Last December, French president Francois Hollande announced the creation of a new agency, the “National Observatory of Secularism,” to observe and promote secularism in the nation. Two days later, French interior minister Manuel Valls announced that new government surveillance policies will be aimed at shutting down religious groups including traditionalist Catholics if they show signs [...]

Le cardinal Peter Erdö, archevêque d’Esztergom-Budapest, président de la Conférence épiscopale hongrois et président du Conseil des Conférences Épiscopales d’Europe (CCEE) a fait devant l’assemblée synodale un état des lieux de l’Eglise et de la nouvelle évangélisation en Europe, lundi 8 octobre, dans l’après midi, lors de la deuxième congrégation générale du synode, consacrée à [...]

Even though euthanasia is not a EU competence, Sophie in ‘t Veld MEP, chair of the European Parliament Platform for Secularism in Politics (EPPSP) is promoting a lunchtime meeting on “Assisted dying – The right to die in dignity, breaking the taboo”. It will be held on Wednesday 9 May 2012 at the European Parliament [...]

As the UK government fights Christians’ right to wear a cross at work before the European Court of Human Rights, Scotland’s top Catholic prelate has called on the faithful to wear the cross “each and every day of their lives.” In his Easter Sunday homily, Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien of Edinburgh said wearing the cross [...]

In his latest book, Equality, Freedom and Religion, Roger Trigg, who runs the Centre for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Kellogg College, argues: “There has been a clear trend for courts in Europe and North America to prioritise equality and non-discrimination above religion, placing the right to religious freedom in danger.” He [...]

Denmark’s Ministry of Church Affairs should be renamed to Ministry of Philosophy of Life in order to accommodate the growing population of Muslims in Denmark. This is the wish of the left wing of the Parliamentary Committee on Church Affairs, said Danish TV2 News. “People have all kinds of faiths and philosophies of life, and [...]

Sophie in ‘t Veld MEP, chair of the European Parliament Platform for Secularism in Politics, is preparing the Platform’s next lunchtime meeting on “The relationship between church and education in Europe”, to be held Wednesday 1 February 2012 at the European Parliament. In the presence of experts Jean Jacques de Gucht, Member of the Flemish [...]

European Dignity Watch informs that the European Parliament Platform for Secularism in Politics (EPPSP) hold a meeting on 29 June 2011 during which an unexpected and controversial debate took place on the role of secularism and religion within the public sphere, with strong views expressed on both sides. As informed by Talpa in a previous [...]

La Croix informe qu’un rabbin qui refusait de retirer sa kippa s’est vu sommé, mardi 31 mai, de quitter l’enceinte du tribunal où son affaire était jugée. Le président de chambre de la Cour d’appel de Paris, Marcel Foulon, aurait demandé au rabbin Raphaël Banon de «retirer sa kippa ou de sortir». C’est en tout [...]

This Talpa made a short promenade out of its usual underground galleries and attended the European Parliamentary Platform for Secularism in Politics. The audience was made of about 50 people, many of whom just moved by curiousity, as ourselves. Chairwoman Sophie in ‘t Veld, Liberal Dutch MEP, presided alone the gathering due to a technical [...]