Suffolk Humanists and Secularists

Readers' Digest, or stuff I read on the Internet

Margaret — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:50:59 +0000

Here's some stuff I read on the Internet, to save you the bother of looking for it - just click on the links for more. If you've read anything you'd like to share, you could tweet us. You don't tweet? Well, there's Facebook (see link right), or just contact us via this website.

In the latest edition of Humanist News, Alom Shaha writes about his book, and how some publishers rejected it because it was about a rejection of Islam. He asks,

So what is this terrible tome I have written? At this point, if you haven’t read my book, you might be forgiven for thinking that, to have struck such fear into the heart of Britain’s literary elite, I must have written a pornographically blasphemous account of the life of Muhammad. But I have done no such thing. My book, The Young Atheist’s Handbook, simply tells the story of my personal journey to becoming an atheist.

You've heard of the ten commandments. Hasn't everyone? Awfully prescriptive, aren't they? However, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is much less demanding. I came across a site that reminded me of its eight “I’d Really Rather You Didn’ts”. They begin:

I’d really rather you didn’t act like a sanctimonious holier-than-thou ass when describing my noodly goodness. If some people don’t believe in me, that’s okay. Really, I’m not that vain. Besides, this isn’t about them so don’t change the subject.

You've never heard of his great noodly goodness? Where have you been? Click here to find out about Pastafarianism.

Norway ends state sponsorship of its church

Margaret — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:31:57 +0000

After what I said on the radio today about disestablishment (see previous post), I find that Norway has set an example. I read,

In an unprecedented move, the Norwegian Parliament has voted to abolish the state-sponsored Church of Norway with a constitutional amendment.

If they can do it, why can't we?

BBC poll gives misleading results

Margaret — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:56:19 +0000

I was invited by BBC Radio Essex to comment on an opinion poll commissioned by the BBC on "the Monarchy's role in faith today" (pdf), that appears to show that the Queen should retain "a faith role". The other contributor to this item was the Bishop of Chelmsford, Stephen Cottrell.

The BBC's press release says,

Almost three quarters of people in England think that the Queen and future monarchs should keep the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England and ‘Defender of the Faith’.

Additionally four-fifths (79%) of those who took part in a survey by ComRes for BBC local radio agree the Queen still has an important faith role.

73 per cent also think she should still be Defender of the Faith – a title which was originally given to Henry VIII - and remain as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

Only a quarter (25%) agree that the Queen and future monarchs should not have any faith role or title at all.

The survey also found opinion divided on the suggestion by Prince Charles that he might change the religious role of the monarchy.

He has called for greater understanding between people of different faiths and says he would personally rather see his role as 'Defender of Faith' not ‘The Faith’.

Half of those surveyed (50%) say that they agree that if Prince Charles becomes king his title should be changed to Defender of Faith compared with 35 per cent who said they disagree with the proposed change to the title.

The survey found some regional variations in attitudes to the faith role of the monarch.

A third of Londoners (32%) agree that the Queen and future monarchs should have no faith role or title at all compared with 19% in the South West.

The item was brief, so there was only time to point out that the poll focussed people's attention on the current monarch, who is very popular, but what if one of her heirs is not religious? And what about disestablishment?

I think that the poll results are misleading because most people won't know what "defender of the faith" means, and will not have considered the possibilities for the future of the monarchy.

BHA co-signs anti-Steiner letter to the Observer

Margaret — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:04:21 +0000

The British Humanist Association's Head of Public Affairs, Pavan Dhaliwal, signed a letter to the Observer on behalf of the association opposing Maharishi and Steiner free schools. The letter was also signed by Melanie Byng, campaigner against Steiner free schools, who wrote a post about them on this website.

The letter begins:

Since the formation of the coalition, a lot of public concern has been expressed over the potential establishment of creationist Free Schools. This concern resulted in the Government changing the rules for Free Schools to prevent them from teaching pseudoscience (Richard Dawkins celebrates a victory over creationists, 15 January 2012).

However, not enough attention has been paid to what we believe to be two equally grave threats to science education, namely Maharishi and Steiner schools. Maharishi schools follow the educational methods of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru of the Transcendental Meditation movement, while Steiner education is based on an esoteric/occultist movement called Anthroposophy, founded by Austrian mystic Rudolf Steiner (Holistic unit will 'tarnish' Aberdeen University reputation, 29 April 2012).

"All men can be husbands"

Margaret — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:15:04 +0000

The Coalition for Equal Marriage's petition to support the introduction of same-sex civil marriage has passed 50,000 signatures. This video in support of equal marriage has been made with the support of the BHA, among others. Should mention that not all gay people want marriage. Some are perfectly happy with a civil partnership.

Children of the Rainbow

Margaret — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:04:22 +0000

The Guardian reports:

Up to 40,000 Norwegians have staged an emotionally charged singalong in Oslo near the court building where Anders Behring Breivik is on trial for the murder of 77 people in a protest organisers said showed he had not broken their tolerant society.

The proposed Fullfledge school - Steiner, or not?

Margaret — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:52:14 +0000

A guest post from Melanie Byng, aka @ThetisMercurio on Twitter:

Looking at the Fullfledge Ecology School site I see that: 'Our teachers will be creative, dedicated and both Steiner and State qualified'.

There is no reason for Fullfledge teachers to be trained as Steiner teachers - unless Fullfledge is to be a Steiner Waldorf school. Steiner teacher training courses are based on Rudolf Steiner's religion/belief system, anthroposophy. Here is another example, this time from the UK: The London Waldorf Seminar - Steiner education teacher training.

Does Fullfledge intend to create its own Steiner teacher training course, without the anthroposophy which underpins the entire education system? If so, what exactly would be left? If teachers at Fullfledge are trained on Steiner teacher training courses as they exist now, surely prospective parents should be informed about anthroposophy - especially as Fullfledge is already (in our opinion) describing itself dishonestly as not-a-Steiner school. This lack of honesty, however well-meaning some involved may be, will only make things more bewildering when life at the school goes wrong for staff or families.

As Esther Fidler commented in her post at UK Anthroposophy (and note that Ewout Van-Manen is still listed on the Fullfledge site as one of those responsible for 'Vision and Curriculum', as a Director of School Development at Greenwich Steiner School and - perhaps surprisingly - as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts):

In my opinion, the only thing setting Fullfledge apart from a regular Steiner school is that the initiative is not a member of the UK Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship (SWSF), a prerequisite for including Steiner in a school’s name. Van-Manen said that many parents felt secure with the Steiner curriculum but that SWSF schools have become ‘associated with dogma’ with which Fullfledge did not wish to be associated, as (he said) “Most of the things you read on the internet about Steiner schools are true".

Steiner education: a parent's testimony

Margaret — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:21:50 +0000

More on Steiner schools (see last post), and how they might appear child-centred and cuddly, while hiding their true objectives. A comment has appeared on Alicia Hamburg's blog from the parent of a child who attended the Leeds Steiner kindergarten. He or she wrote:

It is imperative now that the very highest education authorities intervene here, and under no uncertain terms ensure that all Steiner establishments publish full and precise disclosure of their beliefs and intentions. It is paramount that the uninformed and unsuspecting are given protection. Personally, we count ourselves among the lucky ones. The number of victims this cover-up has claimed over the past 90-odd years of Steiner schooling doesn’t bear thinking about, but in these times of the nanny-state, litigation, think-tanks and watch-dogs, it is almost inconceivable that this problem can still exist.

You should read the whole post and all the comments. If you don't know what anthroposophy is, click here to find out what Steiner Waldorf teachers learn at college.

Steiner Free School in Suffolk one step closer

Margaret — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 23:02:31 +0000

The people behind the Fullfledge Ecology School, a Steiner school planned for the Woodbridge area, report:

Our proposal has passed the first stage of approval and we are now on the second stage, which is an interview with the DFE. We are preparing for this now.

Five members of the project team will represent Fullfledge Ecology School at the interview.

The DFE will inform us ‘in the summer’ whether we have the final go ahead to start the school in September 2013.

Click here to read our previous posts on this proposal, any why it's not good news. Click here to read what the Steiner Waldorf critics say.

Richard Dawkins explains Darwin's moment of genius

Margaret — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:32:08 +0000

Click here to read more on the BBC website.