Patrick Henry College

Last night I watched God’s Next Army a Channel 4 programme about Patrick Henry College. PHC is a christian evangelist college which takes largely home-schooled teenagers from religious communities and turns them into people who they believe will be at the forefront of the fight to “re-christianise” the USA. It was all very worrying. These… Continue reading Patrick Henry College

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Feminism and Islam

Today’s Guardian has an article about Phyllis Chesler, an American feminist writer who believes that by turning a blind eye to what goes on in Islam, the feminist movement is betraying Muslim women. Western feminism’s failure to confront the problems raised by Islam, Chesler believes, is a result of the creation of a hierarchy of… Continue reading Feminism and Islam

Most Distrusted

American’s increasing acceptance of religious diversity doesn’t extend to those who don’t believe in a god, according to a national survey by researchers in the University of Minnesota’s department of sociology. From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and… Continue reading Most Distrusted

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Archbishop: Stop Teaching Creationism

In an interview in today’s Guardian the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has come out firmly against the teaching of creationism in schools. AR: Are you comfortable with teaching creationism? AC: Ahh, not very. Not very. I think creationism is, in a sense, a kind of category mistake, as if the Bible were a theory… Continue reading Archbishop: Stop Teaching Creationism

Fee-Paying and Faith-Based Schools

From the Guardian‘s new Comment is Free site comes a great article by Stuart Jeffries. Here’s a modest proposal. In fact, here are two modest proposals. If the Labour government has any socialist principles left, then surely it should do two fundamental things in order to make our schools truly egalitarian rather than crapshoots for… Continue reading Fee-Paying and Faith-Based Schools

The New Fundamentalists

It’s heartening to see the amount of negative coverage that religion is getting on TV recently. It’s clear that there are a number of people (or, at least, a number of people in TV production) who are worried about the increasing influence that religion is having on our society. Last night Channel Four’s Dispatches entered… Continue reading The New Fundamentalists

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