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Scientology could be taught in schools
by Carmen Lichi
Hampstead & Highgate Express (22.11.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (25.11.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - Scientologists want children in Camden schools to be taught their beliefs as part of the new curriculum.
And the controversial group, which counts Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its supporters, also wants pupils to learn about the teachings of the Moonies and Pagans during religious education (RE) lessons when the new school curriculum is introduced in 2003.
The movement, founded in the 1950s by late American eccentric L Ron Hubbard, has never had formal religious status in the UK.
But members of the Camden branch, based in Tottenham Court Road for 35 years, believe Scientology, along with other smaller groups, should be given the same exposure as Catholicism and Protestantism at GCSE and A-Level.
Camdens standing advisory council for religious education (SACRE), which includes Church of England representatives, headteachers, councillors and school governors, is now set to consider the request, after two members of the Camden branch presented the council with a book on the movement on Tuesday.
Scientologist Paul Dolan, who was at the meeting, said: We are asking SACRE to think of introducing other religious communities into the new school curriculum for religious education.
It is really to extend religious tolerance of groups such as ourselves, the Unification church (the Moonies) the Unitarians, the Quakers and the Paganists.
Some of these groups that have come about in the last 50 years arent as represented as they perhaps should be.
The committee agreed to seek expert advice on the issue from leading experts on cults before reaching its decision. If it accepts the request, representatives from the Church of Scientology will be appointed to SACRE and allowed to visit schools and talk about the group.
But some SACRE members expressed concern that the move could encourage groups looking for a platform. Councillor Julian Fullbrook, former chairman of SACRE, said: I would be worried about the number of movements that might want to use SACRE as a platform.
SACRE committee member Councillor Mike Greene, a father of two who is also governor at New End Primary School, said: I feel its important my child should learn about other religions. I value the cultural diversity that it brings to children.
He said it was also very important that beliefs were not showcased for recruitment purposes.
The request has prompted serious concern by anti-cult groups.
Ian Haworth, of the Cult Information Centre, said the move was potentially hazardous. He added: If Scientology is considered a religion in the school curriculum, it will be the first to have a criminal record.
The main concerns are not so much their beliefs, but the methods they employ to recruit new members. By introducing their beliefs, students would be missing the main point, and this could give them a false sense of security about the organisations in any relationships they might have with those groups.
But a spokesman for the Church of Scientology, whose headquarters are in East Grinstead, said: With reports of religious discrimination still appearing in the media and elsewhere, we believe that schoolchildren should learn basic beliefs of all religions, as discrimination is very often fuelled by ignorance.
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English Church leader warns against separation of church, state
By Mike Wendling
CNSNews.com (24.04.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (25.04.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net Separating church and state in Britain would undermine social cohesion, weaken morality and could even sow the seeds of authoritarianism, the leader of the Church of England has warned.
In a speech in front of a private audience Tuesday night, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey said that the "sense of a higher, transcendent authority" formed the basis for key British values.
"Without that sense, our human arrogance and selfishness, our inability to distinguish adequately between what is temporarily expedient and what serves the long-term common good may all too easily get the better of us."
The archbishop took issue with the argument that the events of Sept. 11 showed that religion should be separated from politics, saying that the abandonment of faith in public life makes atrocities "possible" and "acceptable."
"Those who would dwell on the misuse of religion in world affairs might also like to reflect upon the mass slaughter of civilians under the messianic, but secular, regimes presided over by Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot.
"Removing the spiritual underpinning of the state would inevitably tend to cast religion as a purely private matter, one of a range of lifestyle options, like buying organic food or living in the country, of no greater public or communal import than stamp collecting or birdwatching," the archbishop said.
The Anglican Church and the British government have been intertwined for hundreds of years. The British monarch also serves as supreme governor of the Church of England, and 26 bishops sit in the House of Lords. Elected leaders have influence over Church appointments, while Church officials are involved in public policy, as demonstrated earlier this year when the Bishop of Oxford led an advisory panel on embryo cloning.
The National Secular Society, which campaigns for the disestablishment of the Anglican Church, called Carey's remarks "self-serving nonsense."
"At best, his plea was exaggerated," said NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood. "The Church of England is not representative of the population in this country."
Porteous Wood said that maintaining the link between church and state would increase tensions amongst religions and between believers and non-believers.
"Only by secularizing our society can we ensure that the interfaith hostilities that we can see growing before our eyes do not spill over into our political system," he said. "Only by creating a level playing field that favors no one can we be sure that no religion can claim superiority in public life and in our shared institutions."
Patriotism lauded
Speaking at his London residence on the feast day of St. George, England's patron saint, Carey also used the opportunity to praise patriotic values.
"Perhaps patriotism is out of fashion, or at least certain expressions of it," he said. "I am no friend of the 'little Englander' mentality, nor of the kind of nationalistic fervour that can all too easily be tinged with jingoism and xenophobia. But patriotism - a measured pride in the values, achievements and aspirations of a culture and society - seems to me to be a positive thing."
Britain's church-state link has recently come under fire from opponents both inside and outside the Anglican Church. Carey's address came as The Guardian newspaper, long skeptical of the monarchy, is waging a legal challenge to the rules of succession to the English throne. Among other things, the succession laws forbid Roman Catholics from ruling the country.
Several high-ranking church leaders have come out in favor of disestablishment and a survey by the Church Times newspaper showed that 28 percent of respondents did not want the Queen to remain as the Church's supreme governor.
Archbishop Carey plans to retire in October after overseeing a momentous state occasion: the celebrations surrounding the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ascension to the British throne.
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"Support grows for splitting church and state link"
Poll shows 48% against Blair's role in choosing archbishop
by Alan Travis
"The Guardian" (23.01.2002) / HRWF (25.01.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - Nearly half of all British voters believe it is time that the Church of England lost its privileged position as the only official national church, according to the results of this month's Guardian/ICM poll. As Tony Blair prepares for his task later this year of choosing who should succeed Dr George Carey as the Archbishop of Canterbury, some 48% of voters say it is time to end the role of the prime minister and break the historic link between church and state. Only one in three voters - 36% - says that it should keep its special position as the only state recognised religion.
The ICM poll is the first for many years showing that support for the idea of disestablishing the Church of England outstrips opposition to the move.
The pollsters asked the voters: "Do you think the Church of England should keep its special position as the only state recognized religion, which means, for example, the prime minister has the final say over who should be the Archbishop of Canterbury."
Mr. Blair will be asked to choose Dr Carey's successor from a shortlist of two drawn up by the crown appointments commission, which will meet in the summer.
The poll result also mirrors a change of mind among some leading members of the church itself, including the Archbishop of York, David Hope, and the Archbishop of the Church in Wales and a contender for the top job, Rowan Williams, who have both supported disestablishment.
Even a vice-chairman of the traditional church party, the Conservatives, called this month for a "grown-up" debate on whether to break the link between church and state.
"There needs to be a wider debate about whether the Church of England should remain established," Gary Streeter, MP for South West Devon, told GMTV.
"It doesn't quite work any longer. It's important that whoever is the next Archbishop of Canterbury should recognize they are spiritual leader of the entire nation... not just the Church of England."
The supporters of the established church argue that breaking the link would give the signal that religion no longer matters and that the CoE's special status is generally welcomed by the Roman Catholic, Muslim and Jewish communities.
The ICM survey shows that support for disestablishment is strongest among the professional and more affluent classes (57% support); among those aged 35-64 (50%); in the north of England and in Scotland (54%) and among Liberal Democrat voters (59%). This distribution of support in northern Britain and among Lib Dem voters may reflect the historical roots of the nonconformist tradition.
Support for the continued establishment of the Church of England peaks at 39% among the over 65s; at 41% among the unskilled and unemployed, and at 41% in the Midlands.
In terms of political support, Conservative voters are marginally in favour of retaining the link, by 45% to 42%, but Labour voters are against, by 45% to 36%.
The movement to sever the link between the Church of England and the state was started by the Liberation Society in 1844. A bill was presented to parliament in 1870 to disestablish the Church in Wales, a year after the disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Ireland. It took another 50 years before the Liberals removed the House of Lords veto on the measure and the Church in Wales was created under its own archbishop.
ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,003 adults over 18 by telephone from January 18-20 across the country. The results have been weighted to the profile of all adults.
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Labour MP reintroduces religious hate laws
EpxNews (14.01.2002)/ HRWF (15.01.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - A Labour MP is calling on the government to back his proposals to outlaw incitement to religious hatred following the Lords' rejection of similar measures as part of controversial anti-terror legislation.
The Erith and Thamesmead MP first introduced a bill including measures to tackle religious incitement in 1998 and welcomed the government's attempt to legislate on similar grounds last December "I welcomed your commitment to include protection against religious hatred in the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Bill and was sorry to see this withdrawn under pressure from the House of Lords and elsewhere. Whilst I recognise the government's need to compromise in order to get its legislation through, I hope the government will not be deterred from re-introducing a bill to combat incitement to religious hatred," he wrote in a letter to David Blunkett.
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