Today of course is Armistice Day. For the last twenty years I will admit to feeling some apprehension about the reassertion of Remembrance Day within our national life. I have wondered why this is taking place. Yesterday I saw football teams standing in remembrance before a match. Remembrance has come to take greater prominence within … Continue reading Remembrance

    The disturbing rise in Islamophobia over the last twenty years is now well documented, and has not come from nowhere. Several factors have played their part in its rise, but in this blog I am going to simply focus on one such issue, because I believe this factor is insufficiently understood and very … Continue reading BLOG #4 SOMETHING DOES NOT COME FROM NOTHING – OUR MEDIA DIET AND THE RISE OF ISLAMOPHOBIA IN THE UK

Protests outside Parkview School in Birmingham have been an issue now for many months. The protests have been against the ‘No Outsiders Programme’ designed by assistant Headteacher, Andrew Mofatt. An injunction against the protests resulted in a ban on protests at the school. We wait to see whether a High Court ruling will make this … Continue reading Protesting Against the Curriculum

  The Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended for almost three years following disagreements between nationalists and unionists in January 2017. In May 2017 the Belfast High Court made a ruling in the case of Sarah Ewart. She had travelled to England for an abortion due to a fatal foetal diagnosis. The High Court ruled, … Continue reading Tonight is a landmark for human rights in the UK. Until now abortion rights for women in Northern Ireland have lagged behind Tunisia, Turkey and even Iran[1]

There are things of value in Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion. For example, I believe that Dawkins has helped to give rise to a climate of opinion in which deference to religion or unquestioning respect no longer holds sway. This has to be a good thing, if critical thinking is to be a key guide, … Continue reading Outgrowing Misconceptions

The purpose of my blog is to share views about a range of issues of interest to me and of general public interest. My forthcoming book Judging Religion A Dialogue for Our Time indicates that much of my thinking is about appraisals of faiths in a fast changing world. I am passionate about the importance … Continue reading Welcome to my blog