Secularism

It's tedious, hearing those in Parliament wittering on about "secularism", when they clearly haven't a clue what it means. But then, neither do a majority of religious leaders (including Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury) who complain about "aggressive secularism".

Personally, I'm feeling quite aggressive about the latest threat to secularism; John Denham, the Communities Secretary, has announced that a new panel of religious experts has been set up to advise the Government on making public policy decisions. I'd hoped that that sort of nonsense would have been dropped when Hazel Blears departed, but no.

Some of the things that Terry says may upset Humanists who regard themselves as part of a "movement" that shares beliefs - a sort of quasi-religion.

Last weekend, South Central Liberal Democrats Regional Conference passed a resolution calling for the state to be completely independent of any religion and none, as follows:

Conference notes:

1. That Britain is becoming more multicultural every day and virtually every religious faith in the world is now actively practised in the UK;
2. The steady decline in attendance at traditional Christian Churches
3. and That the Church of England is still tied to the Monarchy and the State;
4. That much discord in the world arises from strong religious belief or none.

Conference believes the time is right to separate all religious belief from its ties with Government and the Monarch at all levels so that all such belief and none is seen to be treated equally across the whole Electorate, reflecting today's modern British society where humanity and equality are seen as paramount and religious belief is simply personal. We ask Government to set up a Commission to implement this proposal.

The BHA received grant funding from the Equality and Human Rights Commission for a project which aims to increase understanding of the ‘religion or belief’ equality ‘strand’. As part of this, the third in a series of conferences was held in Birmingham on 22nd January this year. We’ve previously posted a report from the Daily Mail, which misrepresented the purpose of this work.

With her permission, here is a report on the conference from Alison Rawlinson from Coventry & Warwickshire Humanists, which was published in their newsletter. Alison attended the conference with her husband Mark.

Our March newsletter is online now for you to download. Feel free to give copies to all your family and friends, especially all the “godless” people we hear are in East Anglia.

File Attachment: SH&S News March 2009 A4.pdf (634 KB)

Not sure about pdf files? No problem!

This Saturday, the day before International Women’s Day, the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law is organising a demonstration and public meeting in Central London. Maryam Namazie emailed:

We are looking forward to seeing many of you at the anti-racist London rally against Sharia and religious-based laws in Britain and elsewhere and in defence of citizenship and universal rights in Trafalgar Square from 3:30-4:30pm. You can find posters that have been prepared for the rally by Dan Simon and Reza Moradi on our website. Please feel free to download them and bring them along to the rally to ensure that there are enough placards for everyone. At 4:30pm we will begin our march to Red Lion Square and then join a public meeting at Conway Hall from 6:00-8:00pm. We will be registering people for the public meeting at Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square WC1R 4RL from 5:00pm. From 5:30pm onwards, there will be live music by Raised Voices, pastries and refreshments. The entry fee to the public meeting is £5, including refreshments, but we won’t turn anyone away. If you plan on coming, try and send in your booking form before the event (by March 6) so that we can reserve a place for you.

After our dismal failure to excite any of the students at University Campus Suffolk about a secular students’ society (we haven’t given up though), and the reports of science students who won’t accept evolution, it’s heartening to hear that there’s still some freethinking on British campuses. Hurrah for the AHS! Read about it in The Independent.