More schools running ‘anti-gay’ Christian crash-courses
Increasing numbers of schools are opting to run a youth version of the Alpha course, it has been reported. The adult ten-week evangelical courses act as an introduction to Christianity but have been...
View ArticleGovernment appointment of faith advisors attacked as ‘cynical’
The appointment of 13 ‘faith advisors’ to the government has been attacked by the National Secular society as “cynical” and “an insult to non-religious Britons”. The charity warned that most people...
View ArticleSenior bishops call on Lords to retain gay employment exemptions
A statement from three senior bishops calls on peers today to retain and even widen religious exemptions on employing gay people. The statement, issued on behalf of the Bishop of Winchester Michael...
View ArticlePope Benedict XVI criticises gay rights in Equality Bill
Pope Benedict XVI criticised the Equality Bill on Monday for violating “natural law”. He was thought to be referring to provisions in the bill which would have forced churches to employ gay staff....
View ArticleNational Secular Society plans protest for Pope’s UK visit
The National Secular Society has announced a ” large-scale campaign” to protest against Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain in September. NSS president Terry Sanderson said he was seeking to bring...
View Article7,000 sign protest against Pope’s visit
More than 7,000 people have signed a petition against the Pope’s state-funded visit to the UK. The petition was set up two days ago by the National Secular Society, which estimates the Pontiff’s...
View ArticlePope to include Scotland in UK visit
Pope Benedict XVI announced today he would also be visiting Scotland when he comes to the UK later this year. The Pope told Scottish bishops who were visiting the Vatican: “Later this year, I shall...
View ArticleValentine’s Day protest over Pope’s UK visit
A protest against the Pope’s visit to the UK is to take place in central London this Sunday. It is being planned by the Central London Humanist Group in partnership with the British Humanist...
View ArticleProtestors will tell Pope to ‘snog off’
A ‘kiss-in’ will be held as part of Sunday’s Valentine’s Day protest against the Pope’s visit to the UK. Demonstrators plan to march from London’s Westminster Cathedral to the Italian embassy in...
View ArticlePope may be invited on BBC’s Thought for the Day
The BBC is in talks with the Pope for him to give the Thought of the Day on Radio 4’s Today programme. The Pope is to visit the UK in September and BBC director-general Mark Thompson, a devout...
View ArticleLatest ‘Protest the Pope’ campaign held in London
A meeting was held in south London last night by the Protest the Pope campaign committee. During the meeting, reasons for protesting the pontiff’s visit next month were discussed. Issues outlined by...
View ArticlePeter Tatchell: Discrimination would be ‘rampant’ if Christian hotel couple...
Discrimination would have become “rampant” again if a Christian hotel couple had won the right to bar gay couples, LGBT campaigner Peter Tatchell has said. He said that if Peter and Hazelmary Bull had...
View ArticleLondon borough tries to reassure critics after homophobic Catholic charity...
The south-west London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames, which earlier this year awarded an £89,000 contract to the homophobic Catholic Children’s Society to offer counselling and support to children in...
View ArticleNational Secular Society will advise in religious vs gay rights cases
The National Secular Society has been granted permission to intervene in four religious rights cases due to come before the European Court of Human Rights. The body will submit legal arguments in four...
View ArticleSecularists say David Cameron’s marriage comments may signal ‘betrayal’
The government has reaffirmed its commitment to civil marriage equality for gay couples this morning after the prime minister’s Easter reception speech at Downing Street was called ‘disingenuous’ and...
View ArticleLord Carey: Christians ‘vilified’ and ‘driven underground’ by British Courts
In a written submission to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the former archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, has said that Christians are being “vilified” by British courts and “driven...
View ArticleCatholic group: Objections to anti-gay marriage petition in schools are...
A religious group unofficially representing the Catholic Church in the media has said questions over the legality of promoting the Coalition for Marriage anti-equality petition to schoolchildren are...
View ArticleChurch of England ‘threatens to obstruct democracy’ with equal marriage...
A legal opinion commissioned by the National Secular Society says the Church of England’s response to the government’s public consultation on marriage equality ‘confuses the issues’. The Church of...
View ArticleRuling upheld that Scottish Catholic charity must accept adoption...
A ruling by the Scottish Charity Regulator that a Catholic adoption charity was unlawfully discriminating against gay people by refusing to accept applications from unmarried couples, has been upheld....
View ArticleChurch of England clergyman: ‘Lord Carey should get over his obsession with...
Members of the Church of England, other faith groups and secularists have quickly responded to deny claims by Lord Carey that David Cameron’s “aggressively secular” government was marginalising...
View ArticleNational Secular Society welcomes Court of Appeal ruling against anti-gay...
The National Secular Society has welcomed a Court of Appeal ruling against a Christian guest house owner who refused to allow a gay couple to share the same bed. On Tuesday, the Court of Appeal...
View ArticleNational Secular Society: ‘Religion is more important to Baroness Warsi than...
The President of the National Secular Society, Terry Sanderson, has criticised the reasons given by Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister Baroness Warsi for abstaining in this summer’s House of...
View ArticleNational Secular Society: Catholic adoption agency ruling ‘kicks a hole’...
The National Secular Society says a Catholic adoption agency in Glasgow should not be allowed to maintain its charitable tax status because it discriminates against same-sex couples. St Margaret’s...
View ArticleNational Secular Society condemns regulator for dropping case against...
The National Secular Society has expressed its dismay that a Scottish Catholic adoption agency can continue to discriminate against same-sex couples. St Margaret’s Children and Family Care Society,...
View ArticleSecular Society: Scotland has left the door open for registrars to...
PinkNews Exclusive. The National Secular Society has criticised the Scottish Government for putting local authorities in an “invidious position” of having to decide individually whether it is...
View ArticleSecular Society: Wedding stationer who refuses to serve gays should be...
A wedding stationer who refused to serve a gay couple should be prosecuted and fined, the National Secular Society had said. Jill Wilson, who runs Just For You Invitations, based in Lancashire, said...
View ArticleNational Secular Society concerned as anti-gay marriage registrar reinstated
The National Secular Society has expressed concern at a decision by Central Bedfordshire Council to reinstate a Christian registrar who was previously dismissed after refusing to conduct same-sex...
View ArticleComment: Ignore the PR, the Catholic Church continues with its grotesque...
Suggestions the Catholic Church has changed its position on gay people are wide off the mark, writes National Secular Society President Terry Sanderson. When the BBC reported that some Catholic bishops...
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A secular response to the Church of England’s statement on the partial...
Last month, PinkNews published a statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Archbishop of York John Sentamu to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of...
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