The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) has many and diverse member organisations (MOs). They have different cultural backgrounds, speak different languages and face different problems. And in an ideal world they will learn from one another. But this requires communication.

In the neighbourhood of Rabori, in a distant suburb of Mumbai in India, we were told that Muslim girls are making great strides in education. Rabori is part slum, part tenement blocks, and a Muslim ghetto. For girls from this environment to shine academically and proceed towards their goal of becoming doctors and engineers is nothing short of remarkable.

In this article I argue that the massively excessive wealth of religious organizations is as big a scandal as their paedophilia - and it should be completely exposed by way of a film. I would call this film Pay To Pray: the true story of religion.

The Evangelical-Lutheran church in Norway is funded by the national budget, due to the state-church system. A system of compensation to the religious minorities is alleviating much, but not all, of this partiality. Many religious institutions also receive other forms of government funding.

Not long ago, the notion that the U.S. government should not support religious institutions with public funds was uncontroversial; indeed, it was seen as a defining characteristic distinguishing America’s proud tradition of secularism from foreign governments’ wrongheaded intermingling of church and state.

In India the state is not supposed to support any religious activity since it is a secular nation. But there are strong links between the two under the guise of charitable work, social work and what have you.

The concept of ideological pluralism is first found in the Belgian constitution of 7 February 1831, one of the most progressive in Europe. In Belgium in 1827, for example, in a historic compromise between liberals and Catholics, a special legal relationship was sealed between the Belgian State and the Church. A return to the traditions of the old regime was ruled out.

Agence France Press reports that the Bangladesh High Court – the highest court in the country – has outlawed punishments ordered under Islamic sharia law.

The Bangladesh High Court has outlawed punishments handed down by religious edict, or fatwa, after a series of cases of Muslim women being beaten and caned, a state lawyer said on 9 July 2010.

An interview with Kristin Mile, Secretary General of the Norwegian Humanist Association

The 2011 World Humanist Congress will be held in Oslo, Norway, in August next year. Humanists, atheists, freethinkers, secularists, skeptics and others will meet for the tri-annual congress. IHN takes a look into the preparations for such a large event.

Freethinkers and sceptics everywhere tread a path that owes much of its illumination to the efforts of eighteenth-century philosopher David Hume. The Humanist Society of Scotland is to mark the tri-centenary of Hume’s birth on Saturday, 23 April 2011, with a “March to Enlightenment” along the Royal Mile.