No one else will, it seems. The Police have been issued with a 300 page diversity book that tells them how do deal with Witches and atheists among others.
There are some gems though.
The advice is contained in a 300-page “diversity handbook” which gives officers a range of “dos and don’ts” when approaching followers of a range of religions and other beliefs, from atheism to Zoroastrianism.
Sigh… Atheism is not a belief, nor is it a religion. It is a lack of belief in gods. So we’re off to a fine start.
During the Beltane Bash that celebrates the festival of Beltane (around the end of April), it has become a custom for some to wear athames in various sizes, sometimes sword size, on a belt, as a visible symbol of their pagan faith and to wear them in the streets.
These are not intended to be used as an offensive weapon but might be misinterpreted as such.
There’s probably a moral in there somewhere. If you are caught carrying a knife, claim paganism and that it is ceremonial and, no, you can’t touch it. It’s sacred.
The stuff on atheists is a chuckle, though.
In nine pages relating to atheists, the handbook gives advice on places of worship, Holy texts and prayer, stating: “There are no designated places of worship.”
Er, that’s because atheism is a lack of belief in gods – the clue is in the name. It comes from the Greek theos – god and a – without.
“There are no prescribed texts. Atheists have no prayers.”
Well, not believing in gods, that should be pretty obvious.
It adds: “Atheists have no dietary requirements other than those of the individual.”
That’s because not belonging to any religion, atheists have no mad mullah or equivalent telling them what to eat based upon the deranged ramblings of some desert dwelling goat-herd from the middle ages or earlier. Atheists tend to make up their own minds about such things. The clue is in the name.
It also gives officers a handy guide to key atheist philosophers, and famous agnostic thinkers such as Bertrand Russell, Robert G. Ingersoll and Thomas Henry Huxley.
Why?
It warns: “Be aware that Atheists might feel offended by an assumption of faith,” it warns.
I would have thought the assumption – based upon evidence – of the commission of a crime should be of rather more concern, but maybe I’ve misinterpreted the role of the police in all of this.
Someone, somewhere thought that the commission of this stupid book was necessary and someone somewhere, thought that funding it (with our money) was okay, so signed it off. Someone, somewhere needs reminding that the country is in financial difficulties and that the police have more important things to worry about.
Lord help us…
I’d like to see the handbook before commenting on it.
I don’t really trust the Telegraph (or Mail who are the only papers who seem to mention it) to be telling the truth about anything these days.
here
Thanks. I wonder why they don’t just publish it as a searchable PDF?
Might save on printing costs too.
Who knows? My main point is that it isn’t necessary in the first place. All members of the public should be treated equitably by the police irrespective of their beliefs, colour of their skin and so on.
From the constant shrieking at 300 decibels of the last couple of years, many self labelled militant atheists seem keen to be identified as ‘not Christians’. More a constant ‘Whatever he believes in, I believe the opposite’, and a VERY firm belief in that, rather than a lack of belief in anything?
An inverse god perhaps? Dog?
I believe in Dog đ
It doesn’t seem to occur to anybody that there might be police who are atheists.
I don’t think that “militant atheist” is a term that atheists apply to themselves.
As for “not christian” or “not muslim” come to that, it is a difficult one. Do I make it clear I’m not a shrieking hate filled fanatic determined to return the world to the seventh century or that I’m not an industrial scale child fucker.
âThere are no designated places of worship.â
Funny.
My last comment didn’t appear. So to recap, if you’re an atheist, why sign off with “Lord help us”?
Facetiousness.
Aha. But I think the original handbook is funnier. I have always been an atheist. All my family were atheists before me (on both sides). All my children are atheist.
So now to be helpfully informed that I have no place of worship, no common book of prayer, special dietary requirements or anything particularly in common with other ‘atheists’ is just about the funniest thing I have heard for ages.
Surely, if there is any sanity in this world, that handbook was written just a little bit tongue in cheek? Or are we the insane ones and they are normal?
My comment also disappeared, Mark. What I was saying was that atheists are very much religious and more dogmatic than any other religion I’ve seen. High Priest Dawkins is a case in point, then hiding crosses in chapels and painting signs on the sides of buses and so on and so on.
The Telegraph has the Beeb’s latest trick on this today.
Somebody misspelt LORED. Again.
All religion is fiction and superstition.
I don’t think anyone disagrees but I think you are reading too much into the Telegraph article and not enough of the ‘300 page book’.
Firstly it isn’t a ‘300 page book’ it is a website. The ‘300 pages’ may come from the obfuscation by the Metropolitan Police in releasing an FoI request. They have literally turned the site in to a document! So your claim that police are being issued with a 300 page book is entirely wrong at the outset.
Secondly it appears that this has been designed as a ‘resource’ or ‘working tool’ for police officers yet the sub-text of the Telegraph article that you have picked up on is that it is yet another example of ‘political correctness gone mad’.
I disagree. Not everyone knows everything, so having a place that officers can see concise information about a subject that might be seen to be insensitive to ask an individual has to be a good thing. It’s not a training manual, it is not without errors and omissions but they themselves say that it will be ‘updated, amended and extended to meet the needs of its users’.
I think you’ve been spending too long reading partisan articles on the Telegraph website and not enough time thinking and checking of the facts before hammering out yet another diatribe.
Mark, I found it amusing, too. There is no need for such a resource. Everyone should be treated equally under the law without fear or favour.
James, your comment appeared on another post. I responded there. There are no high priests. Dawkins is one man, who speaks his own mind. Nothing more, nothing less. Some atheists are indeed dogmatic. So are some religious people.
Voyager, what part of the “humour” tag bypassed you?
But as I said above. Not everyone knows everything.
I listened to an A&E doctor asking an elderly patient who said they had been ‘bitten by a terrier’ what that was.
The patient told him it was a dog.
Now, a you might reasonably expect someone bright enough to be a doctor to know what a terrier was but he didn’t. I would not expect some police officers (who often are not as academically gifted as our health professionals) to know all the differences between religions (or what atheism is) if they have had little or no contact with them. So I think that creating a resource that officers can use to inform themselves is a benefit rather than something to moan about.
The part that was not humorous. Which would be pretty much all of it. Especially since it is not a book at all, let alone a ‘stupid’ one.
“Now, a you might reasonably expect someone bright enough to be a doctor to know what a terrier was but he didnât.”
Was he foreign?
How should the Police deal with witches? I would suggest a ducking stool, but it makes the Witches soggy and impossible to light. Arf.
18 – Then the police should deal with christians by crucifying them.
No. I’d imagine he fills in his ‘diversity forms’ with ‘White British’. Very well spoken and competent enough at his job. Just didn’t seem to know a terrier was.
(The elderly patient was my 85 year-old mother who had been bitten by her neighbours playful terrier and had left it a day before going to her local GP as ‘I don’t want to be any trouble’ – he sent her to A&E and she ended up with a night in hospital and an operation on her tendon and a skin graft!)