Sad news:

The founder of Humanistic Judaism, Rabbi Sherwin Wine (79) has been killed in a car crash in Morocco.

Wine, a native of Detroit who was raised by Conservative parents, attended Reform rabbinical school before founding the first congregation of Humanistic Judaism in 1963. He helped establish the Society for Humanistic Judaism in 1969, gradually building it into a worldwide movement with some 40,000 members. He retired in 2003.

Wine was the author of several books, including "Humanistic Judaism," "Judaism Beyond God" and "Staying Sane in a Crazy World." According to The Associated Press, he was in Morocco this summer writing a book about living a meaningful, moral life without depending on faith for guidance.

He and his partner, Richard McMains, were near Essaouira, Morocco, when the taxi in which they were riding was struck by another driver. Wine was killed instantly. McMains remains hospitalised in a stable condition, according to the society's Web site.

See also: Rabbi shook faith with courage <http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?aid=/20070724/opinion02/707240336/1070>

News from the National Secular Society newsletter.

Tags: humanism, judaism, mortality, obituary, rabbi sherwin wine, secularisation

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:

1. Sectarian Schooling
2. Sectarian schools breed cultural conflict
3. Indoctrination versus Parental discretion
4. Do faith schools provide better education?
5. Fundamentalist Schools
6. 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

New statistics on belief in God in the UK (and 4 other European countries), which I've added to my page on "Religion in Brtain: Belief in God", resulting in the following table:

Date	Details	Belief in God
2006	12507 people were polled, finding that only 35% in Great Britain believe in any kind of God or supreme being, compared to 27% in France, 62% in Italy, 48% in Spain, 41% in Germany and 73% in the USA.18	35%
2006	Poll of 4000 older teenagers in Cornwall found that only 22% could affirm that they believed in God, and 49% said they didn't.12	22%
2003	1001 British adults surveyed9	60% inc. those unsure
2003	55% of the British public do not believe in a higher being1	45% inc. those unsure

Tags: god, religion, secularisation
Current Location: Germany

From the NSS newsline letter, 2006 Sep 29, http://www.secularism.org.uk

SPAIN CUTS FUNDING FOR CATHOLIC CHURCH (Abridged)
In a move that took many by surprise, the Spanish government has announced that it will cease
paying a subsidy to the Catholic Church, which last year totalled about 30 million euros. In addition, the church will lose its exemption from value-added tax (VAT) on purchases of goods and property, as required by the European Union, and will have to supply the government with an annual report to justify the spending of monies granted to them through the voluntary income tax levy.

The new measures will not affect the hundreds of millions of euros in payment to religious school teachers and in subsidies paid to maintain Spanish cathedrals.

Since taking power in April 2004, the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has had a stormy relationship with the Catholic Church, introducing legislation making divorce much easier, legalising gay marriage and eliminating the requirement that religion be an obligatory subject in schools.

The pope attempted to chastise Zapatero during a recent papal visit to Spain, but the Prime
Minister shrugged off the criticism and then compounded the “insult” by not attending the Pope’s mass.

Tags: europe, religion, roman catholic church, secularisation, spain
Current Location: Afghanistan
Listening To: Original Batman theme tune