tuesday that the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, is planning to take over operation of the national curriculum so that he can 'free teachers to teach'.

Warsi: I?m not Tony Blair and my politics are not motivated by religion

Posted on June 17, 2010
The chair of the Conservative Party, Baroness Warsi, says that funding will be cut for specifically ethnic and religious groups.

Will the pope continue his attack on gay rights while in UK?

Posted on June 17, 2010
The pope has been invited, during his September visit, to lecture the British people about 'the family' – which, in Vatican-speak will mean another attack on gay rights.

Council prayer campaign: latest developments

Posted on June 17, 2010
A row has broken out at Enfield Council in Middlesex after the new mayor, Jayne Buckland, dropped prayer from the council meeting and replaced it with the recitation of poems. She said that those who wish to pray can still do so in the mayor's parlour before the meeting begins.

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?Faith-based welfare? Catholic-style: look after the poor ? but only after you?ve lined your own pocket

Posted on June 17, 2010
The Con-Lib coalition government has told us that it intends to continue with the policy of farming out social services to religious groups. 'Faith-based welfare' they call it in the USA, where it has failed miserably.

IHUE active at Human Rights Council

Posted on June 17, 2010
The International Humanist and Ethical Union (to which the NSS is affiliated) has been prominent at the latest session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Spain thumbs its nose at the Vatican and continues its move to secular state

Posted on June 17, 2010
A week after the Prime Minister of Spain, Jos? Luis Zapatero, visited the Pope in Rome, the Spanish government announced that it will bring forward more legislation to extend the secularisation of the country.

Join the demo against sharia law this Sunday

Posted on June 17, 2010
Hundreds will be demonstrating in London against Sharia and religious laws and in support of secularism and universal rights on Sunday 20 June 2010.

Security costs for Pope?s visit could run into hundreds of millions

Posted on June 10, 2010
Police forces in Lothian and Borders and Strathclyde in Scotland are reeling at a prediction that the cost of security for the Pope's visit to Glasgow could be as much as ?70 million.

Usual suspects attack TV programme about Pope ? before it?s even made!

Posted on June 10, 2010
A cabal of zealous Catholics reacted with fury at the news that the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell is to front a Channel 4 documentary on the Pope, to be broadcast in the days before the September visit begins.

Did Cherie Blair make those remarks, or didn?t she?

Posted on June 10, 2010
The NSS has spoken out about the lack of transparency in the decision by the Office for Judicial Complaints to absolve Cherie Blair from wrong-doing when she gave a suspended sentence rather than a prison sentence to a defendant reportedly on the basis that he was a 'religious man'.

Ofsted report perpetuates the lie that RE is ?essential? for a civilised nation

Posted on June 10, 2010
Terry sanderson on the new Ofsted report "Transforming Religious Education" that says that teaching of religion in schools is, in many cases, 'inadequate'.

Council prayers campaign: ?If you don?t like Christian ways, go and live somewhere else? objectors told

Posted on June 10, 2010
A prominent Jewish businessman in Torbay has said that those who object to prayers as part of town's Council meetings 'should go and live somewhere else'.

Hospital chaplains defended in Queen?s Speech debate

Posted on June 10, 2010
The role of Hospital chaplains has been defended in Parliament during this week's Queen's speech debate.

Muslim boys more violent if pious

Posted on June 10, 2010
A new German study shows that boys growing up in pious Muslim families are more likely to be violent. The study, which involved intensive questioning of 45,000 teenagers from 61 towns and regions across the country, was conducted by Christian Pfeiffer of the criminal research institute of Lower Saxony.

Aberdeen landlord?s attempted scam throws light on yet another religious privilege

Posted on June 10, 2010
A little known religious privilege in Scotland had passed under our radar, but it hasn't by-passed landlord David Thomson in Aberdeen.

Portugal moves further from Catholic control as first gay wedding is celebrated

Posted on June 10, 2010
A lesbian couple has become the first to wed in Portugal, after the new law permitting same-sex marriages came into force last month.

Pope?s visit in disarray ? the taxpayer mustn?t be made to rescue it

Posted on June 03, 2010
The National Secular Society has called on the Foreign Secretary not to pump any more taxpayers' money into funding the Pope's visit to Britain in September.

Outrage at appointment of Murphy O?Connor to abuse inquiry

Posted on June 03, 2010
In a development that almost defies belief, the Vatican has appointed Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the former leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, to head an abuse inquiry in Ireland.

Tory Minister attacks NSS council prayer campaign

Posted on June 03, 2010
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles MP is not pleased with the NSS's campaign to have prayers separated from local council meetings.

Despite cuts, hospital chaplains in Wales given Government boost

Posted on June 03, 2010
NSS member Alan Rogers updates us in his campaigning work promoting the idea of a Chaplaincy Trust – a charitable Trust administered by the churches that would relieve the NHS of the burden of funding chaplains.

Berlin court says secularism is essential to keep peace in schools

Posted on June 03, 2010
A court in Berlin ruled last year that a 16-year old Muslim could pray in a private room at his school. But that decision has now been overruled by a higher court in Berlin, which says that the prayers could disturb the peace at the school.

EHF refused permission to intervene in Italian crucifix case

Posted on June 03, 2010
The European Humanist Federation (to which the NSS is affiliated) has had its application to intervene in the case of Lautsi Vs Italy rejected.

Catholicism slowly losing its grip on Poland

Posted on June 03, 2010
A report examining trends in church attendance in Poland indicates a relentless decline in numbers going to Mass.

Council prayers campaign - the next stage

Posted on May 27, 2010
Bideford Council in Devon decided last week to do nothing about prayers before council meetings, despite a letter from the National Secular Society warning them that it is illegal.

How the NSS saved the country �7 million ? and how it could save even more

Posted on May 27, 2010
Last weekend, Catholic dioceses throughout Britain had a whip round among the faithful asking them to contribute to their target of ?7 million towards the tens of millions that will be needed to pay for Herr Ratzinger's September visit.

BBC plans to help Catholic Church ?revitalise? itself during Pope?s visit

Posted on May 27, 2010
The plea from Catholic leaders for the faithful to 'watch the Pope's visit on TV' raises an important issue – the amount of airtime that is going to be devoted by the BBC to this increasingly niche event.

Victory in battle to retain community school provision

Posted on May 27, 2010
Swanage First, the community school in Dorset threatened with closure, now looks set to remain open as a Primary School.

Human Rights Court to rule on crucifixes in the classroom

Posted on May 27, 2010
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg will rule on 30 June on whether to overturn a seven-judge panel's ruling that crucifixes may not be displayed in Italian classrooms.

Another survey shows religion in America slowly fading

Posted on May 27, 2010
A Gallup survey in the United States confirms what other polls have been indicating – that there is a downward drift in religious identity among Americans, as well as a slight increase in the number of Americans who view religion as old-fashioned and out of date.

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