When Michael Gove announced that every state school in England would be sent a copy of the King James Bible to mark the 400th anniversary of its translation the move was, predictably, met with mixed results. One lack-of-funding-crisis later there were doubts over whether the scheme would go ahead at all. Eventually private sponsorship was found and the scheme went forward.
Seems fair enough. The Bible has influenced everything from morality, to culture, to the English language itself. For example, whether you think John Milton’s monumentally influential Paradise Lost is an epic, or it ‘sets your teeth on edge’ and sends you to the ‘land of Nod’, both common phrases which, along with many others, originated from the Bible, its origins in Biblical stories and language is clear.
All this aside, when it comes to something as personal as religion, it seems fair that schoolchildren should have access to a range of a opinions, doesn’t it? We think so and now we ask that you help us to ensure that this is possible by supporting the British Humanist Association’s unique campaign to get a copy of Alom Shaha’s The Young Atheist’s Handbook into every secondary school library in England and Wales.
The website for the YAH 4 Schools campaign states:
Young people have the right to choose to be free from religion; it is not just their parents’ freedom of religion we should respect. We want young people to feel supported, not isolated, if they choose to exercise that right.
To help them reach their funding target of £32,000, you can donate here, and to see what it’s all about, why not get a copy of The Young Atheist’s Handbook?
Growing up in a strict Muslim community in south-east London, Alom Shaha learnt that religion was not to be questioned. Reciting the Qur’an without understanding what it meant was simply a part of life; so, too, was obeying the imam and enduring beatings when he failed to attend the local mosque. But Alom was more drawn to science and its power to illuminate. As a teen, he lived between two worlds: the home controlled by his authoritarian father, and a school alive with books and ideas. In a charming blend of memoir, philosophy and science, Alom explores the questions about faith and the afterlife that we all ponder. This is a book for anyone who wonders what they should believe and how they should live. It’s for those who may need the facts and the ideas, as well as the courage, to break free from inherited beliefs. In this powerful narrative, Alom shows that it is possible to live a compassionate, fulfilling and meaningful life without God.