Obscure bits of religious dogma are causing a bit of a ridiculous argument over in the USA. It seems that crackers need to be treated with the right level of respect if you don’t want the might of the Catholic League coming after you. It’s not just any old cracker, of course. Oh no. It… Continue reading It’s Only A Cracker
Tag: religion
Rationalism 4 – Superstition 0
Over the last two days, as part of the debate on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, Parliament has had four votes[1] where the forces of Medievalism tried to impose the views of their imaginary friends to prevent the advance of science. As you’ll have seen in the news, they lost on all four counts.… Continue reading Rationalism 4 – Superstition 0
How Powerful is Religion?
Today’s vote on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is going to be an interesting test of the power of religion in 21st century Britain. As far as I can see, there are no reasons to object to the bill that don’t have their basis in Bronze Age myths. Gordon Brown has been really rather… Continue reading How Powerful is Religion?
Baby Bible Bashers
It’s difficult to think of last night’s Cutting Edge documentary, Baby Bible Bashers without getting very depressed. In it we met seven-year-old Samuel Boutell (see picture), nine-year-old Terry Durham and Ana Carolina Dias (who was, I think, about twelve). These three children firmly believe that it is their mission in life to fervently evangelise the… Continue reading Baby Bible Bashers
No More Faith Schools
This all comes a as a bit of a surprise. But a very welcome one. The Government has decided against backing more faith schools, the Children, Schools and Families Secretary, Ed Balls, told MPs. In what is being seen as one of the most significant policy shifts of the post-Tony Blair era in education, he… Continue reading No More Faith Schools
Blasphemy Update
The debate on the amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill which would repeal the UK’s law against blasphemy took place yesterday. You can read the full debate online or summaries from various news sources. Basically, following a half hour or so of debate the Justice Minister, Maria Eagle, said that the government had… Continue reading Blasphemy Update
Repealing the Blasphemy Laws
Tomorrow in Parliament, Dr Evan Harris MP will introduce an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill which will seek to repeal the outdated and ridiculous UK blasphemy laws. To best explain why this is necessary I can only quote the letter that appears in today’s Telegraph: Sir – In the light of the… Continue reading Repealing the Blasphemy Laws
The Golden Compass – A Review
I saw The Golden Compass last night. In summary, I thought it was a pretty good adaptation. At times it moved a bit faster than I wanted it to, but that’s only to be expected from a two-hour film based on such a complex book. If you read on, there will be spoilers for both… Continue reading The Golden Compass – A Review
Faith Schools Petition
I mentioned this when I signed it a year ago, but I’ve just noticed that today is the closing date for the petition to abolish faith schools. There are currently 19,063 on the petition. It would be great if it could get to 20,000 by the end of the day. So if you’re the kind… Continue reading Faith Schools Petition
Damned If You Do…
The story so far: The people behind the films based on His Dark Materials decided to remove any direct references to god in order to avoid offending religious people. However, the Catholic League decided that the cuts weren’t deep enough and called for a boycott of the film. Now we get this: Christian groups such… Continue reading Damned If You Do…