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Working for a more compassionate law on assisted dying

Assisted dying has been raised again as a major social, political and media story over the past few months, so we thought it would be helpful to set out our position as a group working for a more equal, ethical and secular Labour Party.

We want to see a more ethical and compassionate law on assisted dying in the UK that would protect the vulnerable but also allow mentally competent adults the right to die with dignity in a time and manner of their own choosing.

For people who are terminally ill or who are permanently and incurably suffering, who have made a clear decision, free from coercion, to end their lives and who are physically unable to do so themselves, we support a change in the law to legalise assisted dying and euthanasia.

We want to support Labour elected representatives working for a change in the law on assisted dying.

We agree with the British Humanist Association’s assessment of the current situation and its case for change:

Currently, the needs and autonomy of patients are often disregarded. Many people are in fact helped to die by doctors or nurses but without the safeguards that legislation would bring. Compassionate doctors, who follow the wishes of their terminally ill or incurably suffering patients by assisting them to die, risk being charged with assisting suicide or murder. The current system also results in close relatives being faced with the immensely difficult choices of whether, knowing that it is unlawful, to assist a loved one who is begging for help to put an end to their suffering or not to act and hence prolong their suffering.

We do not believe that anyone should be put into the position of having to make such choices, or indeed into a position where they believe that they have no other option but personally to end the life of someone they love. The few terminally ill and suffering people who are able to travel abroad to die often do so before it would be necessary if they did not need to be still able to travel.

Being able to die, with dignity, in a manner of our choosing must be understood to be a fundamental human right – a position supported by the landmark judgment in the Purdy case, where our highest court ruled that European Convention on Human Rights can be invoked in relation to the end of life.

Legalising assisted dying would ensure that strict legal safeguards are in place and empower people to make rational choices over their end of life care, free from coercion. The choice of an assisted death should not be instead of palliative care for terminally ill people, but a core part of comprehensive, patient-centred approaches to end of life care.

Time and again courts have said that a change in the law is a matter for parliament to enact – this is, necessarily, a political as well as moral issue. Despite strong public support for a change in the law, the majority of parliamentarians have so far been reluctant to support moves to legalise assisted dying.

However, there are many humanist and Labour MPs and Peers who do support a change to a more compassionate law. This year, we will brief on the ethical case for changing the law to allow assisted dying, with appropriate safeguards. We will support Labour elected representatives who seek to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill and permanently and incurably suffering people who wish to die with dignity in a manner of their choosing.

 

 

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News

Groundbreaking research shows extent of religious discrimination in state schools

Research published today by the Fair Admissions Campaign has shown the extent to which state-funded faith schools discriminate in their admissions on religious grounds and its effect on social and ethnic inclusiveness. Labour Humanists is affiliated to the British Humanist Association (BHA) and supports the Fair Admissions Campaign.

The research has been launched in map form and, for the first time, scores how religiously selective, socio-economically inclusive and ethnically inclusive every mainstream state secondary school in England is. Users are able to see profiles for individual schools, compare and rank different schools in their area and nationally, and see how segregated different denominations, dioceses and local authorities are. It can be viewed at http://fairadmissions.org.uk/map

The research finds that there is a clear correlation between religious selection and socio-economic segregation; one of the key findings is that schools with no religious character admit 11% more pupils eligible for free school meals than would be expected given their areas, while state schools with a Christian, Jewish or Muslim character admit far fewer eligible for free school meals than would be expected given their areas. See notes for more key findings.

Labour Humanists’ Chair Naomi Phillips commented, ‘Religious leaders often claim that faith schools – paid for by the state – are inclusive and serve the local community. This latest research which maps every state secondary school in England shows that is often not the case. Labour principles mean that whichever family you are born into, whatever your background, you have the right to high-quality and inclusive education. Support for the present system of state-funded faith schools clearly goes against those principles, and we urge Labour to change its policy to guarantee that children will not be turned away from their local school on the basis of their parents’ beliefs.

‘Even if religious selection in school admissions was not a proxy for class discrimination – which it demonstrably is – Labour Humanists would still oppose it because we do not believe any state school should refuse children on the basis of whether their parents believe in a god or not.’

Notes

It is our firm belief that state-funded faith schools (about a third of all schools) should be inclusive: we believe that is a Labour value too. We believe that discrimination in admissions by state-funded faith schools is unnecessary, unjust, disastrous for social cohesion, and completely against Labour values. We therefore ask for a commitment to inclusivity and opposing discrimination in admissions by faith schools to be included in Labour’s manifesto for the 2015 general election.

Fair Admissions Campaign full press release:

Groundbreaking new research maps the segregating impact of faith school admissions

The Fair Admissions Campaign has today published groundbreaking research into the extent of religious selection in state schools and its effect on social and ethnic inclusiveness. Launched in map form, for the first time it scores how religiously selective, socio-economically inclusive and ethnically inclusive every mainstream state secondary school in England is. Users are able to see profiles for individual schools, compare and rank different schools in their area and nationally, and see how segregated different denominations, dioceses and local authorities are. It is hoped that the tool will prove useful to parents, schools, and individuals concerned about segregation in school admissions. It can be viewed at http://fairadmissions.org.uk/map. The research combines data from five main sources and hundreds of admissions directories. The map details the proportion of pupils each school is allowed to religiously select in its oversubscription criteria; how many pupils at the school are eligible for free school meals by comparison with its local area; and how many speak English as an additional language. Key findings include:

  • Comprehensive secondaries with no religious character admit 11% more pupils eligible for free school meals than would be expected given their areas. Comprehensive Church of England secondaries admit 10% fewer; Roman Catholic secondaries 24% fewer; Jewish secondaries 61% fewer; and Muslim secondaries 25% fewer.
  • There is a clear correlation between religious selection and socio-economic segregation: Church of England comprehensives that don’t select on faith admit 4% more pupils eligible for free school meals than would be expected, while those whose admissions criteria allow full selection admit 31% fewer.
  • 16% of schools select by religion but they are vastly overrepresented in the 100 worst offenders on free school meal eligibility and English as an additional language. They make up 46 of the worst 100 schools (and 67 out of 100 if we exclude grammar schools) on FSM eligibility and 50 of the worst 100 (55 if we exclude grammar schools) on EAL.
  • The most segregated local authority as a result of religious selection is Hammersmith and Fulham. While 15% of pupils nationally are eligible for free school meals, the segregation between the religiously selective schools and other schools is almost double that (27 percentage points).
  • The map represents the first time any data has ever been published on the degree of religious selection by faith schools. We estimate that 16% of places at state schools (or 1.2 million) are subject to religious selection criteria. This compares with 5% of secondary places in grammar schools and 7% of all places in independent schools.
  • More in depth findings can be found in our briefing.

Chair of the Accord Coalition for Inclusive Education, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE said, ‘This new research exposes the hypocrisy of those who claim religiously selective schools serve the community at large. It reveals that they not only further segregate children on religious and ethnic grounds, but also are skewed towards serving the affluent at the expense of the deprived. Crucially, the research also shows that the more a school is permitted to select children by faith, the greater the extent to which it is likely to socio-economically segregate. The data poses some very awkward questions for the state funded faith school sector, especially as many people of faith are appalled that schools that should focus on the poor have become so elitist.’

Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association, commented, ‘Today’s findings make clear like never before the devastating effects that faith-based admissions have in segregating communities along socio-economic and ethnic lines. The Archbishop of Canterbury recently commented that Church of England schools are moving away from religious selection. We are yet to see if this is true, but at the same time believe it cannot come true soon enough. In any case, the scale of the problem demands not voluntary effort by religious groups but legislation – government should act now to make these divisive effects impossible by removing the possibility of religious selection in state-funded schools.’

Professor Ted Cantle CBE chaired The Cantle Report into the 2001 race riots, and founded the Institute of Community Cohesion. Professor Cantle commented, ‘This research clearly demonstrates the increasing balkanisation of our school system, with children growing up in separate communities with little chance of learning about others. It shows that education has done nothing to break down the “parallel lives” I described in 2001, rather they have been reinforced.’

Jeremy Rodell is Chair of the Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign, who last year took a judicial review against two proposed Catholic schools in the hope of establishing more inclusive admissions policies. Mr Rodell commented, ‘The evidence presented by this new data is very clear. We already knew that it is unfair for state-funded schools to discriminate on the basis of religion. But we can now see that the unfairness is compounded because it also disadvantages children who are already disadvantaged. Perversely, those who are the strongest advocates of choice in schooling are apparently happy to defend admissions policies that give some parents far more choice than others simply because of their religious practices, genuine or otherwise. Surely no government, of any political complexion, should allow this to continue.’

Notes For further comment please contact Accord Coalition Chair Jonathan Romain on 07770 722 893, BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson on 07534 24 8596 or email info@fairadmissions.org.uk. For further information about the map please contact Richy Thompson on 020 7324 3072. The map can be viewed at http://fairadmissions.org.uk/map and a more in depth briefing at http://fairadmissions.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Fair-Admissions-Campaign-map-in-depth-briefing.pdf. Note that unfortunately the map doesn’t work on mobile devices due to the fact that they can only handle about 100 pins (there are over 3,300).

Figures comparing different religious denominations and Dioceses can be seen on the ‘Overall averages’ tab of the map. For a fuller methodology (including how schools’ local area figures are calculated), details of the sources used, responses to possible criticism and answers to other questions please see the ‘FAQs’ tab.

The Fair Admissions Campaign wants all state-funded schools in England and Wales to be open equally to all children, without regard to religion or belief. The Campaign is supported by a wide coalition of individuals and national and local organisations. We hold diverse views on whether or not the state should fund faith schools. But we all believe that faith-based discrimination in access to schools that are funded by the taxpayer is wrong in principle and a cause of religious, ethnic, and socio-economic segregation, all of which are harmful to community cohesion. It is time it stopped.

Supporters of the campaign include the Accord Coalition, the British Humanist Association, Professor Ted Cantle and the iCoCo Foundation, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, British Muslims for Secular Democracy, the Campaign for State Education, the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education, the Christian think tank Ekklesia, the Hindu Academy, the Green Party, the Liberal Democrat Education Association, Liberal Youth, the Local Schools Network, Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign, the Runnymede Trust, the Socialist Educational Association, and the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.

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Labour Humanists exhibit at Labour Women’s Network ‘Foundations for Victory’

We had a stand at the Labour Women’s Network conference, which brought together delegates including many elected representatives and prospective candidates. At the stand we signed up new supporters and spoke particularly on issues relating to faith schools and on the value of having a growing group for ethical, non-religious people within the Labour Party.

 

Our Secretary Adam Harrison sets up our stand
Our Secretary Adam Harrison sets up our stand
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News

Tories and the Church speak out in support of discriminatory faith schools

Just days after a Tory Minister confirmed the Government’s commitment to expanding the number of state-funded faith schools, the Archbishop of Canterbury has made a statement in support of allowing schools to discriminate in their admissions including on religious grounds.

Despite a front page interview in The Times newspaper today where he seemed to support inclusive admissions to faith schools, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has subsequently said: ‘I fully support the current policy for schools to set their own admissions criteria, including the criterion of faith. Nothing in my wider comments to The Times on this subject should be seen as “revealing” any changes nor dissenting from current policy.’ In practice, the Church of England’s policy allows state-funded faith schools to discriminate against children and families on grounds of religion.

Earlier this week, in a speech at Cambridge University, the Tory Minister for Faith, Baroness Warsi, spoke out against secularism and stated, ‘We didn’t just get behind faith schools, we created more. And of our flagship free schools, one in four are faith-based: Sikh, Jewish, Greek Orthodox, Christian, Muslim and Hindu.’

All types of state-funded schools with a religious character are permitted to select in their admissions by discriminating on religious grounds, including the faith Academies and Free Schools. Evidence shows that schools selecting pupils on the basis of the professed faith of the parents are segregating children and young people along religious, socio-economic, cultural, and even ethnic lines.

Naomi Phillips, Chair of Labour Humanists said, ‘Both the Tory-led Government and the Church of England are promoting religious privilege and making an assault on social cohesion and equality through their policies to increase the number of faith schools and to allow them to discriminate in their admissions on religious grounds.

‘Dividing up more and more young people along religious and class lines through selection by the ever-expanding faith schools sector cannot be good for society. It’s time for Labour to take the lead and stand up for a truly inclusive school system.’

Notes

Contact Naomi Phillips at chair@labourhumanists.org.uk

Read Labour Humanists’ submission to Labour’s policy review on faith school admissions

Read the Fair Admissions Campaign’s response to Justin Welby’s statement

Read BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson’s comment

Tories collude to hand secular schools over to the Church

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AGM & Meeting Report

Labour should care about the selective and discriminatory admissions policies of state-funded faith schools – that was the resounding message from our meeting. However, more work needs to be done on what would be the most effective actions for Labour to take to address the worsening situation.

We had a fantastic turn out for our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 30 October 2013. This was our first AGM since Labour Humanists was ‘revived’ in 2012 and was a celebration of the activities, growth and successes we have had in the past 18 months. Read the chair’s and the treasurer’s report, as well as the minutes.

Following the AGM we welcomed members and non-members to our meeting on Labour and selective faith schools – it was so popular it was standing room only. We were delighted to be joined by four fantastic speakers: Tom Copley, London Assembly Member; Andrew Copson, Chief Executive, British Humanist Association; Andrew Harrop, General Secretary, Fabian Society and Joan Smith, feminist, author and columnist.

We are grateful for all of their contributions and recommendations for future work on selective faith schools and wider issues, including religious bias in the curriculum and the importance of teaching Sex and Relationships Education in schools, with no opt-outs for faith schools.

Read a detailed report of the meeting by the Fair Admissions Campaign.

Read a Storify of the event, which also includes some photographs.

 

Tom Copley, London Assembly Member Naomi Phillips, Chair, Labour Humanists Joan Smith, feminist and author
Tom Copley, London Assembly Member
Naomi Phillips, Chair, Labour Humanists
Joan Smith, feminist and author
Naomi Phillips, Chair, Labour Humanists
Naomi Phillips, Chair, Labour Humanists
Andrew Harrop, General Secretary, Fabian Society Tom Copley, London Assembly Member Naomi Phillips, Chair, Labour Humanists Joan Smith, feminist and author Andrew Copson, BHA Chief Executive
Andrew Harrop, General Secretary, Fabian Society
Tom Copley, London Assembly Member
Naomi Phillips, Chair, Labour Humanists
Joan Smith, feminist and author
Andrew Copson, BHA Chief Executive
Joan Smith, feminist and author
Joan Smith, feminist and author
Andrew Harrop, Fabian Society General Secretary
Andrew Harrop, Fabian Society General Secretary

 

Julia Mundy, Treasurer Andrew Copson, BHA Chief Executive
Julia Mundy, Treasurer
Andrew Copson, BHA Chief Executive
Adam Harrison, Secretary
Adam Harrison, Secretary
Guest with Labour Humanists badge 'Separate Church & State'
Guest with Labour Humanists badge ‘Separate Church & State’
Guests
Guests
Guests
Guests
Guests
Guests

 

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News

We write to Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary

We have written to Dr Tristram Hunt, Labour’s new Shadow Secretary of State for Education. In our letter to Dr Hunt we set out our position as relates to education and we also ask for a meeting.

We warmly welcomed Labour’s commitment to making Sex and Relationships Education compulsory in schools but urged that there should be no opt-out for faith schools.

We outlined our concerns about discrimination against, and unequal treatment of, teachers and teaching staff in state-funded faith schools.

We also took the opportunity to send Dr Hunt our submission to Labour’s policy review on faith school admissions, which we made jointly with Tom Copley, London Assembly Member.

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Blog News

Dangers of religious Free Schools

There has been much in the news about the Tory-led Government’s Free School programme recently – with a particular focus on the failings of the Al-Madinah Islamic school in Derbyshire. There have been reports particularly of gender discrimination and unequal treatment of women and girls in the school, including from teachers who said they were forced to wear the hijab.

The report from an emergency Ofsted inspection found that the school was ‘dysfunctional’ and that it is ‘a school which has been set up and run by representatives of the community with limited knowledge and experience.’

Relating to the widespread failings of Al-Madinah school, Labour’s recently appointed Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt described the Government’s Free School programme as ‘a dangerous ideological experiment’. He also wrote to Education Secretary Michael Gove with concerns including those about religious discrimination and unequal treatment of women and girls.

We welcome Dr Hunt’s efforts to expose and tackle problems at Al-Madinah and other Free Schools. We would like Labour to go further to acknowledge and seek to tackle the specific concerns with religious Free Schools.

The Government’s Free Schools are largely unregulated and the Coalition Education Ministers have also dropped a number of checks which had been part of the vetting procedure for new school applications. The door is open to groups even with extreme religious views to apply and to get state-funding to run schools.

Unlike other Free Schools, those with a religious character do not have to have inclusive admissions and are permitted to select up to 50% of spaces based on religion – excluding and discriminating against children and families with no religion or the ‘wrong’ religion.

We also have serious concerns about the curriculum taught in faith Free Schools, which could be heavily religiously biased. They can opt out of the National Curriculum and can focus teaching on religious instruction. There are risks that religious ideology and dogma – including that which is gender discriminatory or homophobic – could be prioritised by the schools over education.

It is our firm position that state-funded schools should be inclusive and not be allowed to discriminate in admissions or employment on religious grounds. The rights of children and young people to a broad and balanced education whichever school they attend should be paramount.

 

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Selective faith schools: should Labour care?

18.45 – 19.45, Wednesday 30 October, Camden Town Hall, Judd Street London WC1H 9JE
Please RSVP info@labourhumanists.org.uk or via Eventbrite.

The religiously selective admissions policies used by faith schools have been under the spotlight, with a particular focus on their effect to segregate children and families by not only by religion but on socio-economic grounds. If they really are grammar schools by the back door, should Labour support them?

Can schools being allowed to discriminate against children whose parents are not of the ‘right’ religion, and those of no religion, fit with Labour values of equality, human rights and social cohesion?

Join us to discuss religiously selective admissions policies by state-funded faith schools, what a One Nation school admissions policy should look like, and if there is room in the Manifesto 2015 for a commitment to inclusive admissions.

Speakers:

Tom new pic  Tom Copley                     andrew-copson-titel-218x218 Andrew Copson

London Assembly Member                        Chief Executive, British Humanist Association

Andrew Harrop Andrew Harrop                  Joan Smith JPG Joan Smith

General Secretary, Fabian Society          Feminist, author and columnist

Chair:

Naomi Phillips colour Naomi Phillips

Chair, Labour Humanists

Background reading!

We made a joint submission with London Assembly Member Tom Copley to Labour’s policy review specifically on discriminatory, selective admissions policies by faith schools – and why Labour should support inclusive admissions.

If you are a Labour member you can vote for our policy suggestion. If you are not a Labour member you can still register to leave a comment. Read more about our submissions to Labour.

Labour Humanists AGM (members only)

18.20 – 18.35, Wednesday 30 October.
Camden Town Hall, Judd Street London WC1H 9JE

‘Selective faith schools: should Labour care?’ (All welcome)
18.45 – 19.45 (please join us after for a glass of wine or a soft drink)

 

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Events

Labour Humanists AGM – Wednesday 30 October

We will be holding our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday 30 October, 18.20 – 18.35*, Camden Town Hall, Judd Street London WC1H 9JE. Please RSVP info@labourhumanists.org.uk

Following the AGM from 18.45, we have organised a meeting with some fantastic speakers, who will be discussing ‘Selective faith schools: should Labour care?’ We would be delighted if you would join us for a glass of wine or a soft drink after the meeting.

Officers & Executive Committee
We are organised by a small group of volunteers and we work in different ways to raise awareness and understanding of our position, on behalf of our members. For example, in the past year or so we have:

  • grown our membership
  • launched a brand new website and increased our online presence and campaigning through Twitter
  • held a packed out ‘no prayer breakfast’ fringe event at Labour conference 2012
  • been represented on BBC One’s The Big Questions to discuss secularism
  • worked closely with Labour’s front bench and briefed Labour MPs and Peers to reform the law to allow equal humanist marriage
  • written articles published on LabourList and politics.co.uk on faith schools admissions

We are pleased that, on behalf of our members, we have been able to raise the profile of key humanist and secularist issues within Labour. Our constitution allows us formally to elect officers (Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer) and up to five more members of an Executive Committee at our AGM.

In terms of the Executive Committee, we would welcome nominations from our members to help to grow and lead Labour Humanists. To nominate yourself, simply email chair@labourhumanists.org.uk with no more than 100 words about why you would be interested in being an Officer or a member of the Executive Committee (and state which). If we have more nominations than spaces, we will elect by a show of hands at the AGM.

Volunteering for the committee would be a great opportunity to get more involved and help to influence Labour policy on key humanist and secularist issues.

In addition to electing Officers and members of the Executive Committee, we will have copies of our accounts available, and discuss our plans for the coming year – a crucial one as Labour develops its policies.

One of our aims is to increase our membership – to build our voice and to become eligible to become an affiliated socialist society to the Labour Party. If you are not already a member, please do consider joining, and encourage others to do so too.

Only members may participate at the AGM; all are welcome to the faith school admissions meeting.

Labour Humanists AGM
18.30 – 18.45, Wednesday 30 October.
Camden Town Hall, Judd Street London WC1H 9JE

*Time slightly earlier than previously advertised

Categories
Events News

March for a secular Europe

Join us on Saturday 14 September at the Secular Europe Campaign’s annual march and rally in Central London. Our chair Naomi Phillips will be speaking on behalf of Labour Humanists from 14.00 on Richmond Terrace, opposite Downing Street.

More on the Campaign

The “Secular Europe Campaign” is an annual effort that sees many diverse groups united in demanding an end to religious privileges and asking that the European Institutions must remain secular.
Starting in 2008, this Campaign has a special focus on the Vatican, given the enormous political and economical power it holds, but aims at representing all the issues around secularism and human rights, including opposition to state-funded faith schools, rejection of religious tribunals and support to equal rights for LGBT citizens.

The Campaign promotes:

  • freedom of religion, freedom of conscience and freedom of speech
  • women’s equality and reproductive rights
  • equal rights for LGBT people in all the European Union
  • a secular Europe – democratic, peaceful, open and just, with no privilege for religious or belief organisations
  • one law for all, no religious exemptions from the law
  • state neutrality in matters of religion and belief

The Campaign opposes:

  • the privileged status of the churches under Article 17 of the TFEU (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union)
  • the privileged status of churches in countries where they are established
  • the special status of the Vatican at the United Nations and its economic and political privileges across Europe
  • state-funded religious schools