Richard Dawkins Barry Sheerman MP on The Big Debate - RE in Schools

Andrew Copson (BHA Director of Education) and Maryam Namazie.(Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain - video) are guest speakers.

Richard Dimbleby to RD 'does a god shaped perspective or set of values do any harm to the way children should be taught in schools? RD quotes Ten Commandments ' Thou shall have no other god before me; thou shalt make no graven image; thou shalt keep the Sabbath holy. What on earth has that got to do with morals? Thats 3 of the 10 commandments. It would be deeply depressing if the only way children could get moral values was from religion either from scripture or from a being afraid of god - being intimidated by god - anybody who is good for those two reasons is not being really good at all.
Why not teach children the 'Golden Rule' - do unto others as you would be done unto you. How would you like it if other children did that to you? So why do you do it to them? It is depressing if you have to suggest that anybody needs god to be moral. I would hope that our morals come from a better source than that and that they are genuinely moral rather than based on outmoded scripture or based on fear.'

RD 'What is the penalty for apostacy?'
Answer: Under Sharia Law the penalty is death .. but in the UK we do not live under Sharia Law.

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Jonathan Dimbleby and a panel of experts come together to debate the controversial subject of religion in Britain's schools.

The role of religion in education is a subject rarely out of the headlines. Despite Britain's multi-faith society, schools are still required to include a collective act of worship of a Christian nature, while faith schools and religious academies have raised fears about community cohesion and covert selection.

Claims by some religious educationalists that faith is the best way to teach moral values is challenged by others in schools who believe religious morality to be outdated and dangerous.

Dimbleby is joined by Professor Richard Dawkins, Schools Select Committee chairman Barry Sheerman MP, and a multi-faith studio audience.

On 2007 National Secular Society’s Secularist of the Year Award Winner Mina Ahadi

reposted from: http://maryamnamazie.blogspot.com/2007/10/on-2007-national-secular-societys.html
Chris Street comments are in bright green; highlights in blockquotes (yellow).

Congratulations to the brilliant Mina Ahadi who won the 2007 Secularist of the Year award this Saturday October 20!

Here is what Richard Dawkins said:

I have long felt that the key to solving the worldwide menace of Islamic terrorism and oppression would eventually be the awakening of women, and Mina Ahadi is a charismatic leader working to that end.

The brutal suppression of the rights of women in many countries throughout the Islamic world is an obvious outrage

. Slightly less obvious, but just as outrageous, is the supine willingness of western liberals to go along with it. It is worse than supine, it is patronising and condescending: "Wife-beating is part of 'their' culture. Who are we to condemn their traditions?"

A religion so insecure as to mandate the death penalty for apostasy is not to be trifled with, and ex-Muslims who stand up and fight deserve our huge admiration and gratitude for their courage.

Right out in front of this honourable band is Mina Ahadi. I salute her and congratulate her on this well-deserved award as Secularist of the Year.

Here is introduction Keith Porteus Wood, the Executive Director of the National Secular Society's gave on the day:

What can the National Secular Society say about the winner of this year’s Secularist of the Year award – other than to affirm our deepest admiration for Mina Ahadi’s courage and commitment?

Mina Ahadi started her serious political activities when she was 16 and living in Iran. She was at university in 1979 in Tabriz at the time of the Iranian revolution and she began immediately to organise demonstrations and meetings to oppose the compulsory veiling of women. This courageous dissent got her noticed by the Islamic regime’s authorities and soon she had to go underground to avoid retribution.

The end of 1980 her house was raided by the police and her husband and 4 of their comrades arrested. Mina escaped only because she wasn’t at home at the time.

Her husband and the 4 arrested were all executed by firing squad soon after. She lived underground for some time and then fled to Iranian Kurdistan in 1981, where she continued to struggle against the Islamic regime for the next ten years. In 1990 she went to Vienna. She moved to Germany in 1996 and has lived in Europe since then.

In all that time, Mina Ahadi has struggled mightily for the rights of women. She founded the International Committee against Stoning – which now has over 200 branches throughout the world. She also heads the International Committee against Executions and is the spokesperson for the newly formed women’s rights organisation, Equal Rights.

She formed the Central Council of ex-Muslims in Germany early this year to help people renounce Islam and religion should they so wish.

This brilliant idea has now been replicated in several other European countries, including in Britain by our own Maryam Namazie.

Undeterred by the inevitable death threats, Mina has pressed on, determined as ever to protect women from the ravages of Islam.

Apostasy, of course, is forbidden in Islam and in some Islamist states it carries the death penalty – including in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and Mauritania.

She calls such states “Islam-stricken” and her own experience of living and suffering under such regimes has made her ever more determined to rescue others from their clutches.

I cannot tell you how proud the National Secular Society is to honour this wonderful, compassionate, kindly but strong-as-steel woman. Ladies and gentlemen, Mina Ahadi.

The courage of their convictions by AC Grayling

Source: The Guardian June 19, 2007 11:00 AM

The courage of their convictions

The launch of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain is a torch of hope in a dark quadrant of the world's affairs. Its manifesto should be read by all.

AC Grayling

There is an immense difference between understanding something with one's head, and understanding it with one's guts. Think of the phrase, "the courage of one's convictions". This week the true meaning of these words, hitherto eroded into a flat nap-worn cliche by overuse and misuse, comes home with the force of a kick in the belly. For on Thursday June 21 in London, a group of people are going to take a stand for their principles in a way that involves real courage, admirable courage, and which at the same time lights a torch of hope in a dark quadrant of the world's affairs.

The occasion is the launch of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, following the establishment of such groups elsewhere in Europe, notably Germany and Scandinavia. The British branch is led by the outstanding Maryam Namazie, Iranian-born champion of (among other things) human rights, women, and refugees from religious persecution. The manifesto of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain eloquently speaks for itself, and I hope Maryam Namazie and her fellow-members of the council will not mind if I quote it here in full, because it deserves the widest publicity, not least because the 10 demands appended to it constitute a bill of rights which is absolutely necessary for everyone, non-religious and otherwise, to adopt and observe now that the world is again experiencing, with such bitterness, widespread religion-generated difficulties.

One point that has to be kept in mind here, because it illuminates the following document with the burning light of urgency, is this: apostasy (abandoning one's religion) by a Muslim is to this day regarded as a crime punishable by death in countries governed by Islamic law (it once likewise invited death in Christianity). This is why the council is the embodiment of courage, and why the principles in its 10 demands are so vital.

Manifesto of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain

We, non-believers, atheists, and Ex-Muslims, are establishing or joining the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain to insist that no one be pigeonholed as Muslims with culturally relative rights nor deemed to be represented by regressive Islamic organisations and "Muslim community leaders".

Those of us who have come forward with our names and photographs represent countless others who are unable or unwilling to do so because of the threats faced by those considered "apostates" - punishable by death in countries under Islamic law.

By doing so, we are breaking the taboo that comes with renouncing Islam but also taking a stand for reason, universal rights and values, and secularism.

Whilst religion or the lack thereof is a private affair, the increasing intervention of and devastation caused by religion and particularly Islam in contemporary society has necessitated our public renunciation and declaration. We represent a majority in Europe and a vast secular and humanist protest movement in countries like Iran.

Taking the lead from the Central Council of Ex-Muslims in Germany, we demand:

1) Universal rights and equal citizenship for all. We are opposed to cultural relativism and the tolerance of inhuman beliefs, discrimination and abuse in the name of respecting religion or culture.

2) Freedom to criticise religion. Prohibition of restrictions on unconditional freedom of criticism and expression using so-called religious "sanctities".

3) Freedom of religion and atheism.

4) Separation of religion from the state and legal and educational system.

5) Prohibition of religious customs, rules, ceremonies or activities that are incompatible with or infringe people's rights and freedoms.

6) Abolition of all restrictive and repressive cultural and religious customs which hinder and contradict women's independence, free will and equality. Prohibition of segregation of sexes.

7) Prohibition of interference by any authority, family members or relatives, or official authorities in the private lives of women and men and their personal, emotional and sexual relationships and sexuality.

8) Protection of children from manipulation and abuse by religion and religious institutions.

9) Prohibition of any kind of financial, material or moral support by the state or state institutions to religion and religious activities and institutions.

10) Prohibition of all forms of religious intimidation and threats.