THE Holy See has a chief exorcist – but he’s crap at his job. Why? Because, if he were any good, he would by now have captured Beelzebub in a bottle, and sold him for mega-bucks on eBay, or some other online auction site. In what amounts to a major admission of failure, the demented old spook-chaser [...]

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has urged MPs to speak in favour of a reform to the law on assisted dying, when they debate the issue in the House of Commons later today.

Coming so soon after the publication of the new prosecution guidelines on assisted dying in the UK, as well as recent calls for an independent inquiry into the law in the House of Lords, it is particularly timely that elected representatives have a chance now to make the case for a reform in the law in the UK.

Andrew Copson, BHA Chief Executive, said, ‘The final prosecution guidelines have distinguished between where a person has compassionately assisted another to die, and where that was done with malicious intent. That is a clarification that was badly needed and is to be welcomed. However, the guidelines will always be retrospective, after an assisted death has taken place, and the law itself remains unchanged.’

‘Legalising assisted dying is the only sure way to give terminally ill or incurably suffering people full autonomy and choice at end of life, and at the same time to ensure strict legal safeguards are in place to protect those that are vulnerable from coercion or other malice. This is a proposal that has overwhelming public support and its implementation would be a compassionate recognition of human autonomy and dignity'

ON March 4 we revealed that one of Scientology’s many front organisations, the Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights, was to have a presence at the Lib Dem conference in Birmingham. Well, now they are not. According to a message posted today by Hartley Patterson on the anti-Scientology blog, WhyWeProtest, the CCHR has been given the royal order [...]

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has commented on the Supreme Court’s refusal to give Lillian Ladele permission to appeal last year’s Court of Appeal ruling that she had not been subject to religious discrimination. Ms Ladele, who had worked as a Registrar for Islington Council, refused to perform Civil Partnership ceremonies, saying that they went against her strong Christian beliefs. In refusing Ms Ladele’s application to appeal the ruling, the Supreme Court said that her case did not raise legal points of “general public importance”.

Andrew Copson, BHA Chief Executive, commented, ‘The Supreme Court’s decision not to grant permission to appeal is extremely welcome. A clear message has been sent out that those people providing public services or performing public functions, such as Civil Partnership ceremonies, have a duty to treat services users equally, with dignity and respect, as the public authority itself must.’

‘In a modern liberal democracy, there can be no “opt out” for those who say they are unable to do their jobs because they wish to discriminate, even when that desire to discriminate derives from a religious belief.’

Notes

For further comment or information, please contact Andrew Copson on 07534 248596 or 020 7079 3583.

The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national charity representing and supporting the non-religious and campaigning for an end to religious privilege and discrimination based on religion or belief.