Thank you to everyone who lobbied his or her MP on the blasphemy issue. In the House of Commons this evening, Dr Evan Harris MP stated the case for abolition clearly and eloquently. At the end, Government Justice Minister Maria Eagle said they had “every sympathy for the case for formal abolition” and promised that the Government would bring in its own amendment, after a swift consultation with the C of E.

This week, on Wednesday 9th January, an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill will be proposed by Dr Evan Harris MP (honorary associate of the NSS) to abolish the offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel. We’re affiliated to the The British Humanist Association (BHA) and The National Secular Society (NSS), who’ve campaigned for the blasphemy laws to be abolished and have briefed MPs about the present amendment, as well as representing the case for abolition to Government.

Rather than the usual New Year’s resolutions about reducing your credit card debt, losing weight or giving up smoking, we would urge you all to make one about something much more important to future generations. To vow to support Human Rights. For it is they which underpin our way of life – for many they represent one of the greatest achievements of Western civilisation. The body overseeing Universal Human Rights is the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) representing the 56 Islamic States renewed its attack on the Universality of Human Rights at the 6th Session of the Human Rights Council that ended on 14 December. On Human Rights Day, 10 December, Ambassador Masood Khan, speaking on behalf of the OIC, claimed that the 1990 Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam “.. is not an alternative, competing worldview on human rights.

The US Presidential race begins in Iowa. Since what happens there affects us here, itll be interesting to see which Republican candidate wins the most religious votes. Religion isnt supposed to be an election issue, but try telling them that. Out in Iowa, with the bell at last ringing and the combatants charging out of their corners, the Republican card has come down to the Maulin Mormon versus the Battlin Baptist.

On the 30th of September 2007, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens sat down for a first-of-its-kind, unmoderated 2-hour discussion, convened by RDFRS and filmed by Josh Timonen. All four authors have recently received a large amount of media attention for their writings against religion – some positive, and some negative. In this conversation the group trades stories of the public’s reaction to their recent books, their unexpected successes, criticisms and common misrepresentations.

Does God exist? Alan Alda, perhaps best-known as Hawkeye in the 70s series MASH. He now hosts Scientific American Frontiers on US television: “Until I was 20 I was sure there was a being who could see everything I did and who didn’t like most of it. He seemed to care about minute aspects of my life, like on what day of the week I ate a piece of meat.

My letter published in the East Anglian Daily Times on Wednesday, 19th December, after there’d been at least two letters in the last month calling on people to celebrate the “true Christian” origin of Christmas: In our society the freedom to practice religion is a fundamental right, so Christians are perfectly entitled to celebrate their own take on life, the universe and everything, at this time of the year.

This time of year is invariably a challenge with small children, particularly if you aren’t Christian. For the past few years, my halcyon days of totally ignoring Christmas have been entirely forgotten. I got away with not celebrating when my first child was one, but as she turned two I couldn’t hold out any longer. Once my second child came along, I had no choice but to rethink how I’d manage over the festive season.

Since I became President of the National Secular Society, I have been aware that some religious people, who know me only through this public persona, regard me as some kind of hateful monster who is trying to kill their faith. People who know me personally, on the other hand, think I am an old softy, who is as anxious to please as an aged golden retriever waddling to fetch a stick.