Evan Harris MP, honorary associate of the National Secular Society, who’s fought for abortion rights, gay rights, and all the other rights that the Daily Mail thinks we shouldn’t have (Harrumph! This country’s going to the dogs!), has been subjected to a character assassination in the Daily Mail. He must be doing something right. Dr Evan Harris hardly fits the mould of cuddly Liberal Democrat MPs, who are usually so desperately anxious to be all things to all people.

From the blog “LOL god (putting the fun back in religion)” – a collection of cartoons about the absurdity of Intelligent Design. Enjoy. Tags: Intelligent+design, blog, Humour, Cartoons

Richard Dawkins says that it is “the awakening of women” that will solve the problem of “the worldwide menace of Islamic terrorism and oppression”. His remarks came while praising Mina Ahadi, winner of this year’s NSS Irwin Prize for “Secularist of the Year”. Mina Ahadi is an Iranian woman who was forced to flee her native country after leading a campaign against the compulsory veiling of women. Because of her resistance to the clerical regime, her husband and four of her colleagues were executed, and she only narrowly escaped the same fate.

Those strongly in favour of faith schools often cite the rights of religious parents, as taxpayers, to ensure that their child has State schooling within a school that promotes their faith. However, in areas where faith schools are over-subscribed, there is a real risk that non-religious parents, who are also taxpayers, do not have the same rights of access. Also, should the number of faith schools substantially increase, many parents may lose the right to ensure that their child goes to a community, non-faith school.

Not for the first time, the Society of Homeopaths (top patron, HM The Queen) has reacted to criticism with threats. What they don’t do (because they can’t) is come up with any evidence that their critic was wrong – in this case, Dr Andy Lewis, who… … runs a website called Quackometer; he criticised the Society of Homeopaths (Europe’s largest professional organisation of homeopaths) in no uncertain terms. In his opinion, they do not enforce their own “code of practice” (you’re not even allowed to imply you can cure a named disease!

That little man with the round face on the BBC’s business news interviewed a retail boss this morning, who looked forward to the ringing of tills in the run-up to Christmas. He expected people to go out and run up their credit card bills, as usual. It set me thinking; every year, someone will ask what we Humanists do at Christmas. Since we’re not religious, what does it mean to us?

Suffolk County Council’s Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) will discuss guidance for teachers on the discussion of Creationism and Intelligent Design in RE lessons. We wonder if some RE teachers may not be as informed about the scientific facts as they should be, and if their religious beliefs may influence their approach to the subject. We advocate training in basic science for RE teachers. We welcome any evidence about good or bad examples of RE teaching when this subject has arisen.

Death is not the end and soldiers need to be spiritually better prepared for war, according to the head of the British Army. General Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff, said that Christian leaders and chaplains in the Army needed to equip soldiers for the spiritual issues at stake. “In my business, asking people to risk their lives is part of the job, but doing so without giving them the chance to understand that there is a life after death is something of a betrayal,” he said.

Margaret Nelson led a discussion at a Suffolk Inter-Faith ResourceForum of Faiths on16 October 2007**. The others speakers were Manwar Ali (Muslim), Robin Herne (Pagan) and Shpetim Alimeta (“thinker” of Albanian origin). For those who don’t know me, I’m a Secular Humanist. I make that qualification because in the States there are Religious Humanists as well as Secular Humanists. However, in Great Britain and other countries where there are Humanist organisations that are part of the International Humanist & Ethical Union, Humanism is totally non-religious.

An un-Christian dust-up is under way between John Gummer, the Catholic Tory MP, environmentalist and cow eater, and the British Humanist Association. Each accuses the other of dishonesty. The humanists claim that Gummer attacked them a fortnight ago at their stall in Blackpool. “He walked up to us and said loudly how much he hated us,” says the BHA chief exec, Hanne Stinson. “He was shouting that we, because of our beliefs about living a good life without religion, had no right to be there; that the Conservative Party is a Christian party.