By Keith Porteous Wood – October 8, 2021 An inquiry commissioned by the Catholic Church into clerical abuse in France has just concluded that victims of both clerics and laicity (teachers, for example) totalled around a third of a million since 1950. In no country in the world has such Read more…
Keith Porteous Wood, spokesperson of IAFT and President of the National Secular Society (UK) cites numerous examples of clerics seemingly not being subjected to French law for failing to report suspected clerical abuse of minors, as has been required since 2000. He argues that fundamental changes are needed for victims Read more…
Keith Porteous Wood, spokesperson of IAFT and President of the National Secular Society (UK) considers the contradictions of the French courts’ final ruling on Cardinal Barbarin’s failure to report suspected clerical abuse of minors and its troubling consequences France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, ruled on 14 April that Read more…
Argentina, 22 February 2021 Dear Friends: First of all, we would like to salute the organizations that are fighting for secularism in Argentina. We invite you (groups with or without legal status) to join OLA (Organizaciones Laicistas Argentinas) whose objective is to articulate actions aimed at demanding equal treatment of Read more…
The publication of the list of immatriculated goods by the Catholic Church, between 1998 and 2015, as a result of a legal breach that has allowed the registration in the name of the Catholic Church of the historical heritage of religious origin has been accompanied by a shameful government report Read more…
by Keith Porteous Wood President of the National Secular Society (NSS) and spoke-person of the International Association of Freethought Fri, 05 Feb 2021 The misery which women and children faced for decades highlights the damage that can be done when states leave religious authority unchecked, says NSS president Keith Porteous Read more…
By Keith Porteous Wood, spokesperson of l’Association Internationale de la Libre Pensée, and president of the National Secular Society (of the United Kingdom) December 2020 Last month, the Pope’s former Ambassador to France, ex-Papal Nuncio Luigi Ventura, was tried for sexually assaulting five young men, including a Paris City Hall Read more…
Speech of the French Free Thought on the occasion of the rallies of the International Day of Free Thought of 20 September 2020 Dear friends, dear comrades, Today is the International Day of Free Thought. I remind you that this initiative was taken at the second international congress of the Read more…
The breach of secularism is 150 years old By Maria Mantello For the anniversary of September 20, I am still thinking of the great mayor of Rome, Ernesto Nathan, who clearly marked the progressive turning point in history through the Breach of Porta Pia. In his address to the Capitol Read more…
A BLOG BY KEITH PORTEOUS WOOD* Do French clerics carry “get out of jail free” cards? In March, a most egregious infraction of secularism in France passed almost unnoticed. Former priest Bernard Preynat was not imprisoned despite having been found guilty of the sexual violence against minors on a huge Read more…