{"id":14071,"date":"2012-04-16T16:47:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T21:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholiconnection.com\/2012\/04\/england-humanists-try-to-block-catholic-school-founding.html"},"modified":"2012-04-16T16:47:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-16T21:47:00","slug":"england-humanists-try-to-block-catholic-school-founding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonhaines.com\/philosophy\/england-humanists-try-to-block-catholic-school-founding\/","title":{"rendered":"England: Humanists Try to Block Catholic School Founding"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I think many times we have the benevolent impression that we are given from humanists: “We want the best for mankind without worrying about an afterlife. Let's focus on improving the world now.” Now of course not all humanists are the same but in England, where they are more militant, I'm starting to think they are…  Two of the most central humanist principles are liberty and reason (usually in the paraplegic sense where only two of Aristotles four causes are recognizes), but liberty appears to only apply to those who humanists deem to deserve it and not to those who disagree with them. The Brittish Humanist Assocation is fighting to stop the construction of a new Catholic school merely because, well, it is religious.  <\/span><\/p>\n

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Humanists to mount legal challenge against new schools<\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n
By Madeleine Teahan<\/a><\/span> on Thursday, 12 April 2012<\/span><\/div>\n

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A legal challenge will be launched against the building of two new Catholic schools in southwest London. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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The British Humanist Association (BHA) and the Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign (RISC) are planning to mount a legal challenge against Richmond Council, following an application by the Diocese of Westminster to build a Catholic primary and secondary school.<\/span>
A spokesman for the Diocese of Westminster defended the application stating: \u201cThe Diocese of Westminster believe that Richmond Council have acted entirely <\/span>
<\/a>properly in respect of proposals for the establishment of new Voluntary Aided Catholic primary and secondary schools in the borough. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\u201cThe proposed court case being brought by RISC and the British Humanist Association, a national organisation that campaigns against the existence of all schools with a religious character, seeks to use procedural arguments to prevent an entirely legitimate proposal to increase the educational choices available for parents and children in Richmond.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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The spokesman said that the establishment of the new schools would provide greater diversity of choice in the Richmond area. He continued: \u201cThe proposed new schools are also likely to bring additional benefits by releasing places at other local schools which are currently being taken up by those who would prefer a Catholic education.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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The BHA argue that if the council ratifies the plans they are flouting new rules from the Education Act 2011 that state: \u201cIf a local authority in England think a new school needs to be established in their area, they must seek proposals for the establishment of an Academy\u2019 [i.e. a Free School]. Proposals are then adjudicated by the Department for Education (DfE).\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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A statement from the BHA continues: \u201cRichmond Council has been clear that it thinks the borough needs a Catholic secondary school to complement its existing Catholic primaries, and that there is also a need for a new Catholic primary to provide additional places. They say that the Act allows them to go ahead with Voluntary Aided Catholic schools without first following the above rule. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\u201cThe BHA is concerned that this offers a way of opening religious schools in the face of public opposition by the back door, avoiding the competition that would otherwise be required.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Now this is my idea of equality!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

But Richmond Council said that any legal action from the BHA and RISC was premature. A spokesman for the council said: \u201cThe Council has not yet taken decisions in respect of the Diocese\u2019s proposal, or in respect of the use of the site in Twickenham and therefore, any judicial review challenge would be premature.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a classic example of why relativism does not work. We can all have different views but in the end, the relativist is going to want to impose his view–relativism. The Brittish Humanist Assocation is willing to violate its most central value (liberty) to stop education. What did the Catholic education system in Europe do in last thousand years? No, that doesn't matter because we want the best for mankind. We want 'progress', relativism where we can all get along because no one disagrees. Well I disagree.<\/span>

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That reminds me, the other day I was walking down Michigan Avenue in Chicago after dropping of my broken computer at Best Buy's Geek Squad (for the second time) and along the way a Greenpeace volunteer called out to me “You look like a nice progressive humanist thinker”. Was he trying to flatter me? All I could say was “It depends on your definition of progress and your definition of humanist…science is useful, God is the greatest humanist and the greatest progress is recognizing and acting according to the natural law.” <\/span>

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It's kind of erregant to defend yourself by saying “we just want the best for mankind.” I would hope everyone does. So you aren't crack dealers just living only for yourselves. Congratulations. That's a first step now its about finding out what actually is good for the world. I can tell you right now that reason and liberty are good for the world, as defined here<\/a>. License is not the same thing as freedom and the modern empirical sciences are not synonymous with reason. To actually live this way is to do this: <\/span>
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 However, most people when they claim it just look like this guy and they will realize it eventually <\/span><\/p>\n

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