A new secular religion; the advancement of (old) religion
Freethought update, 23-29 July

Dear reader,

To round off Pastafarian Month, we have a provocative article this week from two Dutch secularists, Paul Cliteur, a professor of jurisprudence, and Mienke de Wilde, a law student and member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. They argue that there is no reason why Pastafarianism should not be a secular religion for atheists, and that it should be fully recognised as a 'religion or belief' under Article 9 of the ECHR.

There are many angles to the question of whether religions, whatever their content, should have special privileges in law. In our second essay this week, Megan Manson, head of campaigns at the National Secular Society, argues that the 'advancement of religion', which is still a charitable purpose under English law, is discriminatory and outdated, and ought to be abolished.

New articles
- The secular religion of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, by Paul Cliteur and Mienke de Wilde
- Faith and charity law: time for a rethink, by Megan Manson

Summer break
We'll be taking a break for the next two weeks. The Freethinker will be back in mid-August for our Education Month, when we will be featuring articles on RE in schools, secularism and religious dress codes, and more.

Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoy this week's articles.

Best wishes,

Emma Park
Editor, The Freethinker
editor@freethinker.co.uk
freethinker.co.uk