United Kingdom

An email lobby has been launched today by the British Humanist Association (BHA) for the Protest the Pope campaign, encouraging people to contact their MPs regarding their concerns about the practices and policies of the Holy See, and providing an online service to make this easier. The Pope will be visiting the UK next week and, as part the official visit, will be meeting with Party leaders and other senior politicians.

Ahead of the election in May, Party leaders were clear that they opposed many of the policies and practices of the Holy See. Our campaign seeks to make sure that Party leaders and other politicians, as our elected representatives, raise those and wider issues with the Pope as head of state when they meet him.

Andrew Copson, BHA Chief Executive, said, ‘We regard the recognition of the Pope as a head of state as a diplomatic fiction, the function of which is solely to amplify the voice and influence of the Vatican on the world stage. However, the Pope is coming to the UK in his capacity as a head of a state to meet the political representatives of the British people. At least one of the functions of the visit must be for our representatives to reflect the opposition of many people in this country to the Holy See’s policies, not least on reproductive and sexual health rights, the human rights of children, women and LGBT people, which conflict with UK policy in so many ways.

‘We’ve launched this service to make it easier for people to contact their MP, and ask him or her to have the leaders of their parties and the representatives of our government represent their views to the Pope when he meets them.’

The British Humanist Association has also written to the leaders of the three main parties encouraging them to ensure that the serious objections shared by so many British citizens to the policies of the Holy See are conveyed to the Pope when they meet him.

Notes

You can Take Action! and email your MP here www.humanism.org.uk/campaigns/what-you-can-do-to-help/pope-email

For further comment or information, please contact Andrew Copson on 07534 248596 or Questo indirizzo e-mail è protetto dallo spam bot. Abilita Javascript per vederlo.

The BHA is a member of the Protest the Pope Campaign which protests against the state visit of the Pope to the UK www.protest-the-pope.org.uk

The BHA and other members of the Protest the Pope campaign are not against the Pope coming to the UK as a religious leader. Our opposition is to the visit being a state visit, with the British people footing the bill.

The British Humanist Association is the national charity representing and supporting the interests of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.

Representatives of the Protest the Pope campaign met this morning with Archbishop Smith, the Archbishop of Southwark, at New Scotland Yard. They explained to the Archbishop that the protest plans were targeted at the policies and actions of the Holy See, the state of which the Pope is the head, and not at Catholics in the UK. There are Catholics who oppose the actions of the Pope and the Holy See, some of whom will be joining with our protest during his visit.

Archbishop Smith was given a copy of the new book by Geoffrey Robertson QC, which makes the case for the Holy See not to be recognised as a state. Archbishop Smith was also asked to pass on the campaign’s request that files held by the Vatican on the sexual abuse of children within its organisations should be made open to civil authorities for the purposes of criminal investigation. The Archbishop agreed to pass this request on.

Andrew Copson, BHA Chief Executive said ‘Our meeting was amicable but we did not disguise from the Archbishop our opposition to the policies and actions of the Holy See which stands opposed to the human rights of women, children and LGBT people and uses its recognition as a state to amplify these intolerant policies at the global level.’

Notes

For further comment or information, please contact Andrew Copson on 07534 248596 or Questo indirizzo e-mail è protetto dallo spam bot. Abilita Javascript per vederlo.

The BHA is a member of the Protest the Pope Campaign which protests against the state visit of the Pope to the UK www.protest-the-pope.org.uk

The BHA and other members of the Protest the Pope campaign are not against the Pope coming to the UK as a religious leader. Our opposition is to the visit being a state visit, with the British people footing the bill.

The British Humanist Association is the national charity representing and supporting the interests of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.

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The BHA has warned that teaching in some ‘free schools’ could be dominated by “myth and misinformation” after it was revealed that seven of the first 16 schools to open next year will be run by religious groups. The list published today by the education secretary Michael Gove MP includes two Jewish, one Hindu, one Sikh and one Anglican ‘free school’ and two others that will have a 'Christian ethos'. All of the the schools plan to open in September 2011.

BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson commented:

‘The BHA has continually pointed out that the ‘free schools’ programme would be particularly attractive to religious groups. It gives them complete power over what they teach with no safeguards to ensure that myth and misinformation do not dominate the curriculum. We have long raised concerns about the teaching of creationism and religiously distorted sex education in traditional ‘faith’ schools, for example. How does the government propose to address these problems in religious ‘free schools’ which will not have to follow the National Curriculum and are outside local authority control?’

‘The BHA is also concerned that, since the government has only made token gestures to limit religious discrimination in the admissions criteria of ‘free schools’, we will see greater segregation and deeper divisions within communities.’

‘Our own polling shows that the majority of the public are concerned that the ‘free schools’ programme will lead to public money being spent on promoting religious beliefs. We would urge Mr Gove to respond to this concern by introducing robust safeguards, such as legislative change and statutory guidance, to prevent religious extremism and discrimination in state-funded schools.’

The BHA has given its backing to a new ’10 minute rule bill’ that would make sex and relationships education (SRE) a statutory entitlement for all pupils in state-funded schools.

Chris Bryant MP’s Sex and Relationship Education Bill will be debated by MPs on Wednesday 8th September. The BHA is working with Mr Bryant to raise the profile of the Bill and has briefed MPs ahead its introduction to the Commons. Mr Bryant told the BHA’s public affairs team that he hoped the Bill would ‘reignite parliamentary interest in the issue and extract a statement from the coalition Government in support of statutory SRE.’

Naomi Phillips, BHA head of public affairs, said, ‘We are delighted to offer our full support of this bill, which is a valuable opportunity to make the case for SRE ahead of the publication of the new education bill in the autumn.’

‘SRE is an important subject that, as part of a broad, balanced and objective curriculum, helps to equip students with skills, knowledge and confidence they need for healthy, fulfilling and safe relationships now and in later life. Parents, teachers, and young people themselves have long called for SRE to be made a statutory entitlement in all state schools, understanding that change would significantly improve the standard and quality of the subject. It was with great regret that legal reforms set to do so were dropped at the end of the last parliament.

‘As part of our commitment to promoting and ensuring children’s rights to a good education and unbiased information, we are working closely with our supporters in parliament, as well as a wide range of other organisations, to seek ways to improve the provision of SRE in all schools. From our perspective, making SRE a statutory entitlement is a vital first step.’

Click ONCE on the image and weep … with laughter. See this hysterical Catholic TV video in its context here. (Make sure your sound is enabled.)

AUSTRALIAN moral crusader and Christian Democrat leader Rev Fred Niles swears he’s never caught a glimpse of hard-core porn in all of his pious life. But, according to this report, a parliamentary audit revealed that three computers in his office had been used to access 200,000 smutty websites between February and June. Niles’ explanation is [...]