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ORGANIZER:MAILTO:leicesterskeptics@googlemail.com
DTSTART:20081118T193000Z
DTEND:20081118T223000Z
LOCATION:The Park\n5-9 Hotel Street\, Leicester\, LE1 5AW
TRANSP:OPAQUE
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DTSTAMP:20081203T231045Z
DESCRIPTION:Skeptics in the Pub\, Leicester\n\nSubject:The Skeptic in the Courtroom\nSpeaker:David Allen Green\n\nThis talk will address\, in an objective and balanced manner\, how the law deals with certain controversial issues of belief and non-belief. Prompted by recent developments\, the talk will explore whether the courtroom is really the appropriate forum for settling disputes that relate to controversial issues of belief and non-belief.\n\nFor example\, the Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951\, the last remnant of the old witchcraft legislation\, was repealed in May 2008. Mediums and psychics are now be under a new and modern legal regime in respect of any unfair commercial practices. But how do these new sanctions work in practice? Are mediums and psychics who adopt questionable practices more or less likely to face legal action?\n\nThe ancient common law offence of blasphemy may also soon be abolished. A recent High Court decision has effectively narrowed its scope in any case. There is the new offence of incitement to religious hatred. But can the legal process really deal with what can be questions of religious dispute?\n\nOther examples of where the law grapples with issues of belief and non-belief include the "Evolution" trials in United States\, the Holocaust denial trials\, and when religious groups seek to incorporate aspects of religious law into more general legal systems.\n\nThe talk will describe and assess these and other legal developments\, using practical examples. It will also offer practical suggestions for both skeptics and non-skeptics on how legal regimes may affect them. \n\nDavid is a solicitor in London with wide experience of the communications\, media\, and public sector fields. He  is the author of the chapters on the restrictions that criminal law places on free speech in the current edition of Law and the Media (http://books.google.com/books?id=n-EbAdB9jzwC).  He is also regularly attends (and used to co-organise) Skeptics in the Pub in London.
SUMMARY:Skeptics in the Pub: The Skeptic in the Courtroom\, David Allen Green
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