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World Humanist Congress a huge success

Over 1000 atheist, humanist and other non-religious organisations and activists from over 60 countries from the world gathered in the internationally renowned university city of Oxford  for the World Humanist Congress, hosted by the British Humanist Association (BHA). This was the first time the Congress has been held in the United Kingdom since 1978 and was the the biggest Congress in its history.

Congress celebrated freedom of thought and expression and, on closing the conference, the BHA unveiled the Oxford Declaration on Freedom of Thought and Expression. The Declaration was described by BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson as an ‘urgent manifesto’ for reform and subject to overwhelming popular endorsement on the Congress floor. The Declaration read that ‘The right to freedom of thought and belief is one and the same right for all; no one anywhere should ever be forced into or out of a belief; the right to freedom of expression is global in its scope; there is no right not to be offended, or not to hear contrary opinions; states must not restrict thought and expression merely to protect the government from criticism; and freedom of belief is absolute but the freedom to act on a belief is not.’

Catch up

The World Humanist Congress had many speakers and sessions over three days. The Congress was filmed and those will be available shortly. Many hundreds of photographs are beginning to be uploaded by the BHA and delegates to the World Humanist Congress group on Flickr. You can also catch up with what happened by reading the news reports on the BHA website, searching for #WHC2014 on Twitter, and checking out the Congress Facebook page.

At Congress, Labour Humanists’ chair Naomi Phillips led a session asking ‘Should Humanism matter in politics’ with a truly fantastic panel: Kerry McCarthy MP, Tom Copley AM, Julie Pernet (European Humanist Federation) and Maggie Ardiente (American Humanist Association). We will publish a report of this session soon.

 

 

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News

Labour’s policies out for consultation

Following a review of its core policies, Labour has published a number of policy papers for consultation. The eight papers will form the basis of Labour’s One Nation Manifesto so it is crucial that humanists and secularists within the Party have their say on the papers, and encourage their CLPs to do the same.

As well as submitting your own comments online, every CLP is entitled to propose up to ten amendments, which National Policy Forum representatives can then choose to bring forward to a meeting of the NPF in July. The final papers will then be adopted by Annual Conference in September as Labour’s official policy programme ahead of the election next year.

The deadline for you to submit your comments is 13 June.

We will be drafting suggested amendments. Please see our initial review of four of the papers most relevant to our work.

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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
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Blog News

Faith schools: discriminatory admissions policies under the spotlight

This summer the spotlight has been on religious discrimination in admissions to state-funded faith schools. We have argued that selection by faith schools is often, in practice, discrimination against children and families along class and ethnicity lines, as well as particularly against the non-religious. See, comment on and vote for our submission to Labour’s policy review.

The Fair Admissions Campaign published high level data which paints a concerning picture of the extent to which state-funded faith schools are engaging in socio-economic selection through their discriminatory admissions policies. It has revealed the 50 segregated schools most unrepresentative of their local areas: the list is overwhelmingly dominated by religiously selective schools, exposing sharply the segregating effects of faith-based admissions criteria.

Following a complaint by the British Humanist Association (BHA), the state-funded, Catholic, London Oratory School has been forced to overhaul its admissions policy after being found to be in breach of the school admissions code in a number of ways including on socio-economic grounds. Read the BHA’s statement.

The Accord Coalition for inclusive schools has been updating its report of testimonies and media reports of discriminatory and exclusive practices by faith schools. Read how religious selection can divide families as well as communities.

Our position

We are affiliated to the BHA and we support the Fair Admissions Campaign and the Accord Coalition. We seek to influence Labour Party policy on key secular and humanist issues.

We believe that discrimination in admissions by state-funded faith schools is unnecessary, unjust, disastrous for social cohesion, and completely against Labour values. We have therefore asked 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.

Labour should guarantee that children will not be turned away from their local school on the basis of their parents’ beliefs. We firmly believe this would be a popular policy and likely vote winner.

Policy options

We would like Labour to consider the following policy options which we believe would be broadly supported and, if adopted, would be a significant step forward:

A. No new faith school allowed to discriminate in its admissions

B. No existing faith school allowed to discriminate in admissions in the future

We think it is vital that a commitment to inclusive admissions with no religious discrimination by faith schools permitted is in Labour’s 2015 manifesto.

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News Uncategorized

‘Unnecessary, unjust, disastrous for social cohesion’ – faith school admissions

London Assembly Member Tom Copley and Labour Humanists have made a joint submission to Labour’s policy review on admissions to state-funded faith schools.

We want Labour’s policy commissions urgently to consider and address the growing problem of selection and discrimination by state-funded faith schools, and make fair, inclusive admissions a manifesto commitment. Read our full submission here Labour Humanists Policy Review Admissions With Table FINAL or on Labour’s Your Britain policy site.

We said: ‘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.’

‘The available evidence demonstrates that religious selection criteria tend to be heavily weighted in favour of middle-class families. 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.’

All types of state-funded schools with a religious character are permitted to select in their admissions by discriminating on religious grounds. This even includes those whose admissions are controlled by the local authority if that authority allows it, faith Academies and Free Schools.

Table: Admissions policies by type of school

Type of school Admissions
Community schools(cannot have a religious character) Determined by local authority; cannot discriminate on religious grounds.
Voluntary Controlled faith schools(legally registered with a religious character) Determined by local authority; a quarter of authorities let Voluntary Controlled faith schools discriminate on religious grounds.
Voluntary Aided faith schools(legally registered with a religious character) Determined by governors ‘in consultation’ with local authority; can discriminate against all pupils on religious grounds if oversubscribed.
Foundation faith schools(legally registered with a religious character) Determined by governors in consultation with local authority; can discriminate on religious grounds if oversubscribed.
Faith Academies and Free Schools(legally registered with a religious character) Determined by governors; can discriminate against all pupils on religious grounds, and Free Schools can do so for up to 50% of intake.
Academies and Free Schools with no registered religious character (but may have a ‘faith ethos’) Determined by governors; cannot discriminate on religious grounds.

Support for fair, inclusive admissions to state schools should not be a controversial issue for Labour. It is widely supported across the party as well as by the public, and Labour should have a clear policy against discrimination in admissions by faith schools.

Labour’s Your Britain policy site allows you to make comments on submissions and also vote in favour of them – please do take the opportunity to do so.

Please also see our page on the policy review, which has details of how you can get involved.

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News

Secular Public Services & Bishops in the Lords – Policy Submissions

We have made two submissions to Labour’s policy review on behalf of our members, which will be considered by Labour’s policy commissions. The first is on secular public services and the second on Lords reform (Bishops in the Lords). Labour’s Your Britain policy site allows you to make comments on submissions and also vote in favour of them – please do take the opportunity to do so.

Please also see our page on the policy review, which has details of how you can get involved.

1) Secular public services – summary

As Labour people who are passionate about equality, human rights and freedom of speech and belief, we strongly support and welcome Labour’s continuing commitment to high-quality public services to which we all have access.

However, our particular concern is where public services are contracted to religious organisations. This is because those groups have significant exemptions from the Equality Act which allow them to discriminate: in employment; in the way they provide services; and in who they provide them to. They are also not bound by the HRA, and there is little to stop them from providing services in ways that are simply not inclusive.

Labour should take action and have a clear policy to ensure public services are equal, inclusive, and protect and promote human rights. All organisations, including religious groups working under public contract to provide public services, must operate in an inclusive, secular way. In practice that would mean:

A. No discrimination on religious or other grounds in employment
B. No discrimination on religious or other grounds against service users
C. No religious element part of the service, including prayers or proselytising

It is vital that a commitment to inclusive public services with no religious discrimination is in Labour’s 2015 manifesto.

Please read, comment on, and vote for our full submission.

2) Bishops in the Lords – summary

The UK is the only democratic country to give seats in its legislature to religious representatives as of right. It does this through the Lords Spiritual where 26 Church of England Bishops sit as of right in the House of Lords. In addition to the same speaking and voting rights as other peers, the Bishops in the Lords enjoy other privileges which unduly increase their influence over proceedings.

No other Western country has reserved seats for clerics in its legislature and we strongly believe that has no place in modern, liberal, democratic and diverse Britain. It is also clearly at odds with the aspiration of a more legitimate and representative second chamber.

In fact, Labour’s existing policy to have a 100% elected Lords would, in practice, mean abolishing the Lords Spiritual. However, Labour has not made explicit the need to end the practice of reserving seats in Parliament for 26 Church of England Bishops, in any reformed chamber.

A. Labour should have a clear and principled policy against religious privilege in our Parliament:
B. End the undemocratic ‘right’ for the Church of England to sit in our parliament
C. No reserved seats for any religious representatives
D. Allow Church of England bishops, and any other clergy or religious representatives, to stand for election or be eligible for appointment to a reformed Lords but let that be on the same basis as everyone else
E. Promote equality and campaign against privilege in our democratic arrangements

It is vital that a commitment to a reformed House of Lords with no reserved seats or other privileges for clergy is in Labour’s 2015 manifesto.

Please read, comment on, and vote for our full submission.

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News

House of Lords debates contribution of atheists and humanists to UK society

My Lords, today we speak up on behalf of the silent majority, for those of us who do not attend any place of worship, whether church, mosque or synagogue. It is a silent majority, whose full contribution to British society has perhaps been unsung for too long. In contrast, we find that religious voices are ever more present, and sometimes shrill, in the public square. However, because atheism is a philosophical viewpoint, arrived at individually and personally, we are not given to marching in the street chanting, “What do we want? Atheism! When do we want it? Now!”

– and so Labour’s Lord Harrison opened his debate on the contribution of atheists and humanists to United Kingdom society.

Peers from across the House of Lords joined the timely debate and Labour Peers in particular made strong contributions. The focus of the debate was the need for recognition of humanists in the public square, and on equality and human rights, on the importance of balanced education, on the dangers of religious sectarianism, on the rising numbers f non-religious in the UK population, and on the wide-ranging and valuable work of the British Humanist Association (BHA), to which Labour Humanists is affiliated. Here are some of the things that Labour Peers said:

Humanism is perhaps the default philosophical position for millions of people in the UK today, and millions of humanists in one way or another in their daily lives improve society by strengthening our democratic freedoms, involving themselves assiduously in charity work, increasing our body of scientific knowledge and enhancing the cultural and creative life of the United Kingdom – Lord Harrison

What I hope for is an understanding of the importance of ethics and morality that allows non-religious systems equal respect… I ask for an equal place in our counsels and advisory bodies, and, most of all, in the education of our children. It should be the primacy of an ethical framework in our public policy, not the primacy of religion, that matters – Baroness Whitaker

Secular morality is not anti-religious, it is areligious. Of course, the areligious increasingly are the majority of adults in our country – Lord Layard

We have just had riots on the streets of Belfast about—what?—religion. I come from the city of Glasgow, which is divided between two different Christian churches. If you look at the great movement for democracy throughout the Islamic world, what is stopping it from developing properly? It is religion and divisions within the Islamic faith – Lord Maxton

I shall not dwell on the growth of humanism or its many contributions to democracy and civil society—blasphemy laws, humanist weddings and other secular celebrations, educational equality and so on—nor shall I list prominent humanists and their wise or witty sayings. There are too many of them – Baroness Massey

One advantage of humanists is that not only do they not fight and kill each other in large numbers, they do not have problems about the roles of women and men, sexual identity, disability or any other similar thing. Trying to solve human problems by reason is the strength of humanism – Lord Soley

It is characteristic of humanism to believe in equality and goodwill between people, and therefore to be active in campaigns for human rights. It is gratifying to reflect on the improvements in women’s rights that have been made in this country during the past century. Many of the major religions—although by no means all—have opposed the campaigns that achieved these advances. Certain religions are still extraordinarily bad about women’s rights. In this country, we have an equality law. I would oppose any attempts to introduce Sharia law or practice, which is sometimes suggested. Our law is paramount. It is intended to protect women. I do not agree that culture or religion should prevent us from attempting to intervene – Baroness Turner

What is taking place in our society is generational replacement. Older, more religious generations are dying out and being replaced by generations without any religious beliefs. I hope that I can stick around long enough to see further progress. The data suggest that Governments and parliamentarians should be more cautious about listening to religious interests when changes in public policy are under consideration. We all know what these policy issues are because they are debated often enough in this House—abortion, assisted dying, embryo research, faith schools, employment law, and discrimination – Lord Warner, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group

More than 600 couples in England and Wales already choose to celebrate their marriage with a humanist ceremony, so I am delighted that, thanks to the amendment tabled by noble Lords and passed in this house, couples of the same and opposite sex will, in the not-too-distant future, be able to choose a humanist marriage – Baroness Royall

Read the British Humanist Association’s comment on the debate.

Read the full transcript of the debate.

 

 

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Blog News

One Nation Labour needs to break its silence on faith schools

Labour Humanists’ Chair Naomi Phillips writes for political website politics.co.uk on the need for Labour to break its silence and speak out against discriminatory faith schools.

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Blog News

Some ideas for Labour’s policy review

Labour’s policy review provides a unique chance to influence Party policy. We are working on our formal responses to the review, all of which are aimed to help to create a more equal, ethical and secular Labour.

In brief, we would like Labour to consider the following policy options:

Faith schools
Labour’s policy towards schools should be inclusive and oppose discrimination:

  • No new faith school allowed to discriminate in its admissions
  • No existing faith school allowed to discriminate in admissions in the future
  • No faith school allowed to discriminate against teachers (including hiring, firing, and refusing promotion) on religious grounds

And

  • An end to compulsory collective worship in ALL schools.

Public services
Labour should take action to ensure public services are equal, inclusive, and protect and promote human rights.
All organisations,including religious groups working under public contract to provide public services must operate in an inclusive secular way. In practice that would mean:

  • No discrimination on religious or other grounds in employment
  • No discrimination on religious or other grounds against service users
  • No religious element part of the service, including prayers or proselytising

House of Lords Reform

Labour’s policy to have a 100% elected Lords would have meant in practice abolishing the Lords Spiritual. However Labour should have a clear and principled policy against religious privilege in our Parliament:

  • End the undemocratic ‘right’ for the Church of England to sit in our parliament
  • No reserved seats for an religious representatives
  • Allow Church of England bishops, and any other clergy or religious representatives, stand for election or be eligible for appointment to a reformed Lords but let that be on the same basis as everyone else
  • Promoting equality and campaigning against privilege in our democratic arrangements

We welcome your comments, thoughts, and submissions, about what you think should be Labour’s secularist and humanist policy priorities. Contact us with your suggestions.

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News

Tories collude to hand over secular schools to the Church

Tory education chief Michael Gove has colluded to hand over control of thousands of nominally secular state schools to the Church of England. In an unprecedented and totally unnecessary move, Church of England academy chains will have a new ability to incorporate community schools. The Government has given assurances that the Church would not be able to give the community schools a religious character once they take over control of them, yet that seems extremely weak given that Bishops will have a new ability to appoint governors to the schools.

The Tory-led Government’s religious academies and Free Schools have wide permission to discriminate on religious grounds in admissions, employment, and they do not have to follow the National Curriculum. We are deeply concerned that there will be few protections in place to stop the Church forcing all schools under its control to discriminate or teach religiously-biased curricula.

Faith schools by their very nature cannot be inclusive. We think it is vital for Stephen Twigg and Labour’s education team to speak out against this move which can only cause more division in our state school system.