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** Your daily media briefing - Thursday 16 April
In the Media <[link removed]> is our daily collection of news and commentary related to secularism, available delivered to your inbox. You can also read the latest news <[link removed]> and opinion <[link removed]> and listen to our podcasts <[link removed]> on our website.
** Secularism in the media
* Coronavirus: Top Freemason in ‘God’s revenge’ row - NSS quoted <[link removed]>
The leader of Scotland's Freemasons has become embroiled in a controversy over claims that coronavirus is a punishment from God. NSS CEO Stephen Evans said he is using the pandemic to "push an anti-secularist message".
The Times (£)
* Poles divided on ‘draconian’ abortion, sex education bills <[link removed]>
Polish lawmakers began debating draft laws Wednesday that would impose a near-total ban on abortion, criminalize sex education in schools and equate homosexuality with pedophilia, revisiting proposals backed by a Catholic group that were shelved after a popular outcry.
AP News
* Police in Germany arrest four Islamic State suspects planning attack on US bases <[link removed]>
German authorities say police have arrested four suspected members of the Islamic State group alleged to be planning an attack on American military facilities.
The Independent
* Opposition to Samaritan’s Purse Central Park field hospital grows <[link removed]>
Activists with the Reclaim Pride Coalition holding signs saying "help not hate" called out New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the leadership of Mount Sinai just across the park, for allowing the organization headed by evangelist Franklin Graham to treat New Yorkers while adhering to an anti-gay statement of faith.
Religion News Service
* Virginia becomes first southern US state to sign comprehensive LGBTQ protections into law <[link removed]>
State governor Ralph Northam has signed the Virginia Values Act, which will protect people from discrimination when it comes into force in July.
Attitude
* Donald Trump invited a pastor who said gays “want to recruit your kids” to deliver Easter blessing <[link removed]>
Bishop Harry Jackson has gotten national media attention since 2012 for his opposition to LGBTQ rights and extreme statements, which include saying that LGBTQ people are "folks who cannot reproduce who want to recruit your kids" and said that the movement for marriage equality proved that the U.S. was "just like during the times of Hitler."
LGBTQ Nation
* Pakistani Christians refused Covid-19 aid because of faith <[link removed]>
Some Christians in Pakistan have reported being refused Covid-19 aid because of their faith.
Christian Today
* 'Child sex abuse in Pakistan’s religious schools is endemic' <[link removed]>
An investigation by The Associated Press found dozens of police reports, known here as First Information Reports, alleging sexual harassment, rape and physical abuse by Islamic clerics teaching in madrassas or religious schools throughout Pakistan, where many of the country's poorest study.
AP News
* 'The global crisis hammers home this truth: people matter more than religion' <[link removed]>
'We are slowly waking up to the reality that we will thrive only when authentic concern for people drives every aspect of society.'
The Guardian
* 'How do you become, formally, not-a-Catholic? You take the law into your own hands' <[link removed]>
'The church has tried to make it so it can't be divorced. Yet people do want to leave. In droves.'
The Guardian
** Latest from the NSS
* Charity and homophobia shouldn’t mix <[link removed]>
The proliferation of religious charities openly expressing anti-LGBT views should prompt us to rethink religion's privileged position in charity law, says Megan Manson.
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National Secular Society
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