Following the Seminar on “European Parliament implementation of Article 17 Lisbon Treaty” organised by the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, the Centre d’Action Laique made a videoreport about the discussions held on the 30th of November.
Videoreport:
A judgement by the British High Court proclaims that Council prayers are unlawful. This judgement was a result of a Judicial Review, which was the initiative of the National Secular Societyin Britain. Saying prayers before a formal meeting of a Council was ruled ´not lawful´ according to s1111 of the Local Government Act 1972.
In other words, holding prayers is not within the Council’s legal powers as it was ruled that they do not facilitate the discharge of any of the Council’s functions, nor are they conductive or incidental to them. The legal challenge, which took the form of a Judicial review, was presided over by the judge in charge of the Administrative Court, Mr Justice Ouseley at a hearing on 2 December, 2011. In Court the National Security Society contended that the Council’s practice is unlawful on three main grounds, all of which were challenged by the opposite party. First, it is unjustified indirect discrimination against persons of no religion. Second, it is incompatible with Articles 9 and 14 ECHR (freedom of religion and non-discrimination). Third, it is ultra vires (outside the powers of) the Council.
It was only necessary to win the review on one point and Justice Ouseley found the practice unlawful under the Local Government Act.
The ruling is applicable to formal meetings of all Councils in Wales and England. Probably, a majority of these councils conducts prayers as part of the meeting. The judgement leaves room for councillors to pray before the meetings, thereby taking into account the freedom of religion.
The Judicial Review was a reaction on tensions in various councils. These tensions arose between councillors of different religions or councillors without a religion who where supposed to disturb the prayers during the meetings.
The secular option which came forward by this judgement will reduce such tensions without discriminating any of the councillors. England and Wales are the only countries in Europe where prayers are said before parliament.
The judgment resulted in unprecedented news coverage in Britain. A collection of news articles covering the judgement can be found on this link. Especially news articles published on Saturday the 11th of February. The official judgement can be found here.
David Silverman, president of American Atheists
Point,Texas(pop. 792) is not the easiest place for a single lesbian to raise her child. But neither her sexuality nor her unwed parenthood are enough to make Renee Johnson an American conservative’s worst nightmare. As she explained to me when I met her at Rains CountyLibrary, “I’d rather have a big ‘L’ or ‘lesbian’ written across my shirt than a big ‘A’ or ‘atheist’, because people are going to handle it better.”
We had met in a private room because Johnson worried that anywhere else in the town, people might overhear us and be offended by her godlessness. No wonder she often feels alone in her non-belief. But Johnson is far from unique. As I found out when I travelled across theUSlast year, atheists live in isolation and secrecy all over the country. In a nation that celebrates freedom of religion like no other, freedom not to be religious at all can be as hard to exercise as the right to swim theAtlantic.
Americais the well-known exception to the rule that the wealthier and better-educated a country is, the less religious its population. As aPewResearchCenterreport put it, when it comes to religiosity, “theUSis closer to considerably less developed nations, such asIndia,BrazilandLebanonthan to other western nations.” But what is less discussed is what this means for the minority who are not just apathetic about their faith, but have actively rejected it.
The issue is somewhat neglected because it’s not usually perceptible on the coasts and in the larger cities, but the almost complete absence of overt atheism is striking at all levels of US public life, even in cosmopolitan areas. Read the article here
According to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, there is neither any provision on the mutual independence of the state and Church nor on the impartiality of the state in religious matters. Following Article 25 of the Constitution, Public authorities in the Republic of Poland shall be impartial in matters of religious conviction and The relationship between the state and churches and other religious organizations shall be based on the principle of respect for their autonomy and the mutual independence of each in their own sphere, as well as on the principle of cooperation for the individual and the common good.
Catholicism, despite the equal rights of churches and other religious organisations as envisaged by the Constitution, is a leading religion. The relations with the Catholic Church, which acts as a state in a state, are determined by not only the legislative acts but also by the international treaty concluded with the Holy See. Article 1 of the Polish Concordat confirms that ‘the Republic of Poland and the Apostolic See affirm that the State and the Catholic Church are — each in their own area — independent and autonomous and pledge to fully respect that principle. Poland is giving much attention to this rule. However, the Catholic Church respects neither the State nor even its believers.
As a consequence of the overinterpretation by Polish authorities of the Concordat, Constitutional, and state provisions as well as the mental compliance and submissiveness of politicians towards the Polish clergy, Poland has become a fundamentalist Catholic state (“panstwo wyznaniowe”). It is not a myth spread by anti-clericals but a fact!
In Poland there are following attributes of the fundamentalist Catholic state (“panstwo wyznaniowe”):
1. lack of the world-view neutrality in law-making, e.g. the act on family planning, protection of the human fetus and conditions for legal abortion, lack of state financing of in vitro fertilization, criminalization only of the insulting religious feelings in the Penal Code,
2. direct financing of the religious institutions and the clergy by the national and local governments, e.g. construction of the Temple of Divine Providence, maintenance and expansion of private Catholic universities, contributions towards pensions, old aged pensions and insurance paid from the so called Church Fund created in the state budget,
3. affirmation of the religion by the national authorities, e.g. religious character of the public ceremonies, crosses in public institutions, kindergartens and schools,
4. taking over by the state some function of the confessional associations, e.g. presence of religion lesson at schools and a grade in religion on school certificates, employment of 29 thousand religion teachers, the support given to chaplains in uniformed services ,
5. partly vanishing of the organizational autonomy of the state and Church, e.g. Field Ordinariate within the framework of the Defence Ministry.
In order for Poland to become a secular country, the organizational transformations and changes in material relations and the realization of human rights are necessary.
Prod. Joanna Senyszyn
Yesterday the meeting of the European Parliament Platform for Secularism in Politics on the relationship between Church and Education in Europe took place.
The meeting was hosted by Ms Sophie in ‘t Veld Chair of the European Parliament Platform for Secularism in Politics and Member of the ALDE in the European Parliament (watch here the opening of the meeting) and the panelists were Mr. Porteous Wood, Executive Director National Secular Society (watch here a fragment of his contribution and read here his full speech) Mr. Jean Jacques de Gucht, Member of the Flemish Parliament (watch here a fragment of his contribution) and Mr. Lajos Molnar, Hungarian Network for the Freedom of Education (watch here a fragment of his contribution).
Location: Brussels, Belgium,
Location: London,
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Location: Arlington, Holy See (Vatican City State)
