MOST heartwarming story of the month comes from Arkansas where a 10-year-old boy made headlines when he refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance – because gay people don’t get equal justice or liberty. When Will Phillips was told recently by a substitute teacher at West Fork Elementary to stand for the pledge, he [...]
I LIVE just a stone’s throw from that useless great neo-Gothic lump they call St Peter’s in Brighton – so my delight knew no bounds when I learned that plans were afoot to site the Pussy Parlure spiegeltent on council-owned land adjoining the church during this year’s Fringe Festival in the city. The Parlure is [...]
Continue reading about Bring on the Pussy Parlure and to hell with the church
The president of English PEN (the UK arm of the worldwide writers’ organisation) says the law of blasphemous libel is not only obsolete but contravenes our rights to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights. Lisa Appignanesi (pictured below), writing in the Guardian, quotes the Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie, who said, [...]
And what a feat in modern time here upon England’s mountains green! Well, in Leicestershire and Rutland, to be exact. For that is where a brave soul from the Women’s Institute has dared to declare that prayers shouldn’t be said at WI carol concerts. Carols are OK, she says, because it’s one thing joining in [...]
Continue reading about Jam, yes, “Jerusalem”, yes – prayers, no
Britain’s Mr Secularism says he often finds his perceived enemies to be “personable, charming and friendly”. Terry Sanderson (pictured), president of the National Secular Society, makes his comments in what he calls his “Mid-Winter Message”. “Since I became president of the National Secular Society,” he writes, “I have been aware that some religious people, who [...]
NOT all Americans are Bible-totin’, scripture-quotin’, Republican votin’ rednecks who think they have a hotline to Jesus, though you might be excused for harbouring such an image when the right-wing Bible Belters get going. Indeed, as this story is published during a Sunday morning, a bunch of kids in the USA will soon (we’re allowing [...]
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
