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Page has a new conclusion and has been lightly edited: In 2001 there were 7000 state faith schools in the UK (of 25000). The worst teach creationism (that the world is only 6000 years old, against all scientific evidence) and some, although they excel at religious education and Koranic studies, fail on everything else from science to fitness. Reports on the race riots of 2001 criticized faith schools for creating the segregation that increases racial and religious sectarian tensions. Over 800 studies by social psychologists have found that cooperating and extended contact between racial groups is a very good way of producing positive race relations. Faith schools sometimes produce better-than-average results, but they also select students based on ability (despite attempts to stop them), whereas state schools accept poorer students in the first place. The Home Office, National Union of Teachers, Chief Schools Inspector, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers have all spoken out against faith schools and the United Nations Human Rights Commission recommends non-sectarian education, especially of children. The National Secular Society has long campaigned for the government to reverse the creation of faith schools (100 new ones since 1997), and instead convert faith schools back into all-inclusive secular schools where religion and race do not define the children. Abolishing faith schools will decrease social tension between ethnic and religious groups, increase the fairness of the schools system (as religious schools accept fewer poor and disadvantaged students), and reduce the scope for religious extremism and indoctrination. Tags: children, creationism, education, faith schools, fundamentalism, indoctrination, intolerance, prejudice, racism, religion, schooling, sectarianism, segregation, tolerance, vardy foundation
Current Location: Germany
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Sign this petition (you have to be a UK citizen): petitions.pm.gov.uk : We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Abolish all faith schools and prohibit the teaching of creationism...and "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Abolish all faith schools and prohibit the teaching of creationism and other religious mythology in all UK schools"It's worth signing both. This is in the wake of the Vardy Foundation's slowly increasing chain of fundamentalist Christian schools (IN THE UK!!), whose science teachers' teach creationism rather than science, that is, they think the world is 6000 years old, and that most of science is wrong because it contradicts the Bible. Sign these petition and get everyone else to, too! My page on Faith Schools explains many of the issues, the contents of the page are: - Sectarian Schooling
- Sectarian schools breed cultural conflict
- Indoctrination versus Parental discretion
- Do faith schools provide better education?
- Fundamentalist Schools
- The Benefits of Abolishing Sectarian Schools
Tags: children, christianity, creationism, education, fundamentalism, indoctrination, petitions, schooling, science, secularisation, segregation, vardy foundation
Current Location: Germany
Current Mood:  annoyed
Listening To: "Krolok" by Wumpscut
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1. The famous paleontologist, Richard Leakey is the author of " Origins Reconsidered: In Search of What Makes Us Human", and was for years was director of Kenya's museums. He has been fighting a battle against creationists in Kenya, in particular Pentecostal evangelicals, who are determined to use "religious toleration" to force Kenya's museums to hide science in order to avoid challenging their faith. The museum's collections include the most complete skeleton yet found of homo erectus, a 1.7 million year-old skeleton, and skeletons of the species that first evolved to walk upright, 4 million years ago. Bishop Adoyo, head of the six-million strong Pentecostal congregation "Christ is the Answer Ministries", seemingly without a sense of irony, says, "Leakey and his group want their theories presented as fact". 2. The creationist Kent Hovind, who pleaded guilty to (three times) constructing a building without permission (he wants to build another creationist humans-and-dinosaurs-existing-at-the-sam e-time themed park). He has now been "arrested and indicted in federal court on fifty-eight charges, including"... tax fraud, tax evasion, evading banking requirements and making threats against IRS investigators. "The grand-jury indictment alleges that Hovind and his wife, Jo, withdrew $430,500 from AmSouth bank between July 20, 2001, and August 9,2002. The withdrawals, most made only days apart, were consistently for amounts just below the $10,000 starting point for federally required cash-transaction reporting.". He has been stripped of his passport and guns. Both of these are reported in Skeptical Inquirer, volume 30, No. 6 (Nov/Dec 2006). The Skeptical Inquirer is my new 'thing', it is an absolutely awesome resource for discussions on all things anti-science, and has connections to many atheist, humanist and pro-science groups, including Prof. Dawkins (Oxford Uni), Richard Wiseman (Herts Uni), Daniel Dennett, Robert Sheaffer, Elizabeth Loftus (famous psychologist), etc. Just reading it's "Fellows" list made me excited! :-) Tags: atheism, creationism, fundamentalism, kent hovind, kenya, religion, richard dawkins, richard leakey
Current Location: Germany
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Erickson was an enthusiastic born-again Christian, who split his local community in 2 with his new, passionate-style masses... many of the previous regulars left, and the born-again crowd moved in. He came with all the talk, a typical religious-right moral-crusader loon. Two of those who didn't like his approach, but still attended the church, were one day found shot. After a search warrant from police where he had been re-located to after the murders, child porn was found on his computer, and he hung himself a day later in the hallway of his new church, St. Mary's of the Seven Dolors, in Hurley, Wisconsin. [News: http://www.citypages.com/databank/26/1296/article13748.asp ] "This week, at last, St. Croix County Attorney Eric Johnson is presenting evidence connecting Father Ryan to the murders. Johnson will offer an explanation for what Erickson and O'Connell were talking about in the minutes before the murder. And he will confirm what has long been whispered by Erickson's harshest critics: that the crusading sexual moralist had been engaging in the same crimes against children that have devastated the Catholic church in recent years." "A right-wing newspaper, Renew America, edited by anti-abortion activist Matt C. Abbott, frequently defends Erickson" The religious right are the developed world's most insiduous disease; they are long-term, devious, strategic, organized... fundamentalists in a very similar way to Sharia-promoting Islamist fundamentalists of the world. Europe is caught between Islam's Dark Ages to our East, and America's growing Christian fundamentalism to our West. Tags: christianity, crime, ecusa, europe, fundamentalism, islam, paedophilia, religion, religious right, sharia, usa
Current Location: Afghanistan
Listening To: "Ritual Noise" by Covenant
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"The Food and Drug Administration advisory panel approved a vaccine for the human papilloma virus (HPV) last week. The vaccine appears to be 100 percent effective at protecting against the most prevalent viruses that cause cervical cancer. While public health professionals view the vaccine as miraculous, many conservative organizations oppose it on the grounds that it might encourage promiscuity among adolescent girls. Now that the FDA has approved the vaccine, conservatives are already working feverishly to limit or even prevent its use." [ Alternet: Why the Religious Right Fights Cancer Prevention] I suppose it's similar to the Catholic Churches insane and ludicrous campaigns against Condoms in Africa... I personally do not get what can make people behave in such an irresponsible, anti-human, ludicrously nonsensical way. Oh yeah, religion. Brings out the best in us! I think Europe is caught between rising American fundamentalism, and Middle-Eastern fundamentalism! Life just seems so much more sensible here, than elsewhere! Tags: fundamentalism, public health, religion, usa, usa religion
Current Location: Afghanistan
Current Mood:  confused
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1080621,00.html"Gay people should "reorientate" themselves by seeking psychiatric help, the bishop of Chester said yesterday, reigniting the furious row about attitudes to homosexuality within the Church of England" "Alan Wardle, a spokesman for the gay rights group Stonewall, reacted angrily to Dr Forster's remarks. "Homosexuality was declassified as a medical condition more than 30 years ago," he said. "I'd prefer the bishop should stick to sorting out the problems in his own church." " The Church of England's, and the Vatican's, recent ignorance and hatred have all made me want to start doing stuff for Stonewall again. Tags: christianity, church of england, fundamentalism, homophobia, stonewall, the guardian, vatican
Current Mood:  aggravated
Listening To: "Team UVR" by Ultraviolence
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Liberals and moderates in the Church of England need to rally against the evangelicals and fundamentalists. But, the liberals are not activists, not hot enough, not forceful enough... or financially secure within the Church of England, so that threats to split by evangelical Church of England groups such as Reform and Church Society, have got the liberals by their (pacifist) balls. The liberals need more powerful leaders and inspiration, Rowan Williams might be that leader if he can forge the way into this century and force the Anglican communion to accept gay rights and gay tolerance... but he can't run the risk of a split... so the liberals need strong leaders to de-evangelise the Church of England. Otherwise our otherwise positive and liberal C of E is going to turn into another Bible-based fundamentalist tool for anti-human discrimination, anti-rights, anti-life... which is bad :-( Tags: church of england, fundamentalism, liberals, religion
Current Mood:  busy
Listening To: "Book of lies" by the Electric Hellfire Club
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determined
4 (23.5%)
awake