The Atheist Bus was briefly mentioned on Ian Wyatt’s Sunday Breakfast programme on BBC Essex today (2 November), with comment from me and Francis Goodwin of the Church’s Advertising Network. A listener phoned in to say he was “offended”, apparently at the mere suggestion that there is no god.
As revealed in The Evening Star, students at Holywells High spoke out against the possibility of the running of their school being handed over to the Church of England in September.
The students’ concerns are now shared by trade unions, who today revealed their opposition to academies’ abilities to operate outside the parliamentary approved School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.
In Slate Magazine, Christopher Hitchens (author of ‘God is Not Great’) attacks the Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, for her ignorance, which she regards as a virtue, and her religious fanaticism.
Note: GOP means ‘Grand Old Party’, or the Republican Party.
If you order ‘God is Not Great’ via the Amazon link on this website, we get commission.
You may have donated to the Atheist Bus Campaign. The BHA needs help with its anti-faith schools campaign too. Donate via the Just Giving website.
6th-formers at Holywells High School, which is threated by a Church take-over, have vowed to campaign against the plans. Good for them! Read more in the Evening Star.
Our society is, I hope, moving slowly towards the point where religiosity is not the default starting point, where atheists are not regarded as ‘outside’ the moral arena, where lack of a belief in a god of any kind may not be interpreted as a character flaw or symptom of some kind of nihilist abandonment of all ideas of truth and beauty.
The huge success of the Atheist Bus Campaign has amazed the people who run the Just Giving website. They write:
… this page is remarkable for the sheer speed that it’s raising money – we’ve been noticing that there are new donations every time we refresh the page. Whatever you believe, it certainly shows the power of online fundraising. The campaign has not only smashed its target for the British Humanist Association but it’s gone from trebling the target to quadrupling it in the time spent writing this blog post…
The aim was to raise £5,500, which Richard Dawkins said he would match. It began yesterday (21 October). By noon today the figure was over £58,000.
Sony has delayed the launch of a new video game because of fears that the background music may offend Muslims. The music, by Muslim musician Toumani Diabaté from Mali, contains a couple of phrases from the Qur’an. When their attention was drawn to this, Sony decided not to risk offending anyone. Whatever you do, if it’s anything to do with religion, you’re bound to offend someone.
On the BBC news, Muslim journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown said more or less the same thing. She was quoted as speaking for British Muslims for a Secular Democracy, which was founded in May this year.
Hundreds of Christians in the Indian state of Orissa have been forced to renounce their religion and become Hindus after lynch mobs issued them with a stark ultimatum: convert or die.
The Ipswich Advertiser reports:
A BITTER tug-of- war has broken out today [17 October 2008] over the future of one of Ipswich’s most high-profile schools.
Despite improving GCSE rates and opposition from staff, Holywells High School could become a church-sponsored academy.
Although no final decision has been made and a full consultation is yet to take place, sources at multicultural Holywells High have hit out at a proposal to convert the school into an academy, saying they have been put under pressure by Suffolk County Council to become a faith school.
We will do whatever we can to support those who oppose the take-over of Holywells School by the Church. If you have any information, please get in touch.
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