I didn't realise this was still going on...

I know Monty Python's Life of Brian was controversial back in the '70s, but I really did think that battle had been largely won, especially given the fact we've finally wiped blasphemy off our statute books.

So imagine my surprise when I learned that the mayor of Aberystwyth, Sue Jones-Davies, is currently trying to lift a ban on showing the film in her town's cinemas, 29 years after church leaders recommended one to the local council.

Jones-Davies does have a vested interest – she was in the film as Judith Iscariot – and she's facing some resistance from Reverend Stuart Bell, Rector of Aberystwyth's St Michael’s Church, who sees no reason for allowing local residents to watch Life of Brian: “If it was an unpleasant film 30 years ago, then it remains an unpleasant film 30 years later."

And the Reverend Bell has good grounds for disliking the film, as he explained to the local paper: “I have not seen the film, nor have I any wish to do so."

Of course, this is a good excuse for a clip from Life of Brian, so here you go –

Coming later this year - Religilous, with Bill Maher, by the director of Borat

A friend of mine from the States has alerted me to a movie coming out in the autumn called Religilous – it's a documentary where Bill Maher travels the world trying to find out just why billions of people believe in God and associated religious matters. It's directed by Larry Charles, who directed Borat, and also worked on Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and it looks hilarious.

Let's hope it comes out over here - given the comedy pedigree involved, I have high hopes it will. Watch the trailer and see what you think:



Thanks for the tip-off Alexis...

John Templeton dies aged 95

John Templeton, founder of the annual Templeton Prize, died yesterday aged 95. A well-known businessman and philanthropist, in 1987 he founded the John Templeton Foundation to provide funding for those researching the Universe's "big questions".

The Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities has been awarded every year since 1972 and operates on the premise that there is no inherent conflict between science and religion, going as it does to the person who best exemplifies "trying various ways for discoveries and breakthroughs to expand human perceptions of divinity and to help in the acceleration of divine creativity." The prize money, which currently stands at £795,000, is regularly adjusted to ensure it remains higher than the amounts awarded for Nobel Prizes.

In his attempt to bring religion and science together, Templeton attracted much criticism, most notably from Richard Dawkins who, in The God Delusion, describes his prize as "a very large sum of money given ... usually to a scientist who is prepared to say something nice about religion".

BHA's response to Christina Odone's claim that faith schools are under threat

Some of you may have noticed in the news that Catholic journalist (and regular outspoken critic of humanism/secularism/atheism/anything godless) Christina Odone has written a pamphlet claiming faith schools are under threat from "a government … aligning itself with a stridently secularist lobby".

Which, of course, is nonsense – I'll hand you over to our friend Andrew Copson, of the British Humanist Association, to explain why (he's written a response on the Guardian's Comment is Free).

Comedy legend George Carlin dies aged 71

We were sad to hear that the American comedian George Carlin died at the weekend aged 71. As well as the fact that he played Rufus in the Bill and Ted films, which I loved when I was growing up, Carlin was one of comedy's most vociferous critics of organised religion and it can only be hoped that we will see his like again.

We'll be paying a proper tribute to Carlin in our forthcoming July/August issue, but for now sit back and admire the great man's views on religion:

Sharon Stone blames Chinese earthquake on bad karma

Darn celebrities with their bizarre spiritual beliefs. You can't live with them, but reading those free papers they give out in London might become even more boring if we had to live without them. We've featured a few before, most recently Madonna and her belief that parents' souls choose the gender of their children, and now along comes former-Scientologist-turned-Buddhist Sharon Stone with her view that the recent Sichuan earthquake in China might have been caused by "bad karma":

"I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else. I've been concerned about how should we deal with the Olympics, because they are not being nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a good friend of mine. And then all this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and I thought, is that karma – when you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"

That's right, China as a geographical entity (population 1.3bn) has "bad karma" because of the ongoing situation with Tibet (the Dalai Lama's Sharon's friend you know) so along comes an enormous earthquake that kills over 68,000 innocent people and leaves over 4m homeless in a province in the middle of China which is unlikely to be inhabited by any of the people directly responsible for what's happened in Tibet (which incidentally Sharon is "not happy" about).

Needless to say many people in China are unhappy with these comments and some cinemas have vowed to never show her films again, which will presumably come as no great loss to the Chinese people. Cosmetics stores have also taken down adverts featuring Stone, and citizens have posted videos on YouTube calling on the actor to apologise.

Stone made the comments while she was at Cannes last week. Here's a video:

Ex-footballer Gavin Peacock to train for religious career in Canada

Continuing my fondness for stories where football meets religion, I thought I'd pick up on the news that former Chelsea midfielder Gavin Peacock is to emigrate to Canada to take a three-year Masters course in Divinity with a view to becoming an ordained Christian minister.

Now, this isn't one of those shock sporting conversion stories – Peacock's born-again and has been a Christian since the age of 19 – and in my opinion the real story is the reshuffle his departure will initiate in the BBC's punditry ranks. They've already lost Ian Wright as a result of using him as a "comedy jester" and with Peacock off with God they'll be forced to take on two new names to back up their diminishing football coverage. No doubt certain friends of mine who are as obsessed with punditry as they are with the game (you know who you are) will furiously debate the potential impact of Peacock's departure, but personally I'm a fan and would prefer it was someone else disappearing to the other side of the world to become a minister. Lawro, if you're reading this, have you ever considered the religious life?

Lott on Lut

From the most recent issue of Granta Magazine (putting all their new money to good use with a snazzy redesign and new website) Tim Lott writes brilliantly about the murder of a friend - a grim tale about the toxic mix of sadomasochism, shame, religion and loneliness.
[Lot makes a passing reference towards the end to the fact that he gave up being a newspaper columnist. I, for one, am very glad of that as I didn't like him as a columnist, whereas he is a very good writer of these kind of long-form reflections]

Religion is childish says genius

"The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this." Turns out that Albert Einstein wasn't really all that religious after all, according to a letter which has just be found.

Tony Blair calls for more faith

So, last night our former Prime Minister made a speech declaring the aims of his new Faith Foundation, the reasons he thinks religion can solve the world's problems, and why all the religions are capable of getting along by uniting around "common values".

You can read all about Tony's big moment in the Westminster Cathedral spotlight through these reports on the Guardian and Independent. It's also worth checking out the Times' political sketch: "This was an important speech for Mr Blair, really his coming out speech as a Christian. The politician who did not do God no longer exists. In his place is a man who does God and does God big."

What particularly struck me was one of the reasons Blair gave for why politicians might not want to publicly express their religious zeal – because people might think they are "somehow messianically trying to co-opt God to bestow a divine legitimacy on your politics."

So Tony's clearly saying that he didn't seek "divine legitimacy" for his major decisions. This from the man who told Michael Parkinson that God will judge him over Iraq.

AC Grayling on the Catholic assault on secularism

Here's regular New Humanist contributor AC Grayling responding to the Catholic Church's, or more specifically Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor's, ongoing attack on "aggressive secularism" and familiar claim that "what binds the British people together is their Judaeo-Christian heritage".

As usual with Comment is Free articles on this subject, Grayling's piece has received many comments (175 at the time of writing). It's always worth a flick through if you're seeking amusement.

Enjoy.

Local council in shock challenge to Catholic dogma

In an unprecedented victory for rationalism, Catholic priests in the north east of England will from today be required to read out a disclaimer prior to delivering the holy sacrament of Communion.

The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead have issued the new regulations as a concession to secularists concerned by allegations that Creationism has been taught to students at Emmanuel City Technology College, a Gateshead academy school run by Peter Vardy’s Emmanuel Schools Foundation.

In passing byelaw 08/04 (section 01), the borough council has made it mandatory for Catholic priests to forewarn their congregations that transubstantiation – the idea that at communion the bread and wine become the literal body and blood of Christ – remains unsupported by solid empirical evidence.

Beginning with tonight’s evening masses, priests will be legally obliged to read out the disclaimer – the exact wording of which has been provided by the council – which reads as follows:

“Congregants should be aware of the gaps and/or problems in the Catholic theory of transubstantiation, including, but not limited to, the Protestant notion that the bread and wine are merely symbolic, the opinions of other religions on the life of Christ, and the lack of conclusive scientific evidence available to support this theory.”

Explaining the borough’s decision, Councilor Burt Blaydon (Con., Windynook), said: “The council feel it is important that borough residents realise that the Catholic version of Christianity is only a theory and not written in stone. This is not an attempt to cause offence, but equally we shouldn’t offend those members of the congregation who hold alternative views on the nature of bread and wine.”

Girl dies after parents choose prayer over medicine

Well, here's a fairly grim story. An 11-year-old girl from Wisconsin has died from a treatable form of diabetes because her parents chose to pray for her rather than take her to a doctor.

Associated Press report that Madeline Neumann died on Sunday from diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition which police say would have involved at least a month of symptoms like nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness.

However, she wasn't taken to see a doctor because, as the girl's aunt (who incidentally tried to get the family to seek medical advice) explained, her mother "believes in faith instead of doctors".

The girl's mother, Leilani Neumann, recalling the lead up to her daughter's death, told reporters: "We just noticed a tiredness within the past two weeks. And then just the day before and that day (she died), it suddenly just went to a more serious situation. We stayed fast in prayer then. We believed that she would recover. We saw signs that to us, it looked like she was recovering."

Police are now investigating the circumstances surrounding the girl's death, although this does not seem to be of concern to Mrs Neumann: "Our lives are in God's hands. We know we did not do anything criminal. We know we did the best for our daughter we knew how to do."

Aaronovitch and Toynbee on religion and the Embryology Bill

The big news from our perspective over the Easter weekend has been the repeated calls from pulpits across the land to give MPs a free vote on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

We're becoming all too used to these attacks on science from religious leaders, who twist the facts and use ridiculous hyperbole to try and convince their congregations that cutting-edge scientific research that could eventually save millions of lives is somehow morally abhorrent. Take Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien, for example, who describes research involving human-animal hybrid embryos as "monstrous", "grotesque", "hideous" and of "Frankenstein proportions".

I can find no better way to dismiss this than to quote Polly Toynbee in today's Guardian:

"Whatever the religious claims, the human fertilisation and embryology bill is not in some special moral category of its own. It allows scientists to use the outer empty shell of animal eggs, for lack of spare human eggs, in which to implant purely human DNA for 14 days, to derive stem cell lines which model a particular disease to be studied in the lab. The UK pioneers stem-cell research into Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, motor neurone disease and muscular dystrophy, as well as cancer, diabetes, strokes and infertility. Contrary to the cardinals' wilfully ignorant campaign of misinformation, no animal hybrid, no monstrous Island of Doctor Moreau chimeras loom. Forget spurious "thin end of the wedge" arguments: no further step can be taken without another act of parliament."

Not that Easter Sunday congregations were informed of any of this. Anyone listening to the likes of O'Brien who didn't have any other knowledge of embryology might have come away thinking the law could lead to the creation of a race of half-human/half-cow devil-worshipping entities ready to bring about the destruction of God's people. According to O'Brien, the idea that embryo research might lead to the curing of diseases is merely an "excuse" used by scientists to ensure they get the right to pursue their sinister activities. And it wasn't just Catholics getting in on the act. The Anglican Bishop of Durham, Dr Tom Wright, managed these words of wisdom from his pulpit: "Gender-bending was so last century; we now do species bending".

It's this sensationalist, misleading and distasteful tone that has irked David Aaronovitch, who in today's Times presents a fantastic case for why we must stand up to religious attempts to interfere in science and government legislation:

"Like most of the Godless (or Godfree), I have no desire to proselytise for atheism or to persuade people out of religions that may offer them comfort and companionship. But there is a growing shrillness and unpleasantness - yes, an unscrupulousness - about the way that some of the top faithful increasingly choose to conduct their arguments. This needs to be combated because, for all their talk of conscience, what Dr Wright and Cardinal O'Brien really seem to want is to tell the rest of us how to live."

Here's hoping the Government stands firm, rejects calls for a free vote and ensures the Embryology Bill passes because, as Toynbee points out "trying to make things better in the human here and now trumps imposing needless suffering on the sick for perverse doctrinal reasons."

Update: Well, scratch what I said above. Gordon Brown has just announced that he will allow Labour MPs a free vote on "controversial" elements of the bill. Which means that pressure from the Catholic Church has led to a situation where a piece of legislation vital to medical research might be rejected by a 21st century British parliament. We can only hope the religious lobby isn't strong enough to make this happen, but if you read Toynbee's Guardian piece, we can't be too sure of that. I suppose we can look forward to more political pronouncements in Sunday sermons, as religious leaders will clearly have realised they're on to something.

AC Grayling hits back at John Gray on Comment is Free

The attack on the "New Atheists" by John Gray in Saturday's Guardian has caused a fair bit of debate online, and New Humanist regular AC Grayling has responded to him on the paper's Comment is Free site.

Since Gray's article was actually just an extract from his book Black Mass (published last year, but due out soon in paperback), Grayling has responded in kind by directing Guardian readers to the damning review he wrote for this magazine last year.

Anyone interested in John Gray may wish to read Laurie Taylor's interview, also from New Humanist (where else?).

Ranting bishop claims Christianity under attack from "gay conspiracy"

One of Scotland's leading Roman Catholics believes that the "gay lobby" has mounted a "huge and well-orchestrated conspiracy" to destroy Christianity.

The Rt Rev Joseph Devine, Bishop of Motherwell was delivering a lecture at a Glasgow Catholic school on Tuesday but reports suggest this quickly turned into something closer to a paranoid rant as he warned his audience that the gay rights movements had crept up on them unawares: "I want to ask you if you are able to see the giant conspiracy that's taking place before our eyes, even if we didn't see it at the time. I take it you're beginning to see that there is a huge and well-orchestrated conspiracy taking place, which the Catholic community missed."

Perhaps most shocking were his comments regarding Holocaust Memorial Day, suggesting that the presence of gay organisations at commemorations amounts to a clever publicity stunt: "The homosexual lobby has been extremely effective in aligning itself with minority groups. It is ever-present at the service each year for the Holocaust memorial, as if to create for themselves the image of a group of people under persecution. We neglect the gay movement at our peril."

Not that the bishop stopped at there. He also expressed his dismay at the recognition actor Ian McKellen receives for his gay rights work: "In this New Year's honours list, I saw actor Ian McKellen being honoured for his work on behalf of homosexuals, when a century ago Oscar Wilde was locked up and put in jail. It's a very small group of people, but very active and organised – and extremely indulgent. The opposition know exactly what they're doing. We don't."

It's not quite clear whether he was suggesting that McKellen should be locked up for being gay, but the implication certainly seems to be that jail would be preferable to a New Year's honour.

As if all this wasn't enough, Bishop Devine finished off by vowing to fight the "forces of secularism" and bizarrely comparing himself to that notorious star of Mad Max and director of The Passion of the Christ: "Like Mel Gibson, who said, 'I'm going to pick a fight', so am I."

Ridiculous news story roundup

A couple of silly religion-related stories courtesy of Reuters:

A priest was sent off this weekend for throwing his shirt at the referee during a football match in Rome. His unholy act of indiscipline led to his side's elimination from the church's annual Clericus Cup.

In other news, hundreds of Nicaraguans dressed their dogs in fancy dress (examples include baby and clown costumes) and took them along to an annual mass to pray for canine good-health.

Russian election shock: God wins

We all know who won the Russian election, and we also know who really won the election, don't we? But do we know who really really won? Michael Binyon does, and you can read about it in his cover story for our new issue: Russian Roulette. To whet your appetite I'll give you a clue: He's big, he lives upstairs and he moves in mysterious ways.

Tons more great stuff in the issue which we will be publishing online over the next few days - but we won't put everything on the website. For the full, beautifully designed, print version complete with original photography, why not subscribe now?

Richard Branson: Bigger than Jesus?

Richard Branson is a better role model for children than Jesus, according to a survey out today. The Virgin Group boss – and author of Screw It Let's Do It (see pic) – came in second place below "a family member", while JC could only manage third place.

Before Christians rush off to swap their crucifixes for high-speed Virgin broadband and cans of Virgin Cola (do they still make that?), they may wish to take solace in the fact that their man was able to beat Princess Di (6th) and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver (7th).

Plus, Branson himself must see Jesus as a role model. After all, he did name his company after his mum...

Steve Jones on creationism

As part of the debate over the Islamic creationist event at UCL (see post below), the Telegraph also had a piece by Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics at UCL (who participated in our recent Dinner with Darwin feature).

He writes how, while he objected to the lecture being held in the Darwin lecture theatre, he could not object to the event itself taking place: "UCL, the Godless College of Gower Street, insists (just as all religions do) on freedom of speech, so they are welcome to their meeting. We biologists choke, though, on the idea of such buffoonery in the Darwin Building; instead, it has been moved to a theatre used to teach medieval history."

[Note his labelling of UCL as "the Godless College of Gower Street". Since we, along with the British Humanist Association, are also situated on Gower Street, I hereby declare it to be "Godless Street"]

For anyone in search of an excellent put-down to use against creationism, it may be worth remembering Prof Jones's closing statement: "The idea that life began by magic a few thousand years ago is entirely absurd - yet believers, of whatever persuasion, insist on its truth. This does no harm to science, but to my secular eyes seems to do immense damage to religion itself."

Indeed.