Bob Bowie

Dr Williams sets out a fresh and original vision of how religious tradition – Christianity in particular – can help ground human rights thinking in ways that protect human life from violence, abuse or inequality.

For more go to this link

I love British Library Exhibitions. Running from 31 October 2008 – 1 March 2009 is “Taking Liberties Exhibition”, the story of the struggle for Britain’s freedoms and rights by uniting the pivotal documents which made or changed political history for the nation including Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights 1689, the Articles of Union 1706, the 1832 Reform Act. 

http://www.bl.uk/takingliberties

Liberty have a new campaign running “Common Values - Common Sense”. You can download a pocket guide to human rights in plain English, as well as a guide to the human rights act. These are very good guides to human rights educators and citizenship teachers, especially those in the UK. See more about it here:

http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/issues/human-rights-act/index.shtml

“”I say that religion isn’t about believing things. It’s ethical alchemy. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness.” Karen Armstrong on Powells.com

I like Karen Armstrong and think that she poses an interesting question for RE teachers. How can we teach children to study religious sources to draw out interpretations which emphasize the compassionate teaching underpinning those traditions?

The news that the High Court supported the Sikh student’s religious expression of wearing a religious bangle at school is a victory for human rights. The right to religious freedom enshrined in the Universal Declaration has always included freedom of religious expression, though that freedom is not unlimited and cannot undermine other rights and liberties. Human rights extend to all, not simply adults, and the acceptance that religion has a place in the public space, including schools, is an essential feature of British life. It differentiates the country from assertively anti-religious secular states which promote athiesm through the exclusion of religion from public expression. Of course the presence of religion in public life should not in any way be allowed to infringe the rights if others to express differing viewpoints. A truly open and cosmopolitan society encourages the market places of ideas.