Newsline 7January 2005

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Incitement of Religious Hatred Speech to Lords by Keith Porteous Wood

Incitement of Religious Hatred Speech to Lords by Rowan Atkinson

Religious Incitement Statutes PDF

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In this week's issue:

Incitement to hatred on the grounds of religious identity

Quotes/essays of the week

Diversity in the judiciary

Vatican digs Ruth Kelly further into a hole

Van Gogh suspect was part of "wider network" of fanatics

German catholics try to reinstate EU subsidy For Christian Youth Day

Stop homophobia in faith schools plea

Muslim Council complains about "24"

Polish satirist fined for mocking the pope

The raging pope sees his Spanish empire crumbling

Catholic bishops setting back AIDS prevention with anti-condom stance

Sect receives "statement of regret"

NSS speaks out

News shorts

Letters to Newsline

Events



INCITEMENT TO HATRED ON THE GROUNDS OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITY

Until now, opposition to the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill 2005 has centred around the House of Commons, where the Bill was first tabled. This week marked the first major meeting to persuade peers to oppose the Bill. The role of the House of Lords could be decisive, and it was the Lords who faced off a very angry David Blunkett when he first tried to introduce these measures in the panic following September 11 as a cuckoo hidden in the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Bill 2001.

The NSS was out in force at this meeting for peers. Honorary Associate Lord Desai and Keith Porteous Wood made powerful speeches from the platform as did Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC who has often supported our causes.

Comedian Rowan Atkinson was the guest of honour and he spoke passionately and eloquently about freedom of expression. Other speakers, making much the same points came from a religious perspective.

Among the large audience were Honorary Associates Lady Turner of Camden and Lord Peston, as well as Dr Evan Harris. The Bishop of Chester was also in attendance.

The text of Keith's speech is already available on our temporary website (we are having some technical problems with the main one) here and Rowan Atkinson's speech transcript will shortly be added. Keith emphasised the dangers to freedom of speech arising from the proposed legislation that freedom of speech is also a vital safeguard, and that criticising religion or religious activities is sometimes even a public duty. The legislation is unnecessary, unworkable and that the conviction thresholds are dangerously low, he explained. Over recent years the prosecuting authorities have erred in favour of the religious to the detriment of freedom of speech.

He predicted that the legislation would be much invoked more than the Government were suggesting and that the crucial distinction between inciting hatred of people and their religion would become blurred in the courts, with catastrophic consequences for the fabric of our society. In winding up he also called for the abolition of the blasphemy law.

The Society is likely to back one of a series of similar amendments - none supported by the Government - which would close the alleged loophole whereby those inciting racial hatred do so using religion as a proxy.

QUOTES/ESSAYS OF THE WEEK

Quotes of the week

"It does matter that people have the right to take an argument to the point where somebody is offended by what they say. It's no trick to support the free speech of somebody you agree with or to whose opinion you are indifferent. The defence of free speech begins at the point when people say something you can't stand. If you can't defend their right to say it, then you don't believe in free speech. You only believe in free speech as long as it doesn't get up your nose. But free speech does get up people's noses. Nietzche - as Matthew Parris recently reminded us - called Christianity 'the one great curse' and 'the one immortal blemish on mankind'. Would Nietzsche now be prosecuted?"
(Salman Rushdie, Independent)

"All of us have a right to religious practice and a cultural heritage but not live as states within the state. Racists do not believe in common humanity, neither do cultural or religious separatists. And where Muslims go, others will follow. More faith-based schools, more separate community projects, more bitterness."
(Yasmin Alibhai Brown, Independent)

"I have never heard of agnostics stoning people for adultery, burning them at the stake for witchcraft, or killing them for insulting the dignity of their preferred prophet or deity".
(Philip Yaffe, The Times)

Essays of the week:

Labour's contemptible election trade-off
How Blair is selling free speech in exchange for religious votes
(Nick Cohen, New Statesman here)

Religion must remain open to criticism
(Geoffrey Robertson, Scotsman here)

Fundamental Union How religions are uniting to "de-liberalise" society
(Brian Whitaker, Guardian here)

The Triumph of the East
Do Muslims really want to conquer the West?
(Anthony Browne, Frontpage here)

DIVERSITY IN THE JUDICIARY

The NSS has made a submission in response to the Department of Constitutional Affairs consultation on this. While supporting diversity (under-representation of women is a particular problem) and making positive suggestions as to addressing this we have spoken out against applying lower standards to under-represented groups over appointment and promotion etc. We took the opportunity to reinforce our conviction that there should be one justice system applicable to all, rather than permit religious justice systems which are rooted in the deep past and without a commitment human rights. We mentioned in particular that women were likely to be the main victims of such systems, which have been mooted, although they are not of course the only ones.

Keith prepared the Submission with input form a volunteer with specialist knowledge in this area for which we are most grateful.

VATICAN DIGS RUTH KELLY FURTHER INTO A HOLE

The fanatical Catholic cult of self-flagellators, Opus Dei, has defended the right of Education Minister Ruth Kelly to be an unquestioned member, saying she is the "victim of discrimination".

Giuseppe Corigliano, a spokesman for the Opus Dei Prelature in Rome told the newspaper Corriere della Sera: "Who nowadays would dare to say that a Jew should not be a government minister if he is a practising Jew?" He said: it was "very strange that, while people are demanding every freedom, there should be any discussion over the most fundamental liberty: freedom of religion."

The Italian press reported last week that Ms Kelly's links with Opus Dei were an "embarrassment" to Tony Blair. Asked about British concerns that Ms Kelly might be "a conduit for instruction from Rome", Corigliano said: "Opus Dei should help people to hold an intense and personal relationship with God without entering into anyone's professional or political choices".

Of course, this does not square with other stated Opus Dei policies which insist that members must apply their "faith" to their work.

Terry Sanderson, vice president of the National Secular Society, said: "Signor Coriglione says that a Jew would not be denied a place in government, and this is true, and nor would a Catholic. Indeed, there is an argument that Catholics are over represented in the government, but they got there by democratic means so we do not complain. Being a member of Opus Dei is a different matter. This is a secretive and extreme cult within the Catholic Church, and there is a strong suspicion that it has political ambitions. Its structure and history as well as its lack of transparency create paranoia and suspicion of its members. This may or may not be justified, but we reserve the right to question it - and its members, when they have high office. The NSS will be watching Ms Kelly closely over the coming months to see whether she makes decisions that are consistent with national policy and with parents' wishes."

See also: The secret life of Opus Dei here

The dictator, the saint and the minister here

Ruth Kelly, myth-breaker here

VAN GOGH SUSPECT WAS PART OF "WIDER NETWORK" OF FANATICS

Mohammed Bouyeri, the man accused of murdering film maker Theo van Gogh, dreamed of replacing the Dutch government with an Islamic theocracy and was supported by a network of like-minded fanatics, prosecutors said on Wednesday at the first public hearing in the case.

Bouyeri, 26, did not appear at the pre-trial hearing, but his lawyer said Bouyeri wanted to "be held accountable for his actions" and saw them as part of a religious war.

"The murder made it clear that terrorism, inspired by an extreme interpretation of Islam, is a reality in our country," said one prosecutor, Frits van Straelen. "From the beginning there were signs that the murder did not come out of the brain of just this suspect, but that there was an organization behind it."

Bouyeri faces charges of murder, attempted murder, threatening politicians, possession of an illegal firearm and impeding democracy. He could be sentenced to life if convicted. He and 12 others face separate charges in connection with an alleged plot to kill politicians and for allegedly belonging to a terrorist group known as the "Hofstad" network. The prosecutors said the network had provided support for the killing of van Gogh.

Judges ordered Bouyeri to undergo psychological examination and said they would schedule another pre-trial hearing within 90 days.

On the basis of statements from 53 eyewitnesses, prosecutors said Bouyeri had approached van Gogh while both bicycled on a busy street, shot him, chased him across the street, shot him again, then cut his throat nearly to the spinal cord with an enormous kitchen knife before pinning a note to his chest with another knife. The note, released by the Justice Ministry in November, threatened prominent politicians and threatened a holy war against non-believers. Bouyeri twice ignored pleas for mercy from van Gogh, prosecutors said. They said he yelled at a bystander who challenged him: "Now you know what's coming for you."

Prosecutors said Bouyeri also left documents for his friends and family, including an article that predicted it would "not be long before the knights of Allah march into The Hague. Parliament will be remade into a Sharia" court, or Islamic law court, the article said.

Van Straelen said a telephone tap after the killing recorded one of the two saying: "We slaughtered a lamb in the traditional Islamic fashion. From now on, this will be the punishment for anyone in this land who challenges and insults Allah and his messengers."

GERMAN CATHOLICS TRY TO REINSTATE EU SUBSIDY FOR CHRISTIAN YOUTH DAY

By Muriel Fraser

When the European Union last month refused a grant of 1.5million euros for the Catholic Church to arrange a large-scale Youth Day in Cologne, there was general fury in Vatican circles. It was seen in Rome as yet another leg up for the hated secularism.

In Germany, the Kolping Society, a large Catholic organisation that had made the no-strings-attached grant application, has vowed to get the money anyway by pulling strings.

The organisation is named after the German priest who founded it in the mid 19th century, the Blessed Adolf Kolping. This was at a time when the Church hoped to counteract the growth of the secular unions by providing a supportive group to keep young workers away from socialist politics and encourage them to accept authority. Today, the Kolping Society is active in 44 countries, where its charitable endeavours include such curious activities as providing observers for elections in Nigeria.

Earlier this week, in order to publicise their upcoming World Youth Day, 60 young members of the Kolping Society toted a four-metre-high wooden cross into the German Bundestag. Now they have gone off with it to find another photo-op in Auschwitz.

The Kolping Society are hailing the peregrinations of this large piece of wood as a "spiritual preparation" for their World Youth Day and they are indignant that the EU has declined to fund it. Their executive find it "incomprehensible" that most EU politicians voted against the million-pound subsidy. They charge them with "acting from ulterior motives against the Catholic Church".

The Pope has recently warned of the dangers of "Christianophobia". A refusal to give public money to the Church would seem to be symptomatic of this disorder and the Kolping executive are indignant at "the purposeful rejection" of this mass gathering of Christians. They announce that, having failed to win the subsidy by democratic means, they will now lobby the European Commission to change its mind.

The NSS has alerted several sympathetic secularist MEPs to this issue.

STOP HOMOPHOBIA IN FAITH SCHOOLS PLEA

The Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association has written to the Chief Inspector of Schools, David Bell, asking him to challenge homophobia in religious schools in the independent sector.

The move follows a speech from Mr Bell last week in which he made clear that independent Muslim schools were not teaching tolerance, particularly of "non-traditional relationships" (which is code for homosexuality). A story in the Times Educational Supplement last Friday also indicated that Christian evangelical schools in the same sector were even worse for failing to teach tolerance. In the letter, George Broadhead, secretary of GALHA, said that he was concerned about the effects this "apparently officially tolerated gay-bashing" was having on gay and lesbian pupils.

Mr Broadhead commented: "The awful damage that this kind of religious intolerance does to young gay people is immense. We must not accept this kind of hate-mongering in our schools, whether they are private or not. The Government is giving out completely mixed messages, saying on the one hand that homophobia is not acceptable in schools and then refusing to intervene when it is apparent that it is rife in religious schools."

MUSLIM COUNCIL COMPLAINS ABOUT "24"

The new series of the American TV drama 24 has been criticised by the Muslim Council of Britain for depicting followers of Islam as terrorists.

The show, starring Keifer Sutherland as a counter-terrorism agent, features a seemingly ordinary Muslim family living in suburban America who turn out to be a terrorist sleeper cell.

According to the MCB, the portrayal of Muslims in 24 is "unremittingly hostile and unbalanced and likely to foster" - you guessed it - "Islamophobia". The MCB is referring the series to the broadcasting watchdog Ofcom, claiming it breaches guidelines covering the representation of minority groups.

Now in its fourth series, 24 is one of Sky televisions most popular shows. Members of the MCB were given a preview screening of the first five parts of the series, which starts on Sky One on Sunday, with an episode featuring a Madrid-style bombing. Sky Television insists that the programme does not breach Ofcom guidelines.

Iqbal Sacranie, general secretary of the MCB, said: "There is not a single positive Muslim character in the storyline to date. At a time when negative stereotypes of Muslims are on the increase we feel that Sky - as a major UK broadcaster - has a responsibility to challenge these insidious views, not help reinforce them."

Terry Sanderson, media spokesperson of the National Secular Society, said: "The MCB has every right to make its feelings known about this programme and the press for a more positive view of ordinary Muslims. But balance does not mean that broadcasters are precluded from telling the truth about the state of the world, and what is carried out in Islam's name is not always a positive. We would point Mr Sacranie to the BBC's Newsround programme, which is running yet another "Islam week", which manages to say nothing whatsoever to its audience of children about the Islamic terror movement. This is equally unbalanced - but who's complaining about that?"

Similar complaints about 24 have been made in the United States and Fox Television - the producers of the show - have broadcast advertisements showing positive images of Muslims.

See Newsround pages here

POLISH SATIRIST FINED FOR MOCKING THE POPE

A court has convicted the publisher of a satirical magazine of insulting Polish-born Pope John Paul II and fined him £3,000.

The court ruled that Jerzy Urban, founder and publisher of the weekly magazine "NIE" - Polish for "no" - illegally insulted the pope when he printed an article making fun of John Paul's age and frailty before a visit to Poland in 2002. "The court has no doubts that intending to ridicule the church, Jerzy Urban ridiculed and derided the pope," Judge Barbara Laskowska said, reading the verdict. He was found guilty of violating a law that bans publicly insulting foreign heads of state. The court noted that the pontiff heads the Vatican, nominally an independent state.

Urban, 71, had professed his innocence, saying he only exercised the right to free expression. Prosecutors had asked for the fine and a 10-month suspended prison term. Prosecutor Maciej Kujawski brought the defamation charges in 2003, after Catholics and other organisations accused Urban of offending the pope. The decision is likely to deepen concerns abroad that Poland is violating Western-style press freedoms. Earlier in the day, an Austrian-based media watchdog called the recent criminal convictions of journalists a cause for concern. Miklos Haraszti of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, wrote a letter to Polish Justice Minister Andrzej Kalwas, saying he fears press freedoms in the ex-communist country are being curtailed, citing Urban's case. Last week, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, warned that Poland would violate European Union guarantees of freedom of expression if it sentenced Urban for defaming the pope. The National Secular Society also protested about the prosecution last year to the Polish ambassador in London and the Papal Nuncio.

Urban earned a reputation for his sarcasm and acid tongue in the early 1980s when he served as spokesman for Jaruzelski's government. After the fall of communism, he became a successful and wealthy businessman. In a calculated affront to Catholic sensibilities, the reception desk of his magazine is decorated with a pornographic sculpture and his magazine has repeatedly ignored taboos of all kinds. But no previous article has achieved the same shock value as the attack on the Pope. "I did it not only to get media attention, but also to provoke protests," Urban told reporters after the verdict. "The point was to not allow the Church and the Pope to be free from criticism in Poland."

THE RAGING POPE SEES HIS SPANISH EMPIRE CRUMBLING

The fight for power between the Vatican and the socialist government of Spain became increasingly bitter this week as the pope delivered another severe tongue-lashing to the Zapatero administration. But the socialist government was not taking it lying down. The Vatican's ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry on Wednesday and told that the Socialist government was unhappy with what the pope had said. It is extremely rare for a government to summon a Vatican ambassador to hear a complaint, and even more rare in a Catholic country such as Spain.

The row started on Monday, when a group of Spanish bishops visited the Vatican to hear the pope express his alarm at the liberal direction the Spanish government was taking the country.

The pope generously announced that "secularity" is legitimate "if it is understood as the distinction between the political community and religions" . Secularism, on the other hand is "an ideology that leads gradually, in a more or less conscious way, to the restrictions of religious liberty to the point of promoting contempt or ignorance of the religious, relegating faith to the private sphere and opposing public expression."

He said that in Spain, a new generation is growing up ignorant of religion. He then went on to say that young people "have the right - from the beginning of their formative process - to be educated in the faith. The integral education of the youngest cannot do without religious teaching also in school, when parents request it, assessed academically in keeping with its importance."

This appears to mean that the Catholic Church wants to reserve the right to brainwash children from the earliest age into following its dogmas and perpetuating its powers.

On Tuesday, the Defence Minister Jose Bono told the Vatican to stop interfering in matters of state. "Faith is not something a government can impose. It is not something that it is up to the state, but rather to people," Bono told Spanish radio. That the criticism came from Bono was particularly noteworthy. He is the only practicing Catholic in the government. Bono said some of the church's positions, such as its opposition to homosexuality and the use of condoms, go against the message of Jesus Christ. "Today, Christ would be more worried about the 25,000 children who die each day of hunger or in wars. I think Christ would side with those who are peaceful," the Minister said.

The journal El Pais wrote in an editorial: "The Spanish bishops have expressed their displeasure with this [Catholic indoctrination in schools] and other legislative plans concerning divorce and homosexual marriage, which the Socialist government is bringing forward in fulfilment of its electoral programme. Between this and the idea that Catholic doctrine is being trampled upon, there is a huge breach. The feelings of Catholic believers deserve full respect from public authorities, but not to the extreme of converting its moral norms into laws that are binding upon all citizens."

CATHOLIC BISHOPS SETTING BACK AIDS PREVENTION WITH ANTI-CONDOM STANCE

The South African Government is enraged by the insistence of Catholic bishops in the region that condoms are unacceptable in the fight against AIDS. Cardinal Wilfred Napier, the head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference in Southern Africa, made this statement on Monday, criticising the government of South Africa for its promotion of condoms. He said South Africa should follow Uganda's example and focus its anti-AIDS campaign on sexual abstinence.

South Africa has the largest number of HIV infected people in the world. Ten per cent of them are Catholic. The South African Ministry of Health said in a statement this week "it is sad that the bishops have criticised government for implementing one of the few methods of preventing the transmission of HIV." South Africa nevertheless appreciated the important work of the church in "promoting prevention and providing care and support to those who are infected and affected by HIV and AIDS."

The South African Ministry of Health pointed to the fact that South Africa is a democratic and secular state, guaranteeing citizens the right to freedom of conscience, religion and belief, and the same applies when it comes to the AIDS crisis. It was nevertheless "necessary to understand that government's responsibility is much broader than that of the Catholic Church." The government had to "inform our people of ALL the options available to them to prevent HIV infection."

Therefore the message remained the same: "Abstain for as long as you can; Be faithful to your partner; And use a condom." The government's condom distribution had increased dramatically lately, and would continue to do so, the Ministry added.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), South Africa's major activist group fighting the AIDS pandemic, was more forthright in condemning the bishops. TAC spokesman Denis Matwa told the press in South Africa that Cardinal Napier was "coming with a stupid message."

TAC, which is pressuring South Africa's government to make even more condoms available, holds that South Africa is "a very sexually active nation". The group has been campaigning for the use of condoms for years in a society that is saturated with sexual taboos while still very sexually active. Men in the poorer layers of society do not easily accept the use of condoms, Mr Matwa said. Cardinal Napier, being an influential man, could have set back AIDS prevention work by years, the TAC representative held.

SECT RECEIVES "STATEMENT OF REGRET"

From Ellen Ramsay in Canada

In October 2004 the radical breakaway Doukhobor sect known as the Sons of Freedom received a statement of regret (not an apology) from Geoff Plant, Attorney General of the Province of British Columbia in Canada for the kidnapping of 104 of their children in the 1950s following a series of protests in the Kootenay region of Southeastern B.C.. Not unlike the First Nations People, the children of the sect were kidnapped by the police and imprisoned in a residential school between 1953 and 1959 in New Haven. The survivors of the school have made a demand for compensation for what happened to them between the ages of five and fifteen.

The Doukhobor people are a small religious sect originating in Russia who were persecuted by the Tsar in the 19th century and given passage to Canada by Count Lev Nikolayevich, Leo Tolstoy. It is said that many of their ideas originated from Tolstoy's moral writings (despite his personal debauchery, of course). In Canada the sect settled in the prairie region and, facing persecution there, moved westward to British Columbia where a dispute broke the sect into two groups. They became the darlings of so so-called alternative thinkers such as Anarchist George Woodcock because of their radical anti-materialist stance, their non-belief in government, and their pacifism. The reality is that the Doukhobors isolated their members from the outside world, had a succession of leaders who inherited their positions from their parents, and practised sexual segregation.

The Doukhobors arose in the 17th century as a peasant group in Southern Russia and rejected the Orthodox Church of the time. They also rejected secular governments. In Canada they refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the Canadian government and as a result lost their communal property. The situation produced a splinter group in 1902 called the Sons of Freedom who became known for nude protest marches against government policies. They also became associated with their incendiary habits, a tradition that dated back to an event called the "Great Party" in 1895 when they burnt their guns and adopted pacifism. Since then in Canada they refused military duty, became vegetarians, lived in agricultural communes, and married by public declaration rather than by any formal church or state ceremony. Marriage was said to cease when "love ceased".

After the seizure of the lands in 1939, 570 members of the sect were imprisoned on Piers Island off the coast of Vancouver Island. They were denied the federal and provincial vote from 1931 to 1956 because they were conscientious objectors and not surprisingly attacks on Canadian targets such as burning schools etc were attributed to the Doukhobors while the group fervently denied the claims. They continued to resist provincial registration of any kind, withdrew their children from school, went on nude protests and stripped naked in court. Acts of arson were attributed to them right into the 1960s, but charges of arson were never tested in court. This then is the background to the Canadian government's recent "statement of regret".

NSS SPEAKS OUT

The NSS was quoted in an article in the Sunday Telegraph about the National Trust and a cottage that it was renting but for the use of "practising Catholics only". Read it here

This led to an interview with Terry Sanderson on the ITV News and another story in which we were quoted in the Western Daily Press here

We also gave quotes to the Tablet and the Catholic Herald.

NEWS SHORTS

BLAIR STICKS ANOTHER RELIGIONIST IN HOUSE OF LORDS Tony Blair has appointed yet another religionist to the House of Lords. Dr David Hope, whose title is now 'Bishop' Hope, is to be granted a life peerage. He stepped down from the Church of England's second-highest job earlier this month to return to the life of a parish priest. Prime Minister Tony Blair personally recommended the peerage for 'Bishop' Hope.

COMING OUT AS ATHEIST: JOHN MCCRIRICK AND JOAN COLLINS Actress Joan Collins revealed on the Heaven and Earth Show that she is a non-believer. John McCririck, racing pundit and Celebrity Big Brother loser said in an interview in The Guardian Weekend that what life had taught him was that "All religions are man's curse."

LEAVING ATHEISM: ANTONY FLEW Another article adds to the confusion over what Antony Flew did or didn't say, or does or does not believe. Read it here

PASSION NOT GOOD ENOUGH Christian groups in America are hopping mad because Mel Gibson's gore-fest The Passion of the Christ has not received an Oscar nomination for best picture. Protesters are claiming that despite its popularity, the film was not nominated because of its Christian theme. But Academy officials insist that it is because it was "an artistic failure". One spokesman said: "A more popular and bigger-grossing film, Shrek 2, also wasn't nominated. Nothing to do with its subject matter - it simply wasn't good enough." The Passion of the Christ has been nominated for an award for its make-up.

FRENCH POLICE FINE MUSLIMS FOR ANIMAL CRUELTY Police in southern France have handed out a hundred fines and seized the carcasses of some 40 lambs in a crackdown on Muslims illegally slaughtering the animals for the Islamic feast of Eid Al-Adha, officers said this week.

The crackdown on the transport and killing of lambs took place on Thursday in regions around the city of Montpellier. In France, with a Muslim population of around five million, government-approved abattoirs have to be used for the killing of lambs eaten at Islamic ceremonies. Individuals who carry out the slaughter themselves, as is often the case in Arab and Muslim countries, risk fines of 135 euros and the wrath of animal rights campaigners. Eid al-Adha, or the Festival of Sacrifice, is - yet another - "most important festival in the Muslim calendar". It runs for three days.

LETTERS TO NEWSLINE

Write to tas@secularism.org.uk here

From Sue Lord:

Bishop Tom Butler concluded in TFTD that it was the cohesion of Danish Lutheran society that ensured the humanitarian protection of Danish Jews from Nazism. He compared this with 'superficially similar' but 'multi faith Holland' in which they suffered the same fate as other Jews in mainland Christian Europe's Death camps.

This he said was because the cohesive society puts 'citizenship' above 'faith', though this seems not to have been the case in other cohesively (or coercively) religious countries, be they Catholic, Muslim or Hindu.

It is also a somewhat flawed argument if it is to have any meaning for historically multi-faith modern Britain - unless he is supporting Britain as a Secular State, or is he proposing that we all become Lutherans? Nor has the 'religious cohesion', of which he speaks, shown itself to be particularly humanitarian in this country or any other, and as an intelligent person, he must know that any notion of all Britons becoming 'of one faith' (the dream of all religions) is impossible.

The only rational way forward if we are to avoid sectarianism is to embrace secularism, in which there is 'freedom of religion' and 'freedom from religion', and freedom to criticise and oppose religions, 'secular' being the default position within a state that is entirely neutral on such matters and does not discriminate in favour of religion and against non-belief as it does at present.

Secularists do not demand the tools of suppression, censorship or punishment that have allowed the religions to dominate and oppress societies in the way they do. All we ask is a level playing field for the expression of rational opinion and to be able to challenge on equal terms, the beliefs and false claims of believers and religionists. Will 'Bishop Tom' put citizenship before faith and 'come out' for secularism?

From Dean Crawford:

Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, has again spoken out against the softening of the Church of England's views on euthanasia. His rather weak and shallow argument, having first admitted that anybody should have the right to choose to avoid unnecessary pain, is that assisted suicide puts the onus on another individual to kill, and that elderly or infirm patients could apparently be convinced to die 'for convenience'.

Firstly, for euthanasia to be what it is, the individual has to actually request assistance - ie, they have to ask to be helped to die, which somewhat removes any burden of conscience from those they may ask to assist. Secondly, I cannot imagine someone being easily convinced that they should die 'for convenience', elderly or not. It simply is not in human nature to want to die, unless in unbearable pain or suffering from a terminal illness.

Like the Vatican's interference in AIDS issues in Africa, the Archbishop is simply doing what the church does best - poking its nose into other people's affairs where it is not, and never has been, wanted.

From Bill McIlroy:

I do agree with many of the points Alan Bellis made last week in Newsline about the Springer show, but it is not realistic to expect the prosecuting authorities to take a hard line with religious extremists even when they are clearly breaking the law, unless they absolutely have to. Nor will the Government be encouraging them to do so any more than they did with those threatening Salman Rushdie's life. So I will be extremely surprised if there are any charges brought against Stephen Green of Christian Voice, or of those arrested when the Birmingham theatre showing the Bezhti play was being criminally damaged. All rather different from the miners' strike, though; not only were the police bussed in force, other heavies were dressed up in police uniforms and the 'official' violence was horrific.

The only consolation is that to charge someone like Green might well elevate him to martyr status in the minds of his strange followers. As to the BBC, they may well have been the victim of a telephone scam - it is rumoured that multiple calls came from the same number - but I suspect we should not distract the BBC from turning its attention to the Judicial Review mounted by the Christian Institute, which of course I hope fails.

From George Whitmore:

Alan Bellis is right to question the figure of 50,000 complaints about the Jerry Springer programme said to have been received by the BBC. I sent them an email in support of the programme, clearly titled "Jerry Springer - keep it on!" and was surprised to receive a reassuring reply that they didn't mean to offend me but would show it despite my "concerns"! In other words, my letter was falsely counted as a complaint. So that makes it 49,999, for starters.

From Shaun Whitfield:

I would have no problem with Ruth Kelly's 'private spirtual life' remaining private if we lived in a truly secular society. But we don't. The Church of England is established and religion and its privileges are embedded in all aspects of public life. Worse, the government is actively expanding these privileges, including in education, Ms Kelly's own area of responsibility, where the churches are being encouraged to take on more publicly funded faith schools. If church and state were constitutionally separate, with all state schools secular in curriculum and character, then I would have no interest in Ms Kelly's religious beliefs as they would not be allowed to impact on state education. Currently, of course, the reverse is true, which is why I think her religious dogmas are fair game and their exposure to critical analysis is in the public interest. Tell you what, Ruth, I am prepared to cut a deal with you: I'll stop wanting to know more about your 'private spiritual life' if you stop the state education system ramming religion down my kids' throats on a daily basis. Seems a fair deal to me.

From Martin Henderson:

I wondered how Sue Lawley would cope with Jonathan Miller on Desert Island Discs, and was surprised that he managed to describe "boys' schools - prep. schools in those days" as "establishments filled with nasty sadistic christian masters who beat boys and got sexual kicks out of doing it". He also likened attacks on him from Private Eye to "minor public school christian prefect beatings". I wondered how Ms Lawley would cope with his choice of books, but she declined to pack him off to his island with the bible and complete works of Shakespeare. Let's hope this is a trend for the future!

From Clarence Wilson:

A plea to all. When the word on your lips is Western, do you not really mean Secular? This current use of the word Western (do you remember when it was an historically inaccurate USA film!) Were not Hitler's values Western? Are not the highly codified racist values of the USA not Western. Secular values by definition wish to include all religions and none.

What is the opposite of Western? Is in not an insult to Toaists, Buddhists and Hindus and other relatively peace loving Eastern religions, to associate them with Islam? Islam is not an Eastern religion. With roots in Judaism, Islamism is a warmongering Imperialist Western religion, just like its bedfellow Christism (though both can be controlled by good Secular governance)!

When the USA still had 'Whites Only' shops and toilets, India had a well functioning Secular democracy. The West is not always Secular. Secular values are not confined to the West. By using the word Western, are you sure you are not identifying yourself with, well, people with values like Bush and Blair!

Despite the founding fathers and the Secular beginning of the USA. Just like Blair won't say Socialist, Bush won't say Secular. How the world turns! Please, Secular, not Western.

From Ellen Ramsay:

Regarding the Springer Show controversy, perhaps it is time for the secularists to picket a Christian show with placards saying "this discriminates against atheists".

Last week we published a letter from Adam Tjaavk which had a crucial sentence missing at the end. We apologise to Adam for this error. The missing sentence said: "Not clearly enough - in fact, quite confusing - and aren't design and purpose personal attributes?"

EVENTS

SEA CHANGE - Fire and Brimstone Productions present a new play exploring the relationship between Charles Darwin and Captain Robert Fitzroy during their momentous voyage aboard the Beagle. Youthful friendship turned to seething hatred as Fitzroy's religious fervour was challenged by Darwin's increasing conviction that species were not fixed and that Genesis did not satisfactorily explain the origin of the world. Their increasing disagreement would eventually lead to tragic consequences. The Library, Conway Hall (nearest tube Holborn) Friday 18 February 2005. 7.30pm Admission Free. A joint SPES and GALHA event.

Darwin Day Lecture: Darwin - A "Devil's Chaplain" by Dr James Moore. Friday February 11th 2005, 6.30 - 8.00 p m (doors open 6.00 pm) in The Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, LSE, Aldwych, London (click here for a map .) Chair: Professor Richard Dawkins A BHA event hosted by the Interdisciplinary Institute of Management at the London School of Economics. £5. Advisable to book - call 020 7079 3580.

World Humanist Congress: Separation of Religion and State.- Paris, 5-7 July 2005. 2005 marks the centenary of the 1905 French Law of Separation of Church and State. IHEU member organisation the Libre Pensée Française played a crucial role in achieving this landmark legislation. Attend special sessions on Science and Secularism, on the European Union and on Women's issues. Compare notes, interact and exchange ideas with Humanist, Secularists and Human Rights activists and leaders and opinion makers from around the world. The prestigious venues for the Congress include UNESCO headquarters and the University of Sorbonne. There will be simultaneous interpretation in French and English for all plenary and other selected sessions. NSS officials will be chairing a session on Separation of religion and state in the EU and hosting a session on the media. Find booking details here A delegation from the NSS will be present - why not join us?

Secularists from all over Europe - including members of the NSS - will be gathering for a demonstration in Brussels at lunchtime on Sunday 3 April to protest at the religious privileges contained in the new European Constitution. It would be possible for people in the South East to make a day trip of it using Eurostar (the direct London - Brussels train service using the tunnel under the Channel, return fare likely to by around £80 now but to rise substantially as the date approaches here). If you're interested in supporting the demo, we can let you have further details including timing. Email: tas@secularism.org.uk here

NSS member Peter Hearty will be starting a three-part series of lectures at the Conway Hall Library on the topic "Einstein for Beginners - Special Relativity Made Easy" on 10 February. Admission free. For more information go to www.ethicalsoc.org.uk here.

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Editor Terry Sanderson