In Scotland 52% have no religion.

Scottish Social Attitudes 2015 Survey data suggests that 52% of the population identify as having ‘No Religion’, up from 40% in 1999. All respondents were asked: “Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion?” Church of Scotland affiliation has declined from 35% to 20% in the past 16 years. Levels of identification with other religions remain relatively unchanged.

Respondents with a religion, or who were brought up in a religion were asked: “Apart from such special occasions as weddings, funerals and baptisms and so on, how often nowadays do you attend services or meetings connected with your religion?” 19% attended church once a week or more in 1999 – in 2015 just 14% – a 26% decline. In 1999 49% never or practically never attended church, by 2015, 66% – a 35% increase.

Ricky Gervais – The Unbelievers Interview

Ricky Gervais on religion’s greatest trick; childhood indoctrination; myths; prayer; science; belief in god; agnosticism; atheism…

Reason4Kids atheist animations

Euber Rondon is an atheist graphic designer and animator. His Reason4Kids animated video series will include: how religions fool & rule people; the battle between science v religion; how the Catholic church limits technology; religious wars; how kids can handle preachers; how kids can avoid sexual abuse by priests; why religion is wrong; asking for evidence; self esteem for kids, etc.

To support production of the Reason4Kids animations, make a Patreon pledge.

 

 

 

 

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125 Schools opt-out of Collective Worship

Schools Week report that more than 125 schools have opted-out of Collective Worship in the past 3 years. These schools have applied to be exempt from the legal requirement to hold Collective Worship of a “wholly or broadly Christian character”. Schools Week used a freedom of information request to ask all local authority Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) about the number of ‘determinations’ or opt-outs from Collective Worship.

“Determinations allow schools to amend their collective worship from being “wholly or broadly” Christian in nature.  A full determination allows a school to change to a different religion – for example, a school with a largely Muslim population could hold Islamic worship. A part determination allows different acts of collective worship to suit different faiths within a school, including atheists and agnostics.”
Schools Week, 17th July 2015

As of January 2014, I calculate there were 11,744 Community & Voluntary Controlled Schools.  So the 125 schools that have opted-out of Collective Worship represent just 1% of all such schools. From my experience on Dorset SACRE, community schools often ignore the legal requirement for an act of collective worship, but that doesn’t mean that the law should still exist. In 2002/3 Annual Report, Ofsted estimated that four fifths of schools do not hold a daily act of collective worship for all pupils.

Atheism UKs policy is for Collective Worship to be abolished. Similar sentiments have been made by the NSS and BHA. It is time that the 1944 Education Act was scrapped:

“the school day in every county school and in every voluntary school shall begin with collective worship on the part of all pupils in attendance at the school..” 1944 Education Act

In June 2015, former education secretary Charles Clarke wrote in the ‘A New Settlement: Religion and Belief in Schools”, in Westminster Faith Debates:

“The current requirement in statute for an act of collective worship should be abolished, and the decision about the form and character of school assemblies should be left to the governors of individual schools.”

I’d be interested to hear from Atheism UK members and supporters about your suggestions how we can practically help to hasten the demise of CW.

Chris Street, President

Atheism UK

Atheism UK AGM – Saturday 25th July 2015

Held in central London. Full members can vote. Join today!

Atheism UK AGM is on Saturday 25th July 2015, at 3.00pm.

Only full members with subscriptions that are valid at the time of the AGM will be eligible to vote on any resolutions. Full members with current subscriptions have been contacted by e-mail directly. If you are a full member, but have not received an e-mail notification, this may be because your subscription has lapsed or you have changed your e-mail address since joining. If you are unsure of your subscription status, please e-mail us at contact@atheismuk.com with your full name and we will check our records.

If you’d like to become a full member, join Atheism UK (£24/£12pa).

The main business of the AGM (approx. 30-45 minutes) will be followed by an open discussion.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Chris Street

President, Atheism UK

Could a third of MPs be atheist on 8th May 2015?

A Whitehouse Consultancy April 2015 survey found that 34% of 225 prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) contesting marginal seats describe themselves as atheists. More than four in ten PPCs (42%) have no religious denomination. The Green Party (49%) and Labour (48%) have the highest percentages of atheist candidates.

Fewer than four in ten (37%) of PPCs believe in a deity: 16% Church of England (of these, 41% were Conservatives), 12% Roman Catholic, 2% Jewish, 2% Buddhist, 2% Muslim and 3% other religions.

Chris Whitehouse, Chairman of the Whitehouse Consultancy, said:

“Given recent findings on Britain’s religious beliefs, it’s unsurprising that a majority of parliamentary candidates are either non-religious or atheist.”

Chris Street, President of Atheism UK, noted that:

“The April 2015 Whitehouse report does not identify individual PPCs.

After the last general election in June 2010, Atheism UK wrote to all 650 MPs about their religious beliefs. We asked ‘Are you Atheist, Agnostic, Religious (practising), Religious (lapsed) or Other?’. Only six of the twenty six MPs that responded said they were currently atheist. Atheism UK report suggested that ‘openly stating ones religious beliefs in the world of politics, where votes count, is still a delicate subject’.

However the coyness by politicians to say they are non-religious may be changing – in recent years both Ed Milliband (Labour leader) and Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats leader) have both declared they are atheists – and are, as a result, viewed more positively“

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1 in 10 British Muslims agree: ‘Organisations that publish images of Prophet Mohammad deserve to be attacked’

Charlie Hebdo, January 2015

• Cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo in Paris were attacked by Islamists on 7th January 2015 – killing twelve people
• On 14 – 15th February in Copenhagen an Islamist targeted the cartoonist Lars Vilks
• Atheism UK commented about these atrocities  here, here and here

Since Charlie Hebdo, debates about freedom of expression, fear of extremism and violence by Islamists – has been intense amongst the media.

ComRES Poll of UK Muslims, February 2015

Between 23rd January  and 20th February 2015, 1000 British Muslims were asked by COMRES what they thought about British Society and cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. The poll asked British Muslims two questions:

• • 1)  ‘Do you agree or disagree with these eight statements about British society…? (Table 5)
  • 2) ‘Do you agree or disagree with these six statements about cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad …?’ (Table 14)

On 25th February 2015 the BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ programme published a COMRES poll (1,2).  At 7.33am the Today programme said (3):

“a new BBC poll suggests an overwhelming majority of British Muslims oppose the use of violence against people publishing images of the Prophet Mohammed. A 1000 people of Muslim faith were surveyed in the weeks that followed the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris. It also found that 1 in 4 Muslims have some sympathy with the motives behind the shootings.” (3)

The BBC analysed the results of the poll. (7)

My poll analysis is that whilst almost eight-out-of ten (78%) British Muslims agreed with the statement  “It is deeply offensive to me when images of the Prophet Mohammad are published”, one-in-five (20%) disagreed. (Table 15)

About 1 in 10 (11%) British Muslims agreed with the statement that ‘Organisations that publish images of the Prophet Mohammad deserve to be attacked’ but more than eight-out-of-ten (85%) disagreed.  (Table 16)

Two-thirds (68%) of British Muslims agreed that ‘Acts of violence against those who publish images of the Prophet Mohammad can never be justified’ – but a quarter (24%) disagreed with this statement. (Table 17)

A quarter (27%) of British Muslims agreed ‘I have some sympathy for the motives behind the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris’ – six-out-of-ten (62%) disagreed. (Table 18)

A third (32%) of British Muslims  agreed with the statement ‘I understand the motives of those who launch attacks in the name of Islam because the religion has been insulted’, but almost two-thirds (64%) disagreed. (Table 19)

A third (32%) agreed with the statement ‘I wasn’t surprised that the attacks in Paris happened’ whilst almost two-thirds (63%) disagreed. (Table 20)

Atheism UK Council voted not to publish cartoons of Mohammed

As President of Atheism UK in January 2015, soon after the attack on Charlie Hebdo, I decided not to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. This decision was upheld by Atheism UK Council at our later January 2015 Skype meeting.

On 25th February 2015 a COMRES poll commissioned by the BBC ‘Today’ programme was published. This was a poll of 1000 UK Muslims. The poll determined that 1 in 10 (11%) of British Muslims agreed with the statement that ‘Organisations that publish images of the Prophet Mohammad deserve to be attacked’ (Table 16 – see below).

I believe Atheism UK were right to not to publish Mohammad cartoons, as confirmed by the COMRES poll. Had we published, Atheism UK would have unnecessarily exposed members of Atheism UK to attacks by militant Islamists.

A further issue. Are there limits to freedom of expression? Should we self-censor material that could deeply offend Muslims or other religious people or insult religions? Or should we publish everything (whilst staying within UK laws)?

To stay within the law, to maintain good community relations whilst endorsing freedom of expression & speech, publishers must decide when speech or expressions are threatening (which can be prosecuted under The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006) (3) or insulting or abusive.  When is expression ridiculing, disrespectful, offensive or deeply offensive (4).  When is expression hateful (6)?

How does this debate assist the Atheism UK objective: the ‘Advancement of Atheism’?

Chris Street

President, Atheism UK

********************

Tables 5, 14 – 20

Table 5

Question 1 asked ‘Do you agree or disagree with these statements about British society…?

The eight statements were:

1. I feel loyalty to Britain.
2. I feel disloyalty to Britain.
3. Western liberal society can never be compatible with Islam.
4. Muslims in Britain should always obey British laws.
5. The Muslim Council of Britain does a good job representing the values of Muslims.
6. I feel that most British people don’t trust Muslims.
7. Britain is becoming less tolerant of Muslims.
8. Prejudice against Islam makes it very difficult being a Muslim in this country.

Tables 6 – 13 (not shown) gave detailed responses by gender, age and geographical region.

 

Table 14

Question 2 asked ‘Do you agree or disagree with these [six] statements about cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad …?’ (Table 14)

 

Details of responses by gender, age and geographical region are given in Tables 15 – 20 (see below).

Table 15

78% agreed and 20% disagreed with the statement that “It is deeply offensive to me when images of the Prophet Mohammad are published” (Table 15)

Table 16

11% agreed and 85% disagreed with the statement that ‘Organisations that publish images of the Prophet Mohammad deserve to be attacked’ (Table 16)

Table 17

68% agreed and 24% disagreed with the statement that ‘Acts of violence against those who publish images of the Prophet Mohammad can never be justified’. (Table 17)

Table 18

27% agreed and 62% disagreed with the statement that ‘I have some sympathy for the motives behind the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris’. (Table 18)

Table 19

32% agreed and 64% disagreed with the statement ‘I understand the motives of those who launch attacks in the name of Islam because the religion has been insulted’. (Table 19)

Table 20

32% agreed and 63% disagreed with the statement ‘I wasn’t surprised that the attacks in Paris happened’. (Table 20)

References

(1) Poll Methodology http://comres.co.uk/polls/bbc-radio-4-today-muslim-poll (accessed 26th February 2015)

(2) ComRes Full Poll Results, http://comres.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/BBC-Today-Programme_British-Muslims-Poll_FINAL-Tables_Feb2015.pdf (accessed 26th February 2015)

(3) Today Programme, 25th February 2015 (accessed 26th February 2015)

(4) Hate speech laws in the United Kingdom, Wikipedia (accessed 31st January 2015)

(5) Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 (accessed 31st January 2015)

(6) Hate Speech Laws in UK  (accessed 31st January 2015)

(7) BBC Poll Analysis (accessed 26th February 2015)

As atheists, Clegg & Miliband are viewed more positively

A whopping 60% of 18-24 year olds have ‘no religion’ compared to 42% of the Great British public.  With each new generation, people are less and less religious, confirmed a February 2015 survey by YouGov. (Figure 1)

When YouGov asked the 42% that were non-religious ‘Would you describe yourself as…’, 45% said they were best described as Atheists, 17% as Agnostics and 8% as Humanists. (Figure 2)

In just two years belief in God has reduced by 5%. Today more people don’t believe in a God or a greater spiritual power than do believe: 33% (29% in 2012) don’t believe in God or any greater spiritual power whilst 32% (37% in 2012) do believe in God. (Figure 3)

Today 46% of 18-24 year olds compared to 24% of 60+ don’t believe in God or any greater/higher spiritual power. (Figure 4)

Both Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg have stated they are atheists.  Perhaps surprisingly, these statements make voters view them more positively (10-11%) rather than more negatively (6%). (Figure 5)

Atheism UK President Chris Street said “Atheist, agnostic or humanist politicians might be well advised to state their non-religious beliefs prior to the General Election in May 2015, just as Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband have done, because voters might view them more positively.  After the 2010 General Election Atheism UK wrote to all 650 MPs asking them about their religious belief – 26 MPs responded.  I suggest you write to your MP asking whether they are religious or non-religious.  Let Atheism UK know what you find out – before the General Election!”

source: https://yougov.co.uk/news/2015/02/12/third-british-adults-dont-believe-higher-power/

Full Poll Results: https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/6v34wr1cpg/TimesResults_150209_atheism_Website.pdf

The Charlie Hebdo massacre – a personal view

from Derek Ruskin (member of the AUK Council since late 2014)

Atheism UK has been criticised by two former council members and forum members for inaction and lack of comment, and a refusal to print any Charlie Hebdo cartoons. The Council of Atheism UK is saddened that several members of the forum and indeed council members saw this as a reason to leave the group.

One simple truth is that some members of the council were fearful of reprisals.

Another simple truth is that it would have made absolutely no difference to anyone that mattered if we had shown a cartoon or two. Many others have reacted quickly, to do the easy thing, by posting the cartoons, which, and let’s be frank here, are not that good! We agree with the Charlie Hebdo message of course and most of us would fight in the streets to support freedom of speech.

However, not all of us are soldiers. Atheism UK’s stance is to keep the long term solutions in focus and to act on those. The fight for reason but against medieval Islam, Catholicism, Judaism is going to be a long one.

We see that the three versions of the Abrahamic myth, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all cause division and separation in society.

Young minds (say 5-18) should be taught rational debate and philosophy at school. The promotion of religious belief should be reserved for the private sphere. An overview of world religions would be covered, in our view, as part of a general philosophy syllabus, but Britain’s children must no longer be subject to myths presented as universal truths, as is currently the case in many faith schools.
We have seen that many of the atrocities, committed in the name of Islam, have been perpetrated by intelligent, engineers, doctors and mathematicians who were educated in the west.

How could they have become so warped?

The answer is that a religious faith was instilled into young, easily suggestible minds to be manipulated later by political Islam.

The solution is simple, painful but entirely necessary:-

• Cease public funding for ALL faith schools and slowly change them all to a secular ethos but include a stricter discipline regime that many faith schools do have which perhaps attracts so many parents to faith schools.
• Religious indoctrination should play no part in a child’s education and Britain should adopt the French Secularism Charter which is now established in all French, publicly funded, schools.

Our fight should be with the head-in-the-sand establishment which…

• allows the division and separation of children by supporting primitive cultural practices. e.g. not one conviction for Female genital mutilation (one is perhaps in progress)
• supports division in young, easily suggestible minds, divisions which are almost impossible to remove in later life
• supports the division of British society along religious grounds by publicly funding faith based schools
• supports the existence of quasi legal systems for Muslims (Sharia) and Jews (Beth din) which are, for many, a first, or sole, port of call, rather than mainstream systems.

Fighting these madnesses is at the heart of what Atheism UK should be about.

Secular Sexuality

Dr. Darrel Ray is a Distinguished Supporter of Atheism UK.  Darrel wrote ‘The God Virus: How Religion Infects our Lives’ and ‘Culture and Sex and God: How Religion Distorts Sexuality’.

Darrel Ray now has a dozen Secular Sexuality podcasts. In the latest 80 minute podcast, Darrel talks with two ex-Muslim women in their twenties.  They were both ‘cut-off’ from their family who have threatened to kill them.  Now their ‘family’ are a group of friendly atheists.  They talk about their sexual relationships and the influence that religion has had on them including forced marriage, fear of hell and total control by men.

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