Protesters have arrived for a second day outside of Batley Grammar School. They aren't parents. Teacher has been taken into police protection. School has switched to remote learning.
There is no prohibition of blasphemy in the UK. The bullies must be stood up to.
Donald Tusk, who has spoken of the need to separate church and state, declares election victory.
This win for the coalition of opposition looks set to diminish the Catholic Church's hold over public policy and people's lives in Poland. 🇵🇱
Something very special just happened at Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee.
@JasminKParis
just became the first woman ever to complete the
#BarkleyMarathons
. 🇬🇧 Incredible achievement.
Congratulations Ihor Verys on winning the thing 🇺🇦 🇨🇦
#smalleuropeanwoman
#BM100
I've written to
#BatleyGrammar
today urging governors to reconsider their knee-jerk response and uphold our vital freedoms.
Meanwhile, pupils have launched a petition to keep their teacher. Please support them!
The manufactured outrage whipped up by the Islamic grievance industry, and the attention given to it by senior politicians and the media, has probably done more to fuel anti-Muslim hostility than a Boris Johnson’s column in the Telegraph ever could.
The Daily Mail has reportedly received one of its biggest-ever postbags this morning in response to the manufactured Burqagate.
Supportive letters outnumber criticism of Boris by 20 to one.
A new 800-place Islamic boys school is being built in Blackburn – one of the most segregated towns in Britain. Why is state education fuelling further segregation and division?
Do we really want religious messages on train station departure boards?
Accurate and timely arrival, departure and platform information will do fine. Cue the inevitable demands from other religious or identity groups for equal recognition.
Unregistered religious schools undermine children’s rights and leave pupils unprepared for life outside their insular religious community. They are illegal, usually unsafe and anyone found running one should be prosecuted. Religion is not above the law.
Blasphemy 'is no crime', says Macron. "The law is clear: we have the right to blaspheme, to criticise, to caricature religions." Nice to see a political leader make such an unequivocal statement in support of free expression.
The imam’s answer to Akbar’s remarks?
"We will never tolerate disrespect of the holy Qur’an, never! We will sacrifice our lives for it."
Indeed, he wants more. "We don’t let this go."
The Chief Inspector just nods along. 4/5
Gender-based violence is rooted in misogyny, often perpetuated and exacerbated by religious fundamentalism. The shocking plight of women and girls living under the Taliban in Afghanistan is almost unimaginable – and deserving of the world's attention.
The right to protest is a fundamental principle of our democracy. It’s not absolute and sometimes a balance must be struck. But lifting peaceful protestors off the street and detaining them to prevent the King’s embarrassment isn’t striking a balance. It’s chilling.
@metpoliceuk
Press release: 'These arrests are a direct attack on our democracy and the fundamental rights of every person in the country. The right to protest peacefully in the UK no longer exists.'
Charlie Hebdo to reprint Muhammad cartoons on eve of trial. As this piece in today's Times points out, support for the magazine’s right to cause offence has waned since 2015. Free expression on religion needs promoting more than ever.
The
@MuslimCouncil
say Islamophobia say is a type of racism that targets 'expressions of Muslimness'. Isn't their insistence that Ahmadi Muslims are 'non-Muslims' an example of hostility towards Ahmadis' expressions of Muslimness?
'You presumably represent both Sunni and Shia strands. So if you can do that, why can't you include a strand for Ahmadiyyas?'
Iain Dale puts the question Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain Zara Mohammed.
@IainDale
|
@ZaraM01
Schools facing intimidation shouldn't be left at the mercy of the mobs. Government needs to better support school leaders to respond when they become the target of fundamentalist outrage.
I've written to the education secretary on behalf of
@NatSecSoc
.
The free exchange of ideas is essential to a healthy democracy. People being bullied and harassed out of their jobs chills free speech. A teacher for using a cartoon to teach about blasphemy. An academic for expressing gender-critical views. It could be you. It has to stop.
The decision to award Samuel Paty France's highest honour – the Legion d’Honneur, is an important statement of intent. It is incumbent on us all to defend liberal values and not be intimidated into submission.
The offence of
#blasphemy
is finally abolished in Scotland today!
Intentionally 'stirring up hatred' on religious grounds becomes an offence, but amendments we won protect discussion or criticism of religion, including “expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule or insult”.
It really shouldn't matter whether the Church of England 'accepts' a temporary relaxation of Sunday trading laws, or not. Ridiculous that we still allow the Church to wield such influence on political life in Britain.
Again we see how blasphemy codes are imposed in modern Britain. Not by the law, but through outrage, intimidation and the underlying threat of violence.
Modernising the House of Lords by removing the hereditary peers but leaving the 26 Anglican bishops in place would be a blatant demonstration of religious privilege.
"Measures to modernise the constitution will be introduced, including House of Lords reform, to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the Lords," King Charles says
Follow live
❌ A serious threat to free speech
❌ Unnecessary
❌ Hugely unpopular
Three reasons why Part 2 of Scotland's Hate Crime Bill, which creates vague new 'stirring up hatred' offences, should be ditched.
Read
@_freetodisagree
letter to MSPs
This mosque has just been given £2.2million by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to expand its youth activities, including programmes on leadership, and 'critical thinking'.
Birmingham's Green Lane Mosque on how to stone a woman to death. You must first bury her up to her waist to preserve her modesty. How thoughtful!
The government has just given this mosque a £2.2 mn grant for "youth services".
Astonished to read the
@Independent
's Associate Editor arguing that The Satanic Verses should be banned under anti-hate legislation. I had to check it wasn't April 1st. Such contempt for free speech.
The fear of being branded Islamophobic will seriously chill free speech by inhibiting people from being critical of Islam or suggesting it is anything other that a religion of peace.
Nobody need take lessons in human rights from the leader of a country where religious minorities are persecuted under blasphemy laws, enforced disappearances are common and violence against women & girls widespread.
The right to free speech is nothing without the right to offend
Islamic nations under the banner of the OIC have previously pushed for 'defamation of religion' motions, now the're trying to get Quran burning classed as a human rights violation. Human rights belong to individuals, not to religions.
Note the lack of condemnation of anti semitism. The disregard for the relevant, credible allegations is striking. Just competitive grievance. To be clear, an individual facing the consequences for racist remarks is not an example of anti-Muslim prejudice.
🚨STATEMENT | MCB response to dismissal of NUS President
“The announcement of Shaima Dallali being dismissed as president of the NUS is deeply troubling and raises questions on proper due process.”
@ShaimaDallali
Hopefully a new
@UKLabour
Government will ditch Tory proposals to allow for more religious selective faith school admissions and focus on ways to make our education system less segregated and more inclusive.
I'm sure most people couldn't care less what the Church of England says about sex. But this is the state church – which plays a prominent role in state education. Its bishops are given seats as of right in our legislature.
This institution should be disestablished.
Irish voters will today decide whether
#blasphemy
should be removed as an offence from the country’s constitution.
#VoteYes
Ireland. Criminalising blasphemy has no place in a modern democracy. 🇮🇪
“How can it be that western feminists read The Handmaid’s Tale without looking at a woman in a burka walking down the street and thinking: ‘Hang on, that’s what those bastards do to girls in Gilead?’”
Worthwhile read from
@allisonpearson
in the Spectator
Kissing the bible, our head of state has just vowed to preserve the doctrine and privileges of the Church of England. This is no way to inaugurate a head of state in a diverse 21st century democracy.
Important to note that Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was not charged with the crime of 'silently praying'. There's obviously no such crime. She was arrested and charged with four counts of failing to comply with a Public Space Protection Order.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was carrying no banner. She had no pictures of aborted babies, and lit no candles for a pavement vigil. She was searched, arrested, interrogated and charged for the crime of silently praying in her head. That is absolutely outrageous.
The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God is a racket that exploits vulnerable people. Ludicrous that this is deemed a charitable endeavour. Tonight's
#Panorama
helps make the case for removing ‘the advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose.
#UCKG
If you're against religious messages on train station departure boards I assume you're also against the law requiring all state funded schools to hold a daily act of broadly Christian worship?
National Secular Society founder Charles Bradlaugh MP was hated and vilified for requesting the right to take a secular affirmation rather than a religious oath. He won that fight. Maybe we need an oath that respects everyone’s right to hold differing opinions about monarchy?
This week I've been called a “traitor” and “disgrace”, just for wanting to swear an oath to my constituents and democracy. I've been forced to swear allegiance to the Monarch & his successors.
The confected outrage is covering up a much bigger issue. Here's what I think that is.
The huge overreaction to a Quran being scuffed in Kettlethorpe is symptomatic of the adoption of a new de facto blasphemy law. A tolerant society can't tolerate the use of intimidation and violence to shut down whatever offends. Me for
@NatSecSoc
.
No child should be subjected unnecessary medical surgery. It’s time to rethink our laissez-faire approach to the ritual cutting of infant males and see it for what it is - a harmful violation of bodily integrity.
#MaleCircumcision
#ACutTooFar
#Circumcision
We all have to stop giving succour to this irrational idea that cartoons of a religious leader are taboo. They may offend some people, but so what? Freedom of expression has to be a higher priority. No-one has the right to insist that others observe their religion.
On the whole British people are very comfortable with diversity and people being free to practise their religion. What they're not so keen on is other people’s religion being imposed on them. I don’t think they want to be told they’re sinners when they’re catching a train.
Lamentable that in modern Britain a handful of religious fundamentalists can dictate what people can and cannot watch at the cinema. If freedom of expression is to mean anything, it must apply to expressions that some many find offensive. And this principle has to be defended.
Cineworld has cancelled all screenings of a film about Islam for security reasons following religious protests.
This will embolden extremists to continue intimidating businesses. Cinemas must be assured their right to show films will be protected.
No child should be subjected to the forced surgical removal of any part of their genitalia for non-medical reasons. Why is this such a difficult proposition?
Baby has penis amputated following complications from a circumcision he didn't need. We really need to stop performing risky and completely unnecessary surgery on children's genitals.
It's incredible that so many people who should know better don't consider ritual male circumcision a child protection matter. It fundamentally violates the rights of a child and causes significant harm. There needs to be a sea-change in thinking on this.
Do read this. The treatment of
@NoraMulready
highlights how allegations of Islamophobia are used to point score, shut down debate and shield Islamic beliefs and even extremists from criticism. The vague concept of Islamophobia seriously risks restricting public discussion.
The record number of MPs opting to take a secular affirmation rather than swear a religious oath is yet another indicator of the UK's changing religious landscape – and highlights the need to end the religious privilege so entrenched in our society.
Later today in the House of Lords an Anglican bishop will lead peers in prayer before joining other senior Anglican clerics on the 'bishops' bench' to oppose hugely popular
#AssistedDying
legislation.
This undue deference to religious authority isn't healthy for our democracy.
Saying ‘sorry, but you can’t cut the genitals of healthy children without good medical reason’ should not be considered ‘persecution’. The right to manifest your religion isn’t absolute.
The government's Minister for faith has resigned. He shouldn't be replaced. It's not the role of government to promote faith and make religious people feel good about themselves.
I have resigned for the first time in my life and it is from a job which I really love and enjoy and which I had just been offered once more; but I cannot accept a no deal on Oct 31st and so I go 1/2
"Afghanistan has not banned girls' education completely, they've temporarily suspended secular, liberal education."
Shaykh Hamid Mahmood says Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutatqi told him that girls in Afghanistan still have different routes to education, even up to university
Wrong. The limitations to free speech certainly don’t extend to protecting people from ‘hurt feelings’. If it did, it wouldn’t be a freedom worth having.
For an organisation that exists to protect children, it’s remarkable that the NSPCC unquestionably accepts religion as a justification for the unnecessary and harmful cutting of infants genitals. Religious privilege in action.
@OllieTurnbull
Hello. FGM is illegal and a form of child abuse. The evidence on MGM isn’t strong enough to suggest that male circumcision should be considered a form of child abuse, when considering the physical, religious and social implications. 1/2
A 16ft steel statue of a women clad in an Islamic veil to celebrate ‘the strength of the hijab’ strikes me as a regressive piece of public art. Particularly galling on the first anniversary of the death of
#MahsaAmini
.
Ludicrous that in this day and age publicly funded schools can still discriminate on against teaching staff – and children – on grounds of religion or belief. Faith schools shouldn't be exempt from equality law anti-discrimination provisions.
OPINION: 'Political leaders need to be much clearer that religion's sacred cows – or any other sincerely held ideologies for that matter – are not beyond discussion, criticism, depiction or mockery.'
It may not be quite the lesson the teacher had in mind, but a lot of people have been schooled this week on how blasphemy codes are imposed in the modern day. We shouldn't accept a religious veto on critical enquiry in the classroom.
What lesson do we learn from this?
That religion, and particularly Islam, must be respected - or else.
Or do we finally learn that to question, criticise, mock and even insult religion is every bit essential as the freedom to practise it.
Some thoughts:
Kettlethorpe High School headteacher, Tudor Griffiths, described the Quran desecration on Wednesday as "a sad day," and pledged "more consequences" will be implemented if necessary. Inspector Andy Thornton said the incident wasn't a criminal matter, but a learning opportunity.
Church attendance halving over the past 30 years tells a story of Britain becoming increasingly secular. Time to rethink religion's public role and the relationship between church & state. The worship requirement in schools, for example, is an anachronism.
Today is international
#BlasphemyDay
!
The right to blaspheme is a vital aspect of free expression. People's freedom to hold beliefs should be protected. And so should the freedom to question, criticise and ridicule those beliefs.
#blasphemy
Hindu nationalists demand UK cinemas that screen new Bollywood blockbuster should be 'burned down'. Bounty placed on Bollywood actress' head. Defend free expression or lose it.
Having Christian prayers as part of Parliament's official business isn't compatible with a true commitment to freedom of religion or belief. Removing them would be a positive step forward for modernity, equality and freedom of conscience.
"The school has thrown my son under a bus".
I agree with the teacher's father. See the letter I sent to the school on behalf of
@NatSecSoc
last Friday.
Britain needs to do a better job of standing up to religious fundamentalists.
Worrying to see protesters seeking – and apparently succeeding – to impose an Islamic blasphemy taboo on a school. Teachers should have a reasonable degree of freedom to explore sensitive subjects and enable students to think critically about them.
Four more schools in Birmingham have stopped teaching about LGBT rights following complaints by parents. Will
@educationgovuk
really allow religious intolerance and homophobia to prevent teaching of diversity?
"Why my personal choice of how I choose to live my life should stir such hatred in others is incomprehensible to me"
Me too. Freedom of belief is a basic human right. Leaving Islam really shouldn't be taboo or in any way controversial.
#ExMuslim
Over 12,000 charities exist solely to promote religion. Do they all provide a public benefit? New
@NatSecSoc
report out tomorrow calls for the 'advancement of religion' to be removed as a charitable purpose.
Iranian authorities have whipped a woman 74 times for not wearing the Muslim veil in public. In full accordance with sharia law, of course. A grim reminder of why religion shouldn't run the state.
#WomanLifeFreedom
#secularism
#RoyaHeshmati
Catholic Bishops may believe assisted dying is "always gravely sinful", but laws concerning the right to die should be based on evidence and compassion, not theology. This week's Dáil vote and
@TheBMA
survey represent victories for autonomy over dogma.
The vagueness of 'Islamophobia' leaves the concept wide open to misuse, undermining free speech. Civil liberties shouldn't be treated as an afterthought in the effort to tackle anti-Muslim prejudice.
🗞️'Religion-phobia' definitions must be avoided'
Non-stun kosher and halal slaughter ban has been backed by the European Court of Justice, rejecting objections by religious groups.
Another important ruling that upholds the principle that religious freedom doesn't trump all other considerations.
Thoughts go out to
@SalmanRushdie
who has been attacked in New York. We cannot, as a society, be cowed by violent extremism or place religion off limits for critical examination, literature, art or satire. Salman Rushdie understands this better than most.
“Once we decide a teacher can’t show a cartoon because someone will be offended then we’ve given up on a free society.”
#MatthewParis
on good form today.
I'll stand with anyone in opposing anti-Muslim hatred and bigotry, but 'Islamophobia' is a slippery word. This definition risks capturing anyone who criticises 'expressions of Muslimness'.
A clear case of religious privilege subverting human rights. Surely an adult's right to manifest their religion shouldn't extend to subjecting a child to unnecessary medical surgery. Where is the balancing of rights?
A real bugbear of mine is when I hear people refer to the the 'abuse' or 'misuse' of blasphemy laws. What exactly is the proper use of a blasphemy law? The mere existence of blasphemy laws is an affront to human rights
@tariqahmadbt
Here's Naz Shah using the provisions to protect statues in the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to argue for a new blasphemy law to protect Muhammad and other religious figures. This would be the death knell for freedom of expression.
Today the Government proposed a bill to protect the emotional harm connected with the damaging of statues.
If people can understand the emotional connections to statues, then they can understand the connection Muslims have with the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
#NotJustACartoon
.
Ireland no longer has a blasphemy law. We start the new decade with the good news that, over the Christmas period, President Michael D Higgins signed the Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019, and it has accordingly become law.
Church of England numbers hit record low. Older people no longer turn to the Church and young people have virtually abandoned it. It has no business running a quarter of England's publicly-funded schools
#FGM
is a violation of the human rights of girls. Non-therapeutic
#MaleCircumcision
is a violation of the rights of boys. The gendered double standard in the way we deal with them needs to be addressed. My piece for
@IndyVoices
Defenders of male circumcision often try to justify the practice by citing 'health benefits'. But no national medical, paediatric, surgical or urological society in the world recommends routine circumcision of boys as a health intervention.
#ACutTooFar
#MaleCircumcision
🗞️Bill to separate church from state to be introduced in parliament.
#Disestablishment
would create a level playing field where no religious institution enjoys special privileges or unique influence over the democratic process. Let the debate begin.
Alarmed to hear that Christian preacher Hatun Tash was attacked with a knife yesterday after expressing opinions at Speakers' Corner. It's not the first time her safety has been threatened there. Anyone with information should contact the police on 101.
UK should follow Iceland’s lead to end genital cutting. Every child should enjoy the right to bodily integrity. Religious dogma simply isn't a justifiable reason for this right to be violated.
I really don't like this "Muslim community" trope. It stereotypes Muslims by assuming they all think the same. It basically homogenises Muslims, which is what those pushing for a definition of 'Islamophobia' might call....'Islamophobic'.