An interesting week for secularism – Editorial by Terry Sanderson
Strangely, I found this to be quite an interesting and entertaining article by Terry Sanderson (National Secular Society President) reflecting on the goings on, of the last week:-
An interesting week for secularism – Editorial by Terry Sanderson
This week has been an interesting one for secularism in Britain. It began with the announcement by the Government that it intended to amend — at the behest of the Catholic Church — its Children’s, Schools and Families Bill provisions on mandatory sex and relationship education in all schools. After whingeing from the Catholic Education Society, Mr Balls gave an opt-out for “faith schools” to teach sex education in conformity with the teachings of the faith. He insisted that it would not compromise the Bill in any way. But he did not adequately explain why, if that was the case, the amendment was necessary in the first place. (See also this interesting video on YouTube on what it will mean in practice).
Mr Balls received a massive kicking for watering down the requirements – not least from the NSS, which was on the front line of attack for this further disgraceful concession to the “faith communities”. (You can read all about it by following the links in the “NSS Speaks Out” feature below.)
No sooner had this gift been given to the Catholic Church, than the Government’s (zealously Catholic) Scottish Secretary, Jim Murphy, gave a speech in Westminster opining that religion has a big part to play in politics and that the Labour Party should court the “faith vote”. It wasn’t clear what exactly he wanted the party to do, beyond an embrace of “family values” (a concept that takes on a sinisterly authoritarian shade in a Catholic context), but presumably appealing to religious voters means giving them something in exchange for their vote.
Check out George Pitcher’s (Telegraph) comments during the week:-
Tags: Christianity, News