THEIST_WATCH Msg : 17 Written : 06/29/94 11:10am From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To :

THEIST_WATCH Msg : 17 Written : 06/29/94 11:10am From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : Prince Charles & Religion How Can That Be: Faithful to the Anglican Faith Unfaithful to Princess Diane That's the question that the Anglican clergy are asking about Prince Charles. But the Prince thinks that not alone can he be "defender of the Anglican faith" but he wants the coronation oath broadened to make himself "defender of faith." American Atheists were with the prince up to that point, but there is no religious faith in the world that should be defended. They all need to be dumped into the garbage can of "ideas that have failed." The prince, hoping to be loved by all, has explained that Britain is now a multi-racial, multi-faith nation, and that he wants to be king of all the people: I happen to believe that the [Roman] Catholic subjects of the sovereign are as important [as Protestants], not to mention the Islamic, Hindu, and Zoroastrian. This idea has brought him into conflict with his mother, Queen Elizabeth, who is a staunch supporter of the time-honored ties between the Episcopal church and the state of England. THEIST_WATCH Msg : 33 Written : 07/08/94 06:46pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : Religion in UK Schools Schools in the United Kingdom are already required to teach Christianity according to Church of England tenets. Now they may have to teach the "other five main faiths." On Tuesday, July 5, the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority recommended that schools include the teaching of Buddhism, Hindusim, Judaism, Islam, and Sikhism in their religious education classes. The proposal is only that and is not a requirement. The committee still emphasized the importance of teaching Christianity to the young because of the "Christian heritage" of the country. Yeah, like the heritage of burning infidels and heretics? The Board of Deputies of British Jews welcomed the proposal. THEIST_WATCH Msg : 37 Written : 07/12/94 05:07pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : Prince Charles Forgiven Go and Sin No More - or Maybe Just a Little Bit Prince Charles wants to make clear his position on the "established" Church of England. Although he had stated in a radio interview last week that he wanted to be "defender of faith" instead of defender of "the" faith, he now states that he was not proposing a "disestablishment" of the Church of England. Charles has indeed emphasized the importance of "faith" and his concern for "all subjects of the sovereign" regardless of their faith. These recent statements have brought about a more cordial relationship with many Church of England officials. The Archbishop of Canterbury, in return, highly praised Charles for his honesty and contrition in confessing, publicly, his committed adultery. The Archbishop reminded all that ". . . the heart of Christianity is the unconditional love of God which accepts us as we are . . . " THEIST_WATCH Msg : 46 Written : 07/23/94 08:15pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : England's Schools Civil Disobedience - All to The Good As also previously reported to you, Great Britain has a law which requires daily Christian worship in the public schools of that nation. Now, a survey shows that the law is being neglected by 85 per cent of local school authorities. The exact language requires daily assemblies "of a broadly Christian character" be held in each school. But the National Association of Head Teachers say the law is dogmatic and impractical. To this, the government has replied that it will not hesitate to use its powers to implement the law. The teachers, equally dogmatic, reply that parents who do nothing to promote religious belief in their children should not expect the public schools to do it for them. They totally dismiss the government claim that more emphasis on "collective worship and religious education" would raise moral standards and underpin social values. That's more than any teachers' union in the United States would say. Yet two out of three of the British MPs (Members of Parliament) support Christian teaching and daily worship in public schools; 96 per cent of the Conservative MPs back the law but only 31 per cent of the Labor MPs. THEIST_WATCH Msg : 50 Written : 07/26/94 06:22pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : British Secular Weddings BRITISH SECULAR WEDDINGS GET PRETTIER At last British nonbelievers have the right to beautiful weddings. Until this week, the only legal place to be married in Britain was a registry office (a government office) -- or a church. But on Monday, July 25, the House of Lords passed a bill which will allow "suitably respectable places" to host civil weddings. Such sites will include hotels and historic homes. We congratulate our British comrades on this victory for secularism. THEIST_WATCH Msg : 52 Written : 07/28/94 06:30pm From : ROBIN MURRAY-O'HAIR Status : To : ALL Subj : Godless Priest Fired The Rev. Anthony Freeman will soon be looking for work. The Church of England priest was fired by his bishop recently after publicly questioning the existence of a god. Freeman made his doubts last year in the book _God With Us_. In it, he stated that "There is nothing out there -- or if there is, we can have no knowledge of it." Though this is the classic agnostic position, he later clarified his remarks in a television interview last year. "I believe that when we use the word God we are using the word to focus all that's best and highest in our own human hopes and aspirations and ideals." At that time, Freeman was removed as a director of post-ordination training, though he was put on probation as a priest and allowed to stay as vicar of St. Mark's church in Staplefield, in southern England. His superior, Eric Kemp, the bishop of Chichester, removed him when he failed to change his positions on god after one year. The stunning thing is that 65 clergymen objected to the removal of the priest. Another bishop, Lindsay Urwin, explained it clearly, "A priest represents the church and whenever a priest takes on a position within the life of a church he makes a declaration of assent that he believes what the church teaches." Our only question is, why did Anthony Freeman want to remain as a priest if he knew what he was teaching was incorrect? *********************************************************************** * * * American Atheists website: http://www.atheists.org * * PO Box 140195 FTP: ftp://ftp.atheists.org * * Austin, TX 78714-0195 * * Voice: (512) 458-1244 Dial-THE-ATHEIST: * * FAX: (512) 467-9525 (512) 458-5731 * * * * Atheist Viewpoint TV: avtv@atheists.org * * Info on American Atheists: info@atheists.org, * * & American Atheist Press include your name and mailing address * * AANEWS -Free subscription: aanews-request@listserv.atheists.org * * and put "info aanews" in message body * * * * This text may be freely downloaded, reprinted, and/other * * otherwise redistributed, provided appropriate point of * * origin credit is given to American Atheists. * * * ***********************************************************************