The Campaign For Philosophical Freedom
28 Westerleigh Road
Downend
Bristol BS16 6AH 18 June 2001 Estelle Morris MP, Secretary of State for Education Copy to Michael Mansfield QC Dear Mrs. Morris, Please make a move to introduce a philosophical balance into our schools. As things stand at the moment our children do not have access to the intellectual criticism of the supernatural religions that were invented by our ancestors. There is no need to ban religious education, all that is required is that every child has access to Thomas Paine's book "The Age of Reason". He wrote this criticism of the doctrines and dogmas of religion in 1794. Immediately our children have this balance they will understand why Professor Sir A. J. Ayer of Oxford University made the statement that "Christianity is morally outrageous and intellectually contemptible." Also why professors Atkins and Dawkins of the same university are so hard in their attacks on organised religion. All the time our children are denied access to a rational balance the Government is flying in the face of Article 19 of The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This demands that "everyone" has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Before taking this matter to the European Court of Human Rights we will try and obtain this balance in our schools via your department. We have completely failed to obtain a balance from any of your predecessors in a country where the Church and the state are still established. Yours sincerely Michael Roll Related material on this site: |
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Thomas Paine links Kenneth Griffith's documentary on Thomas Paine - The Most Valuable Englishman Ever - is available on video. Somehow, this documentary crept past the BBC censors and was broadcast in 1982. All requests to the BBC for a repeat have so far been ignored.
Time to Stand Up and Children must choose their own beliefs - two articles by Richard Dawkins | 
