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I could not understand if you are looking for syllabus of M.Sc in Environmental Course for your coursework or for preparation of entrance exam. If you are looking for coursework in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; here you go.The M. Sc. programme is spread over four semesters. It carries 64 credits and comprises of four different components viz: I) Teaching II) Lab Work III) Field Work and IV) Dissertation.Distribution of credits for M. Sc. Programme is:Total Credits for M. Sc. Degree Programme = 64 credits I) Teaching = 50 creditsII) Lab work, Field work and Dissertation = 14 creditsDistribution of credits for teaching (Total 50 credits)i) Core courses = 26 credits ii) Optional courses = 24 creditsDistribution of credits for Lab work, Field work and Dissertation (Total 14 credits)a) Lab work = 6 credits (Lab Work I =3 credits; Lab Work II =3 credits)b) Field work = 3 creditsc) Dissertation = 5 creditsI) Teaching (50 credits)Teaching is a major component of the programme. It shares 50 credits out of total 64. The remaining three components i.e. Lab work, field work and dissertation share remaining 14 creditsVarious courses offered under M. Sc. programme are categorized as:A) Core courses B) Non Credit courses and C) Optional courses.Altogether there are 46 courses: 13 as core, 2 non credit courses and 31 optional courses. All core courses are offered in I and II semesters and all optional courses are offered in III and IV semester of the M. Sc programme.All Core Courses are of 2 credits each and compulsory for all the students. Non credit courses do not carry any credits, however, as per the JNU ordinance, completion of such courses by every student is a mandatory requirement for the award of the degree. Optional courses are of 3 credits each and cover all specialized courses across different sub disciplines of environmental sciences namely; Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, Geology, Chemistry and Biology. There is a running list of 31 optional courses, out of which students will have to choose any 8 optional courses (four in each semester) to obtain 24 credits.II) Lab work, Field work and Dissertation (14 credits)a) Lab work (6 credits)The lab work component is spread over first two semesters and is called as Lab work I and Lab work II to be completed in I and II semesters respectively. Under Lab Work I and II, sets of experiments specially designed for M. Sc. students by faculty members of the school are carried out in M. Sc. lab or in the lab of the concerned faculty member during the period of five working days in the afternoon.b) Field work (3 credits)To strengthen the field work component and to have a wider exposure of the field conditions, students will undergo extensive field work which will help them in developing the understanding of different aspects of environmental sciences. Field work is completed in second semester. Each student will submit his/her field work report for evaluation.c) Dissertation (5 credits)Each student will work for M. Sc. Project under the supervision of formally assigned supervisor in the school. Assigning of supervisor will be based on academic interest shown by the student in research specialization of the concerned faculty member followed by the consent given by the faculty member to supervise the project work of that particular student. Student shall complete the process of academic interaction to obtain teachers consent to supervise his/her project work by the end of second semester. The work on research project will start in 3rd semester under the supervision of concerned faculty member in his /her lab and will be completed by 4th semester with writing and submission of dissertation. Dissertation will be evaluated by a 3 member expert committee. Students will have to present their work and defend it in an open viva- voce.LIST OF COURSESA) Core Courses (Compulsory for all)(Total courses 13, Total credits: 13 x 2 =26)Remedial Mathematics ES-101ORRemedial Biology ES-102Environmental Chemistry ES-103Earth processes ES-104Ecology ES-105Statistics ES-106Environmental Pollution ES-107Natural hazards and disaster management ES-108Environmental Impact Assessment ES-109Energy and Environment ES-110Remote sensing and Geoinformatics ES-111Environmental Biochemistry and Toxicology ES-112Marine environment ES 113Soil Science ES-114B) Non- Credit Courses (Compulsory for all)Current Environmental Issues ES-11516. Scientific Writings and Ethics ES-116C) Optional Courses – (Total courses- 31 of 3 credits each; Students will have tochoose any 8 courses to obtain total 24 credits)1. Environmental Modeling ES-2012. Climatology ES-2023. Meteorology ES-2034. Noise Pollution ES-2045. Environmental Physics ES-2056. Environmental instrumentation and techniques ES-2067. Geochemistry ES-2078. Groundwater Hydrology ES-2089. Oceanography ES-20910. Natural resource Management ES-21011. Glaciology ES-21112. Biogeochemistry ES-21213. Environmental Geology ES-21314. Water Resources ES-21415. Air Pollution Chemistry ES-21516. Water Pollution Chemistry ES-21617. Soil Pollution Chemistry ES-21718. Solid and Hazardous Wastes Management ES-21819. Metrology ES-21920. Pollution Biology ES-22021. Biodiversity and conservation ES-22122. Forest ecology ES-22223. Microbial Ecology ES-22324. Ecosystem Dynamics ES-22425. Environmental Biophysics ES-22526. Ecology and sustainable development ES-22627. Environmental Xenobiotics and human health ES-22728. Fundamentals of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology ES-22829. Applied biotechnology and Bioremediation ES-22930. Eco-toxicology ES-23031. Environmental and Occupational health ES-231D) Lab Work1. Lab work I (3 credits) ES-2322. Lab work II (3 credits) ES-233E) Field Work (3 credits) ES-234F) Project Work (5 credits) ES-235-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------COURSE CONTENTA) Core CoursesRemedial Mathematics ES-101 (for Non- Mathematics students)Functions- polynomial, logarithmic, exponential, absolute value, trigonometric. Limits, Indeterminate forms, Continuity. Derivability. Differentiation of simple mathematical functions- product rule, quotient rule and chain rule. Integration- by parts, substitution and by partial fractions. Linear differential equations and their solution. Introduction to Matrices and Determinants. Introduction to Vectors- addition, subtraction, multiplication of vectors. Equation of Straight Line and Solving Linear System of Equations.OR2. Remedial Biology ES-102 (for Non- Biology students)History and scope of ecology, Evolution of biosphere, Diversity of life forms. Biological communities, species interaction, Communities properties, succession. Plant diversity and nomenclature with major classes of plants; Phytogeographical regions; Rare and threatened plants and exploration of plant wealth. Animal diversity and categories of animals; Rare and threatened species of mammals, aves, reptiles, pisces etc.; Exploration and conservation of faunal wealth. Microbial diversity, bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes; Microbial diversity in man-made ecosystems and natural ecosystems. Importance of flora and fauna in nutrient cycling, its effect, degradation and metabolism.3. Environmental chemistry ES-103Fundamental Chemistry: Elements, Chemical bonding, chemical reactions and equations, Organic functional groups, classes of organic compounds. Free radical reactions, catalytic processes.Elemental cycles (C, N, S, O) and their environmental significance.Fossil fuels: their types, properties, combustion and environmental implications.Atmospheric constituents, Green house gases and climatic changes. Chlorofluorocarbons and their substitutes. Photochemical smog. Water quality and wastewater treatment. Role of soaps, detergents and phosphorus fertilizers in eutrophication. Persistent organic pollutants: pesticides usage, toxicity and their environmental degradation. Earth crust and weathering mechanism; Soil formation and chemical characteristics. Chemical classes of Hazardous waste, their effects on the environment. Chemical treatment of hazardous wastes.4. Earth Processes ES-104Evolution of various branches of Geology. Origin of the earth. Primary differentiation and formation of core, mantle, crust, atmosphere and hydrosphere. Magma generation and formation of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Concept of Minerals and Rocks. Weathering, erosion, transportation and deposition of earth’s materials by running water, wind and glaciers. Formation of land forms and sedimentary rocks. Plate tectonics- sea floor spreading, mountain building, evolution of continents and structural deformation. Thermal, magnetic and gravitational fields of the earth. Concepts of engineering and urban geology.5. Ecology ES-105History and scope of ecology, autecoloty, synecology, population, community, biome, tolerance range and limiting factors. Distinguishing characters of forests grasslands, arid lands and wetlands; community organization- concept of habitat, functional role and niche, key stone species, dominant species, ecotone, edge effect. Analytical characters, synthetic characters like forms, species diversity and measurement of diversity. Population dynamics, models for single and interacting population, stable points, stable cycles, chaos competition, prey predation, etc. Ecological succession, primary and secondary processes in successions, models of successions, climax community and types of climax. Vegetation of India. Fundamentals of Microbial ecology. Microbial metabolism and microbial interaction. Biochemistry of biological nitrogen fixation and other microbial Pathways in terms of enzymology.6. Statistics ES-106Measures of central tendency. Measures of dispersion. Measures of skewness and kurtosis. Probability- definition, addition and multiplication laws,concept of random variable. Probability distributions- binomial, poisson and normal. Sampling theory- hypothesis testing and interval estimation for large samples. Chi-square test, t-test and F-test of significance. Correlation and regression. analysis. One way analysis of variance.7. Environmental Pollution ES-107Linkage between energy, environment and development. Human population issues. Definition of pollution. Different types of pollution- Air, Water and soil and their local, regional and global aspects. Air: Sources of air pollutants, their behavior in the atmosphere. Effects of air pollutants on humans, animals, plants and properties. Control approaches. Water: Sources, effects, water pollution treatment. Soil: Sources and nature of soil pollution and its harmful effects. Solid waste: generation, collection, environmental effects and safe disposal practices. Environmental problems associated with noise pollution, oil pollution and radioactive pollution.8. Natural hazards and disaster management ES-108Introduction to Hazards- Hazard classification-types of hazards ;Natural Hazards: causes, (continental drift, plate tectonics, sea floor spreading, isostacy, etc.,) distribution pattern, consequences and mitigation: Earthquake, Tsunami, Volcanoes, Cyclone, Flood, Drought, Landslide, cold and heat hazards, forest fire, etc.,- causes, types, distribution adverse effects, etc.,- Disaster introduction- disaster Management Capability-Vulnerability- risk- preparedness and mitigation- Disaster management cycle- community planning education and Engineered structure /structural strengthening techniques- Hazard zonation and mapping- Risk Reduction Measures.9. Environmental Impact Assessment ES-109Linkage between development and environment; global commons: carrying capacity: origin and development of EIA: relationship of EIA to sustainable development: EIA in project planning and implementation: EIA process: evaluation of proposed actions, scoping and base line study, identification and prediction of impacts, mitigation measures. Comparison of alternatives, review and decision making, public participation and compensatory actions: green belts: National Environmental Policies and guidelines in India. Conditions and approach for EIS review. Case studies: river valley projects: thermal power plants: mining projects: oil refineries and petrochemicals.10. Energy and Environment ES-110Energy resources and their exploitation, Sun as source of energy- nature of its radiation, Conventional energy sources: coal, oil, biomass and nature gas, non-conventional energy sources: hydroelectric power, tidal, wind, geothermal energy, solar collectors, photovoltaics, solar ponds, nuclear-fission and fusion, magneto-hydrodynamic power (MHD), Energy use pattern in different parts of the world and its impact on the environment. CO2 emission in atmosphere. Mechanism of radiation action on living systems- Stochastic and Non-stochastic effects; delayed effects, radioactivity from nuclear reactors, fuel processing and radioactive waste, hazards related to power plants, terrestrial and non terrestrial radiation, dose from environment and nuclear radiations, ultraviolet radiations, pathways analysis and dose assessment, radiologic age dating, radioactivity risk assessment, criterion for safe exposure.11. Remote sensing and Geo- informatics ES-111Introduction to Remote sensing & GIS. Principles of remote sensing & GIS. Spectra of Environmental Components. Terrestrial and Extra terrestrial satellites in Remote sensing and GIS. Remote sensing & GIS applications on Ocean, Atmosphere, Land, Geology, Water Resources (Ground water and Surface water). Cryosphere, Disaster, Defence studies. Use of softwares in Remote sensing and GIS to solve Environmental problems including Groundwater Exploration, Rainwater Harvesting, Biomass analysis and its relationship with Georesource evaluation. Use of Remote sensing and GIS in development of Early warning system to monitor Agriculture. Identification of Genetically modified crops in correlation with water quality and soil moisture by using Remote sensing & GIS. Applications of Remote sensing and GIS in early warning of Tsunami, Earthquake, Snowfall, Global warming, Forest fire, Landslide, Landsubsidance. Use of LANDSAT, SPOT, IRS ERS, RADARSAT and Extra terrestrial satellite data by using ERDAS, ARCGIS, ERMAPPER, IDRISI ENVI and S+ software for solving the Environmental problems. Sun-earth cosmic connection to understand environment of the Earth.12. Environmental Biochemistry and Toxicology ES-112Environmental physiology with considerations of intermediary metabolism- approaches for studying energy metabolism and body temperature changes; Thermo regulation and adaptation. Oxygen uptake from the environment, respiration and metabolism. Electron transport system and oxidative phosphorylation. Photosynthesis: C1, C3, C4 pathways and their regulation. Photorespiration. Biochemistry of altered membrane permeability, free radical formation, lipid peroxidation, lysosomal degradation, superoxide dismutase. Environmental pollutants and their effects on living system. Biochemical approaches to the detoxification of xenobiotics through cellular metabolism.13. Marine Environment ES-113Introduction-Classification- open ocean- shallow marine and deep sea environment- marine resources- marine ecology- marine organisms-productivity- coastal environment-coastal water movement- beaches- coastal dunes- barrier islands- cliffed coast- deltas-coast line- estuaries-mangroves- lagoons- salt marshes- coral reefs- classification of marine sediments- clay minerals- biogenic silica- evaporites- nutrient in oceans- carbon and global climate change- marine pollution- law of the sea.14. Soil Science ES-114Soil forming rocks and minerals- Classification- Weathering of rocks and minerals- Processes of weathering and factors affecting them. Soil formation- Factors of soil formation- Soil forming processes- Profile development- Definition of soil- Soil composition. Soil physical properties- Soil separates and particle size distribution- Soil texture and structure- Bulk density, particle density, pore space, soil air, soil temperature, soil water, soil consistence - Significance of physical properties to plant growth. Soil chemical properties- Soil colloids- Inorganic colloids- Clay minerals- amorphous- Ion exchange reactions- Organic colloids- Soil organic matter- Decomposition- Humus formation- Significance on soil fertility, Soil reaction- Biological properties of soil- nutrient availability.B) Non Credit Courses (Compulsory for all )1. Current Environmental Issues ES-115Contemporary and emerging environmental issues of local, regional and global significance. Broadly the topics will be pertaining to: i) Linkage between population, development and environment ii) climate change ii) stratospheric Ozone depletion iii) water resources iv) environmental toxicants and human health v) biodiversity conservation and vi) environmental episodic events, etc.2. Scientific Writings and Ethics ES-116Overview of Moral and Ethical questions in Scientific writing. Overall outline and structure of the article/manuscript. Description, value, and development of points/outlines before writing. Screening of Material for inclusion within the structure of the manuscript.Importance of Authors and their sequence, importance of clear title, abstract or summary. Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Numbers and statistics, Tables and Figures, Discussion. Writing Style: Active or passive, Punctuation, use of commas, apostrophe, semicolon and colon. Avoiding duplication and repetition. Importance of revisions and references.Plagiarism, paraphrasing and copy write violation. Consequences of plagiarism. Why not to fudge, tinker, fabricate or falsify data. Examples.C) Optional Courses1. Environmental Modeling ES - 201Role of Modeling in Environmental Science. Model Classification- Deterministic Models, Stochastic Models, Dynamic Models, Steady State Models. General Steps Involved in Modeling, Mass Balancing, Energy Balancing, Microbial Growth Kinetics- Exponential Growth Model, Logistic Growth Model, Monod Equation, Two Species Population Growth Model of Competition. Lotka-Volterra Prey-Predator Model, Oxygen Sag Model, Gaussian Plume Model.2. Climatology ES - 202Elements of climate, climate controls, Earth's radiation balance, latitudinal and seasonal variation of insolation, temperature, pressure, wind belts, humidity, cloud formation and precipitation, water balance, spatial and temporal patterns of climate parameters, Air masses and fronts, SW and NE monsoon, jet stream, tropical and extratropical cyclone, ENSO, QBO. Classification of climate- Koppen's and Thornthwaite' scheme. Climate change3. Meteorology ES - 203Meteorology fundamentals- Thermal structure of the atmosphere and its composition, Pressure, temperature, wind, humidity, moisture variables, virtual temperature, radiation, radiation from sun, solar constant, surface and planetary albedo, emission and absorption of terrestrial radiation, radiation windows, greenhouse effect, net radiation budget, atmospheric stability diagrams, turbulence, diffusion, dry and moist air parcel, thermodynamic diagrams, T-phigram and mixing height, thermodynamics of dry and moist air, specific gas constant, adiabatic and isoentropic processes, entropy and enthalpy, adiabatic processes of moist air4. Noise Pollution ES - 204Basic properties of sound waves, sound propagation, Definition of Noise, Health Effects of Noise, Concept of sound pressure level (SPL), decibel scale, addition of decibels, Frequency Response of Human Ear, Equal Loudness Contours, Weighting Networks, Octave Bands, Measurement and analysis of sound. Percentile Indices of Noise, Equivalent sound pressure level (Leq), Noise pollution level (NPL), Sound exposure level (SEL), Traffic noise index (TNI), Day-Night level (DNL), noise criteria curves; Noise sources; Industrial Noise and Traffic Noise, Noise control and abatement measures; absorbing materials, barrier materials and damping materials. Acoustic silencers and mufflers.5. Environmental Physics ES - 205Concept and scope of environmental Physics with respect to human environment; built environment; urban environment; global environment. Laws of thermodynamics, irreversible thermodynamics and entropy. Wind chill, Hypothermia. Heat balance (steady and transient), Electromagnetic Radiation, Thermal regulation in buildings- Thermal insulation, Thermal conduction effects, Convection effects, Radiation effects, U-values, Energy use and efficiency in buildings. Energy losses, calculation of energy losses, energy gains.Air regulation in buildings, heat pumps, condensation. Buildings of the future. Nano materials: their properties and influence on human health, environment, communication sector and energy. Method of preparation and Applications of nano materials.6.Environmental Instrumentation and Techniques ES - 206Physics of Dielectrophoresis and its environmental applications, Basics of NMR instrumentations, significance of relaxation time, Raman effect and experimental measurement, Raman Spectroscopy, LASER based techniques, LIDAR based methods and techniques, SODAR Radiofrequency measurement and techniques.7. Geochemistry ES - 207Atomic properties of elements, the periodic, table and geochemical classification of elements; abundance of elements in the bulk earth, crust, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere; introduction to mineral structures and compositions; thermodynamic classification of elements into essential, structural, major and trace elements and their partitioning during mineral formation; chemical reactions involving proton and electron transfers, mineral stability diagrams and controls on the chemistry of natural waters; geochemical cycling-concepts with an example; radioactivity, decay of parent and growth of daughter nuclides and methods of radiometric dating; stable isotopes, their fractionation and application to geothermometry and paleoclimates. Interpretation of XRD and XRF data for Environmental components. Geochemical sample preparation. X-Ray Fluorescence. X-Ray Diffraction. Ion Chromatography, AAS and its interpretation.8. Groundwater Hydrology ES - 208Definition and concept of hydrology and hydrogeology. Distribution of water in the earth’s crust. Hydrological cycle. Genetic types of groundwater and residence time of groundwater, Geological control of groundwater, Vertical distribution of groundwater, Types of aquifers, springs and their classification, Classification of rocks with reference to their water bearing properties. Mode of occurrence of groundwater in different geological terrains of India. Darcy’s law and its validity, Determination of hydraulic conductivity, groundwater tracers. Environmental factors on Groundwater level fluctuations and Land subsidence due to changes in subsurface moisture. Effects of excessive use of groundwater resources. Sources of salinity, Chemical analysis of groundwater, Quality criteria for different uses, Groundwater quality in different provinces of India, pollution of groundwater resources. Ghyben-Herzberg relationship between fresh-saline water. Groundwater exploration. Construction and design of different types of wells. Well completion and development. Groundwater development and management: Groundwater development in urban areas and rainwater harvesting, artificial recharge methods. Management of groundwater and groundwater legislation.9.Oceanography ES - 209Introduction- historical, current and future- Earths structure- Physiography of oceans- origin and evolution of ocean basins (Continental and oceanic basins)- Continental drift, sea floor spreading, plate tectonics- shelf and deep sea sedimentation- physical, chemical and biological aspects of sea water- Ocean current (circulation)- Waves properties and motion- tidal currents and characteristics- air-water interface/ exchange, gas solubility and circulation models.10. Natural resource Management ES - 210Definition- land, water, soil, plants and animals: quality of life: renewable and non-renewable resources: Mineral occurrences, prospects: Mineral resources: Mineral reserves, ore minerals, coal, petroleum, oil and natural gas: water- hydropower, including tidal power; ocean surface waves used for wave power, wind- wind power, geothermal heat- geothermal power and radiant energy- solar power: sustainable development, Urban planning Environmental management, Understanding the resource ecology and life-supporting capacity of resources-Economic models: Green building concept- green technology concept.11. Glaciology ES - 211Glacier systems- Structure and morphology of glaciers- Glacial erosion; Landscape evolution under glaciers, glacial landforms- Mass balance- Glacier dynamics, Englacial and subglacial process and fluctuations- Glacier hydrology- Snow and melt water chemistry of- Approaches to Glaciology- Glacier modeling- Glacier and climate change impact- Glaciers- Glacier and water resources- Recent advances in Glaciology- Spatial Data Acquisition Glacier Hazards- Glaciers as tool for palaeo climate studies.12. Biogeochemistry ES - 212Introduction- Biogeochemical provinces- Atmosphere- Lithosphere: weathering process, soil biogeochemistry- Terrestrial systems: photosynthesis respiration- Wetlands: vegetation adaptations- Freshwater and Marine Biogeochemistry: Lakes, ponds, rivers, mangroves, salt marsh and estuaries- Oceans: productivity and limiting nutrient role, carbon chemistry- Global biogeochemical cycles: Nutrient cycles-Advances in biogeochemistry- Sediment biogeochemistry, stable Isotopes in Biogeochemistry and their application to various environmental problems. Nutrient dynamic in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and Lithosphere. Nutrient budgeting and modeling13. Environmental Geology ES - 213Interior of the earth- minerals and rocks- earth processes- plate tectonics- sea floor spreading, mountain building, rock deformation- evolution of continents and earth quakes, volcanoes, landslides, subsidence, rivers and floods and coastal process- interactions between humans and the geological processes, Environmental Hazards-Pollution of the Environment- Waste Disposal, Natural Resources, and Energy Sources and their exploitation. Past, present and future environmental issues and their affect on the earth and our society.14. Water Resources ES - 214Hydrological cycle- Hydrometeorology and climate- hydrometric networks and catchment morphology- precipitation- evaporation and evapotranspiration- soil moisture-river flow-River, Lakes and Ground water- Occurrence of surface water and groundwater. Movement of water on the surface and below the surface. Springs and Hydrothermal phenomena. Ungauged river basin flow- River bank infiltration and recharge-precipitation analysis- evaporation calculation-river flow analysis- Time variation of stream flow levels- rainfall- runoff relationships- Ecohydrology- urban hydrology- Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), Urbanization effect on Water resources. Earthquake, Land subsidence and Water resources. Physical, chemical and biological characteristics of Water resources and water quality data processing and interpretation. Sea water intrusion in aquifer system-structural geological approach. Influence of Sun-Earth cosmic connection on Water resources.15. Air Pollution Chemistry ES - 215Chemical composition of atmosphere, Sources of air pollution. Types of air pollutants, organic and inorganic pollutants, their behavior and fate on local, regional and global scale, monitoring of criteria and non-criteria pollutants. Effects of air pollutants on human health, plants, animals and materials. Pollutants and health effects. Air pollution meteorology: Mixing heights, Wind roses, Inversion conditions, Stability of the atmosphere. Long range transport, plume behavior, Air pollution dispersion. Land-atmosphere-ocean interactions of air pollutants. Photochemistry of troposphere, Inorganic reaction in the atmosphere. Reactions involving organic pollutants, Gas to particle conversion. Ozone depletion, Acid rain, Greenhouse effect, Formation of photochemical smog, CFC, their nomenclature, sources and effect, Atmospheric Brown Cloud. Air pollution control technologies: Concept of clean environment, Green technologies, Carbon sequestration, Chemical methods, Electrostatic precipitators.16. Water Pollution Chemistry ES - 216Physicochemical properties of water, Water use- classifications and water quality standard. Basic principles of contaminant behavior in the environment. Hydrologic cycle. Types and sources of water pollution, Major Water Quality (physicochemical and bacteriological) Parameters and their Applications, Basics of water sampling. Water quality objectives and the major chemical, physical and biological processes necessary for designing and managing modern drinking water and wastewater treatment plants, Principles of coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, chemical precipitation, porous media filtration, disinfection, ion exchange, adsorption, membrane Processes, advanced oxidation processes, air-stripping and other advanced treatment processes, Major contaminant groups and natural pathways for their removal from water.17. Soil Pollution Chemistry ES - 217Physical Chemistry of Soil: Soil Solution Phase, The Soil/Solution Interface, Surface exchange reactions, Soil acidity, Electrochemistry and the Soil, chemistry of waterlogged soil. Soil Pollution: Inorganic and Organic-Definition of pollution and contamination, sources of soil pollution, Effects of chemical residues on soil, (pesticides, fertilizers, heavy metals etc., Soil salinity and alkalinity, Soil pollution from nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, micronutrients or trace elements and radionuclide, land degradation, soil erosion. Soil pollution and climate change: Greenhouse gases production, emission, mitigation, carbon sequestration, soil quality.18. Solid and Hazardous Waste Management ES - 218Solid wastes: Definition, types, sources, characteristics, and impact on environmental health. Waste generation rates. Concepts of waste reduction, recycling and reuse. Collection, segregation and transport of solid wastes Handling and segregation of wastes at source. Collection and storage of municipal solid wastes. Solid waste processing technologies. Mechanical and thermal volume reduction. Biological and chemical techniques for energy and other resource recovery. Composting, Vermicomposting, Incineration of solid wastes. Disposal in landfills: site selection, design, and operation of sanitary landfills; secure landfills and landfill bioreactors; leachate and landfill gas management; landfill closure and post-closure environmental monitoring; landfill remediation.Hazardous wastes: Definition, sources and characteristics: Hazardous waste categorization, generation, collection, transport, treatment and disposal. Legislation on management and handling of municipal solid wastes and hazardous wastes19. Metrology ES - 219Fundamentals of metrology, Chemical metrology, Defining uncertainty of measurements, traceability of standards, validation of method, calibration of method, accuracy and precision of results, selectivity, sensitivity, detection limit, limit of determination, specificity, linearity, analytical error, Accreditation systems, Metrology in environment, QA/QC parameters in environmental studies, use of CRMs (Certified reference materials), inter-laboratory comparison exercise, participation in National and International round Robin tests. Representativeness of sampling site, selection of analytical method, selection of appropriate analytical technique, proper storage of samples with suitable preservative, sample blank, field blank, solvent blank, efficiency of extraction, efficiency of sampling, determination of uncertainty in flow, sample preparation.20. Pollution Biology ES - 220Concepts: Pollutants vs. resources; cycling of materials, tolerance ranges, carrying capacity, bioaccumulation. Air Pollution: Responses of plants and animals, monitoring (e.g. lichens) and control of air pollution by plants. Water pollution: Responses of plants and animals to changes in physico-chemical characteristics; distribution of plants in relation to pollution (microphytes; Phytoplankton, periphyton and moorophytes); Biological monitoring and control of pollution in water. Soil pollution: Responses of plants to soil pollution; changes in soil characteristics by waste disposal, sanitary land fills, mining wastes and human activities, and effects on plants and animals.21. Biodiversity and Conservation ES - 221Biodiversity concepts and patterns, Microbial diversity, Plant diversity, Agrobiodiversity, Soil biodiversity, Economic value of biodiversity, biodiversity losses. Biodiversity hotspots and their characteristic flora and fauna, threatened plants and animals of India, ecosystem people and traditional conservation mechanisms, Biodiversity Convention and Biodiversity Act, IPRs, national and international programmes for biodiversity conservation. Wildlife values and eco-tourism, wildlife distribution in India, problem in wildlife protection, role of WWF, WCU, CITES, TRAFFIC, Wildlife Protection Act 1972. In-situ conservation: sanctuaries, biospheres reserves, national parks, nature reserves, preservation plots. Ex-situ conservation: botanical gardens, zoos, aquaria, homestead garden; herbarium; In-vitro Conservation: germplasm and gene Bank; tissue culture: pollen and spore back, DNA bank.22. Forest Ecology ES - 222Forest and forest environment: Structure of forest ecosystem, major forest types of the world, forest types and forest cover of India, regeneration ecology of forest trees. Forest ecosystem function: Primary productivity of forest ecosystems, litter production and decomposition, nutrient cycling and nutrient conservation strategies, plant water relations. Forest ecosystem management: Forest management systems, joint forest management, forest hydrology, forest fire, application of remote sensing technique in forest ecology, deforestation and sustainable forestry, forest laws, non timber forest products. Role of Biology in management and habitat management techniques. Wildlife farming: Objectives, management design, wildlife products, disease control, breeding. Behavioral, ecology and evaluation.23. Microbial Ecology ES - 223An overview of microbial life and its importance in the environment, Microbial structure and function with special emphasis on Bacteria and Archaea, Evolution and microbial phylogenetic diversity, Microbial nutrition and metabolism with emphasis on microbial metabolic diversity, Environmental factors affecting microbial growth and microbial adaptations to extreme environments (like arctic regions and hot springs), Methods in microbial ecology including introduction to microbial genomics, Microbial habitats (air, soil, subsurface, freshwater, marine and the deep sea), Introduction to geomicrobiology, Natural microbial communities with emphasis on biofilms, Microbial biogeochemical processes of nutrient cycling and biodegradation, Microbial interactions: microbe-microbe interactions, plants as microbial habitats, animals as microbial habitats and human microbiome, Applying microbes in wastewater treatment and solid waste management, Industrial applications of microbes including products for health-pharmaceutical, food and beverage industry and biofuels, Molecular biotechnological applications including genetic engineering for the production of vaccines, diagnostics, biopesticides and transgenic plants, Microbial disease ecology and public health, Transmission of microbial diseases through the environment.24. Ecosystem Dynamics ES - 224The ecosystem concept, abiotic and biotic components. Energy input in ecosystem, standing crop, biomass, primary and secondary production, gross and net production, concept of food chain food web, ten percent law, net community production, methods of measuring productivity, pattern of primary production and biomass in the major ecosystem of the world, Energy flow, Feed back and control. Biogeochemical cycles, gaseous and sedimentary turnover rate and turnover item. Hydrological cycle, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, sulphur cycle, phosphorus cycle, nutrient budget, man’s impact on nutrient cycles. Population dynamics.25. Environmental Biophysics ES - 225Cellular function of cell, membrane structure and transport origin and conduction of impulses in nerve cell muscles, methods in bioelectric measurements. Radiation and molecular response, elementary aspects of atomic and molecular excitation, biointeractions with environment, fundamental and applied aspects of extremely low frequency, radio and microwave fields, bioacoustics, biomedical aspects of laser. Magnetic environments and geomagnetic fields, behavioural changes, therapeutic and diagnostic possibilities.26. Ecology and Sustainable Development ES - 226Ecosystem concept in space and time; Ecosystem level processes and landscape level processes; the concept of sustainable development temporal and spatial dimensions; Currencies for evaluations of sustainable development- Biophysical measurements; Environmental degradations and conservation issues; Global change and sustainability issues: Climate change, biological invasion, bio-diversity concerns; Ecosystem and social processes in: (a) Rehabilitation of degraded rural landscape, (b) Rehabilitation of unbalanced soils, (c) Rehabilitation of specialized habitats, e.g. water bodies, mangroves; (d) Mined area rehabilitation participatory research and education environmental decision making with people initiates.27. Environmental Xenobiotics and human health ES - 227Interaction of pollutants with biological systems at different levels, e.g., organism, organs, and cell organelles. Biochemical degradation of pollutants inside the cell as well as cellular interactions with the pollutants. Toxins of plant origin. Stress response in living systems. Toxicogenomics: Human population issues and population genetics. Pharmacogenomics; Epidemiology. Cellular interaction and metabolism of xenobiotics; metabolic disorders. Bioconversion of pollutants: active vs. inactive process; enzymic degradation by monooxygenases; Role of cytochrome P 450 and its multiple forms. Immunology: Immune cell responses, Immunity and Immunodeficiency. Allergy and hypersensitive reactions and disorders of immune responses. Carcinogens and Carcinogenesis. Metal toxicity: chemical form, metal biomacromolecule interaction, teratogenecity.28. Fundamentals of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology ES - 228Basic concepts of molecular biology needed for understanding biotechnology. DNA structure and organization into chromosomes. DNA replication. Repetitive DNA; coding and noncoding sequences in genomes. Gene structure and expression. Mechanics of transcription, translation and their regulation in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Key discoveries (restriction enzymes, bacterial plasmids, modifying enzymes) leading to recombinant DNA technology. Overview of basic techniques in genetic engineering: Introduction of cloned genes into new hosts using plasmid and phage vector systems. Expression cloning, affinity purification of expressed proteins. Nucleic acid hybridization and polymerase chain reaction as sensitive detection methods. DNA sequencing. Analysis of genomes and proteomes by bioinformatics tools. Genome-wide analysis using microarrays.29. Applied Biotechnology and Bioremediations ES - 229Practical aspects of genetic engineering with microorganisms from extreme environment: Use of extremophilic microorganisms in waste treatment and methane production from agro industrial wastes; Production of enzymes like cellulase, proteases, amylases; alcohol and acetic acid production; Biocomposting: Microbial process involvement, vermin composting, biofertilizer, biopesticides production. Biomining: Microbial leaching of low grade mineral ores, molecular probes for organisms in mines and mine tailings, Petroleum pollutant biodegradation. Alternate fuels: Source and mechanism of various biofuel production. Bioremediation: Concept, role of bioremediation in controlling various pollution problems e.g. solid water, sewage water, industrial effluents, heavy metals, radioactive substances, oil spillage. Phytoremediation: Abatement of different types of pollution using plants, types of phytoremediation, mechanism involved with case studies. Waste water treatment strategies: Domestic and Industrial waste-water, application of microbiology waste treatment. Metagenomics: Environmental Genomics, ecogenomics or community genomics, the study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental samples and future applications in bioremediation.30. Eco-Toxicology ES - 230Principles in toxicology; Definition of Xenobiotics. Animal management in toxicological evaluation; Animal toxicity tests; Statistical concepts of LD50; Dose-effect and dose response relationship; Frequency response and cumulative response; Biological and chemical factors that influence toxicity; Bio-transformation and bio-accumulation. Influence of ecological factors on the effects of toxicity; Concept of green chemistry. Pollution of the ecosphere by industries; Global dispersion of toxic substance; Dispersion and circulating mechanisms of pollutants; degradable and non-degradable toxic substances; food chain. Eco-system influence on the fate and transport of toxicants. Aquatic toxicity tests; Statistical tests; Response of planktons to toxicants; EC49; Photosynthetic bacteria; Bio-absorption of heavy metals. Information management system in eco-toxicology.31. Environmental and Occupational Health ES - 231Basic principle of environmental health. Physiological responses of man to relevant stresses in the environment. Cases and effects of pollution. Industrial Toxicology: Study of environmental dose effect relationships. Evaluation of toxicity and threshold limits. Principles and methods of occupational health. The relationship of occupation of hygiene and safety and disease. Health maintenance: Survey, analysis and recommendations regarding health and safety problems in the working and living environment. Biostatistics, epidemiology: Application of statistical methods to medical records in the study of health problems of human population in a given environment. Treatment of variation, with demographic, vital statistics and epidemiological data. Hazard evaluation in polluted environment with specific emphasis on radiological health. Industrial hygiene technology-laboratory remains illustrating the principles, methods of recognizing evaluating and controlling environmental hazards like air pollution, etc.I would suggest you to visit the link School of Environmental Sciences for further information.

Where are we talking about?The following is a direct copy-and-paste from my current documents surrounding the issue of Christian persecution on a global scale, a piece of reading that was inspired by learning of the British Bishop of Truro’s shocking study revealing that Christianity around the world is perhaps the most oppressed religion worldwide:-Open Doors Research260,000,000 Christians under persecution in world’s fifty worst countries (one in eight Christians worldwide) in 2019This figure has risen from 245,000,000 in 2018A further 50,000,000 Christians are under attack in countries outside of the worst fifty in the worldIn the top fifty, forty-five are classed as being “Extremely” or “Very High” at risk for ChristiansAttacks on churches up by 500%This has been put down to Chinese closures of churches (“attack” does not stop at “violence”, and is a word used in bad faith in this context to evoke an emotional response); Christians are being sent to the predominantly Uighur Muslim detention/re-education centres as wellChina is a paranoid country that does not endorse religion full stop, so Christians are not special in being persecuted there2,983 Christians killed for their faith in 2019, with Nigeria being the most dangerous country for killings based on one’s Christian beliefsThis is lower than in 2018 (4,305) or 2017 (3,066), which is a result of Nigeria’s killings dropping (though more needs to be done)Syria and Iraq are especially at risk because of ISIS militant groups-Pew Research 20182016: 28% of countries in “High” or “Very High” danger for religious restrictions (this is not just for Christians, but in general): 3% increase27% of countries in danger through social hostilities to religion: stableChina is the highest for governmental interference, India the highest in social interferenceChristians harassed in 144 countries, Muslims in 142, Jews in 87Note: not clear what “harassed” means? Could be legitimate harassment, could also be very minor, wording not indicative11% of countries with political parties formed with nationalistic anti-religious sentiment attached to them-Looks like case closed, doesn’t it?Let’s look at the world’s top twenty-five countries for Christian persecution (again from Open Doors Research, bearing in mind of course that many of these places are totally inhospitable to other kinds of religion as well):North KoreaAfghanistanSomaliaLibyaPakistanSudanEritreaYemenIranIndiaSyriaNigeriaIraqMaldivesSaudi ArabiaEgyptUzbekistanMyanmarLaosVietnamCentral African RepublicAlgeriaTurkmenistanMaliMauritaniaI’m not saying that life is particularly cozy in Numbers 26 and below, but that’s where the top twenty-five worst countries are in the world.Look up the rest of the top fifty for yourself.So in a way, yes! We are living through an age of Christian persecution! No doubt about it! This sort of destruction should be fought against as best we can, because while we have so much that conflicts, we also have to recognise suffering people as human beings in and of themselves. We cannot stand for these any more than we can stand for any other egregious and illiberal breach of human rights.But there’s a big but here.I’m going to make what might be an unfair assumption here, and say that you are not from one of those countries. If I’m wrong, I will humbly eat my words and apologise to you in the comments, should you wish to raise the issue with me.But I note, Michael Okeke, that your profile says that you know about the Manchester Community College, indicating the United Kingdom or another place with British roots (maybe America? You’ll be able to guide me on that a bit better). Your questions are filled with Christian material, suggesting that this coming from a place of… bias isn’t quite the right word, but it’s about as close as I can think of for the moment.Vested interest, maybe?I dunno.On that basis of “I dunno”, you’ll likely see the word “you” used throughout this piece. I should make clear that I intend to write “you” as an abstract entity distinct from “you”, Michael Okeke, or “you”, the reader who otherwise reads my answer here. In this case, please consider the abstract entity “you” to represent the worst of Christianity, the bigotries and zealotries, corruptions and shootings and Crusades and unfettered evangelism that destroys anything that isn’t “pure” in its sight.(Actually, that’s a really good idea for a monster, the You…)Starting now, “you” isn’t Michael Okeke, but rather this abstract amalgamation of all this bunker mentality for a Christianity that has done great harm, and refuses to see it for all the pieces of gold in the world (unless it’s clearly referencing me, Andrew Drury Rayner; I sometimes talk to myself, quarantine will do that to you after a while!).Ready?“You” switch!So, proceeding on the basis of the United Kingdom (I’m Scottish, by the way!), I have some religious freedom cases that I want to discuss with you. The UK is very much along the same lines as America in their religious rights context (no official State religion, right to profess faith and speech etc), though America is far more public about religion than we’d ever hope to be! I’m a law student, who loves nothing more than a good research session on human rights, of which religion is one. Article 9, European Convention on Human Rights, among other forms of protection for thought and conscience.We’ll look at its contents first;Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.As a background, rights in our law are weighed up via a measure of proportionality. That is to say, your right is absolute until it comes into conflict with another. And rights, despite what Ronald Dworkin might say, are not trumps in the British system. They can be weighed against each other without diminishing them, because in some cases, applying one over the other among the qualified rights of the Articles 8–11 (privacy, religion, speech, assembly) infringe upon the most serious ones.For example (and this is an extreme example); the right to worship is important, but is that worship involving the sacrifice of human beings? That conflicts with Article 2, a right to life. Depending on which part of the Westernised world you’re in, you’ll have a different set of laws, but you’ll have some article somewhere that guarantees your right to life. Now, your right to life is a bit more important than the right to believe that the dreaded God Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos of One Thousand Open Mouths, will come and save you from an oncoming plague that will take the lives of all but the Worthy who feed him tasty human sacrifices upon an ancient stone plinth of True Night.Again, extreme example!Very few people actually worship a Lovecraft God!But that’s why we limit religious freedoms as a qualified right, absolute up to the point where it conflicts with another, in which case it will get weighed.Now, how do we consider this for Christianity, a far less violent religion (at least in the modern era), which isn’t quite sacrificing people but at the same time isn’t really the most accepting of social groups outwith theirs? A religion that teaches us to love thy neighbour, but also to stone gay people (or in the modern context, tell gays that they can’t have marriage rights or workplace protections while smiling) and to keep women silent in church because of the faults of the first woman at the dawn of time?I don’t know how the American courts proceed; America definitely has a lot more of a slant towards unbridled free speech than countries like the UK, and writer Stavos Tsakyrakis suggests that America doesn’t do this weighing procedure which notes an even larger individual right to religion than that which is present in European countries under the ECHR. So do read my European examples with that heightened approach to religious rights in mind please, to keep it relevant if you’re coming at this piece from a States perspective! But here, we’d protect their rights up to the point where they go after others.Remember, of course, that President Trump once had former Attorney General Jeff Sessions set up a Religious Liberty taskforce (we all know that he would have called a Christian one if he could have, given his distaste for Muslims), and that the same Sessions quoted from Romans 13 to justify the decision to separate immigrant children from their families, in an attempt to belittle the Catholic Church’s protests against the decision. Westboro Baptist Church is active and unimpeded there, as are the UK street preachers who go out to spread the Word (like Michael Overd, who preaches his homophobia through a loudspeaker and who recently received an enforcement notice regarding his insistence on open-air preaching even during the COVID-19 lockdown).I hate to say it, but if you can quote from Scripture to justify pure evil and get away with it on live camera, you don’t get much more religious freedom than that.And here, we’ll come to some cases. This first batch are those that uphold religious liberties for people who profess a faith:Lautsi v Italy: even in the secular State, wherein religion is not to form a part of the government for fears that religion could actually lead to a shaping of policy that undermines the rights of others who don’t profess that faith (see Voltaire’s separation of church and State!), State institutions like schools are allowed to have religious imagery like crucifixes since they are “passive” and do not amount to indoctrination. This case concerned a crucifix in an Abano Terme school, which was allowed to remain despite a complaint from Mrs Soile Lautsi.Contrast this example with Dahlab v Switzerland, in which it was decided that a ban on Muslim hijabs in a school was permissible. The teacher in question was definitely only showcasing a passive symbol! But despite the passivity, the hijab was viewed in one way and the crucifix in the other, which is pretty much a blatant show of favouritism.Eweida v UK: a British airline had tried to force Eweida to remove a crucifix for the sake of brand image, and Eweida contested this, claiming that it was an interference with her right to express her religion. Arguments in lower courts had rested on her being uncompromising in her faith, which seems to me a pretty woolly justification for a breach like this. Here, Sikh and Muslim employees were not forbidden from wearing their attire by the employer, furthering the discrimination case. The European court was in favour of Eweida’s claim, the airline discriminating with no cause.Contrast this to a case that actually called on the same day, Chaplin v UK: Chaplin was told to remove her dangling crucifix in a hospital where Sikh employees and other Christians were asked to do the same, and Muslims could only wear tight-fitting hijabs. This was claimed to be a discriminatory practice, even though it was on the grounds of medical health and she was given another option for wearing it. Of course, the court deferred to the hospital’s call and rejected Chaplin.Kokkinakis v Greece: Minos Kokkinakis, a Jehovah’s Witness, was accused of proselytising (ie. inducement to faith via fraud), a crime in Greek law at the time. The European court held that it was not shown that there was any pressing social need to ban his right to speech and religion, and as such the fines that he incurred were contrary to his human rights. Two judges even wrote in their opinions that the law itself ran contrary to Article 9.Contrast this open approach to that taken in Chapin and Charpentier v France, a case which upheld the long-standing reluctance of the European court to declare that Article 12 ECHR denoted a right to same-sex marriage. They declared that the issue of same-sex marriage lacks enough of a consensus across Europe to open up the right (read; mainly religious refusals, see Poland currently!). While I understand the line of argument, and I have to bow to the margin of appreciation doctrine, it still sucks that the court can be bold in one case and yet be so reticent in another equally-pressing matter of human rights.Across the five countries on display (remember, very few cases actually reach the European level, it’s pretty much the last resort when either the national courts are failing in the application of human rights or one party keeps appealing it into oblivion!), religious rights have been upheld. Not to say that they never get it wrong, but these are important cases. So that’s Britain, France (a rather famously irreligious society!), Greece, Switzerland, and Italy (the polar opposite of France, the home of the Vatican City and the sitting Pope!). In fact, there’s been a slight favouritism shown to Christianity, over and above other faiths (though it must be noted that the school involved in the Lautsi case did observe Ramadan for Muslim pupils too).But you’ll see that the religious person/entity was aggressed against first. Eweida was known to be a bit uncompromising and cold, but she didn’t go around hitting people with Bibles at work. The Italian school in Abano Terme only had a religious image on their walls. Kokkinakis was only discussing his faith, and could not be shown to have attempted to induce the other party to his conversation to his faith improperly to fall within the Greek meaning of “proselytising”. You can see from these aggrieved people, who won when they were hurting nobody; when others hurt them without a reasonable cause, the neutral State supported their right to hold a faith.On the point of favouritism, think of the new Belgium case in their Constitutional Court (not the ECtHR, mind you) which allows universities to ban religious attire. At first glance, that encompasses all faiths, but look closely. “Can” gives the discretion. Universities can choose whether or not to implement this (many refuse to, happily). And many of Belgium’s municipalities have already banned Islamic attire like the niqab and burkha elsewhere, but (to the best of my knowledge) not Christian attire (like crucifix necklaces) in turn. The hijab has now been encompassed here. So we know that, while the ruling looks neutral, its practical application will, in all likelihood, not be so neutral.We can even look to Spain for an example of this favouritism (though Spain was pretty ahead of the curve in gay rights too, proof that religious and secular rights need not be mutually incompatible!). In their tax laws, Spaniards can choose to donate 0.7% of their tax to the Catholic Church (a privilege not enjoyed by other faiths, raising them €284million in tax in 2019), and the State can create relations with some faiths (Catholics, Evangelicals, Muslims, Jews (Abrahamic religions, in other words)) but refuse others this support (like Santo Daime on the grounds of ayahuasca abuse).And again, just think how much more powerful this right to free religion and speech is in America, where free speech is a strong enough justification to allow Neo-Nazis to march on Skokie (a town full of Holocaust survivors).I’ll look to some home jurisprudence (Britain) for more examples, which is a far more abundant source of cases. Ready for some more?Eunice and Owen Jones: a famous case that sparked the myth of Christians being banned from adopting children. The Jones family tried to adopt, but the child was removed from their care when they were found to have made homophobic remarks. Any adoption case has to have the welfare of the child in mind at all times as per s14 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007; what happens to that kid’s welfare if they grow up gay? Indeed, Lords Munby and Beatson were clear that this isn’t a ban on Christians adopting kids. There are many, many Christians who are not homophobic and would totally support adopted kids; some are my best friends.Felix Ngole: another case that relies heavily on this principle of protecting the people you’re working with. Ngole was training to be a social worker, and was found to have commented on the matter twenty times, calling the practice of homosexuality “wicked” and “sinful”. Lovely language from somebody who wants to go into social work, who might run into gay people to protect and care for! Judge Rowena Collins-Rice put it best: “Social workers have considerable power over the lives of vulnerable service users and trust is a precious professional commodity.” And despite all of this, he won a later appeal against his university!Sarah Kuteh: this was an oft-trumpeted case of a nurse who only wanted to pray for patients in a loving way, and the EVIL COURTS struck down such a generous, charitable gesture. Remember, though, that this woman was again exerting influence over vulnerable people (in this case patients), telling one that he’d have a better chance of surviving cancer if he prayed to God and forced others to pray with her. Rowena Collins-Rice would have had a field day with a case like hers! She was the subject of numerous complaints (not just one!), and eventually lost her job. Only to be reinstated, of course.Svetlana Powell: Powell was a teacher in Bristol who used her position to preach the Bible to her students during what should have been normal English and Maths classes for children. She used her position to tell gay pupils that they were going to Hell, forced children to pray with her before they could leave sessions, and lost control of her class in teaching. Her legal team tried to compare the case to that of left-wing atheist Andrew Spargo, but the case was distinguished because Spargo agreed to leave his politics out of the classroom after being reprimanded, while Powell persisted in hers.Joshua Sutcliffe: an interesting case. Sutcliffe was accused of misgendering a pupil once, which led to his firing and later court action against his school. However, while I hate the Daily Mail, they covered his case and revealed from the pupil’s parents that the case was actually raised because he had misgendered them numerous times, and that he was picking on their child for detentions (which was not upheld by the school). According to a pupil claiming to be a student of his on Reddit, he would also constantly preach from the Bible during his classes, though that is only one source. He arrived at a settlement with the school outside of the employment tribunal, so far as I can tell.Duke Amachree: here, we would be led to believe that Amachree was only trying to give a woman comfort in his role as a homelessness prevention officer in Wandsworth Council. Instead, he not only gave his caller (Mrs X) a thirty minute tirade about God and how medicine and doctors (she had an incurable illness) don’t have all the answers, but he also revealed confidential information about her to the press which could have been used to identify her later. Amachree was found to have been lawfully fired on both bases; I don’t like the concept of the Council not allowing anyone to say “God bless” (a policy that the Council denied), but a half-hour tirade and the leaking of confidential details by Amachree were what swung the final judgement against him. He was fired not for his religious beliefs, but for his otherwise unprofessional conduct in his job.Lee v Ashers Baking Company: possibly the most well-known case of religious freedom in modern British times, and possibly the most expensive cake of all time (coming in at a whopping £200,000+ in legal fees). Ashers refused to bake a cake in support of gay marriage, citing religious beliefs, and Lady Hale of the Supreme Court held that this would have been the approach taken to anyone who sought such a cake, that they were against the message and not the messenger, rendering the discrimination argument futile. The “would you ask a Jew to bake a Nazi cake?” holds no water in the UK since Neo-Nazi organisations get proscribed as terrorists. Nonetheless, the decision was taken as soundly as it could possibly be (it was common ground apparently that the decision would either result in a judgement of direct discrimination or nothing) and the bakers won the case.And what of less well-known cases that manage to fly under the radar, which affirm a more extreme Christian’s right to discriminate against others, or at the very least make those around them incredibly uncomfortable?Steve Loha: Christian who lost his business licence as a market trader due to selling tracts containing anti-LGBT+ sentiments, later had his business licence reinstated since the removal was deemed illegal in the first place, despite the hateful speech contained on the tracts in question.Sarah Mbuyi: childcare worker who gave a lesbian colleague unwanted Biblical materials, referred to her “struggle” in notes, and told her that she opposed the colleague’s lifestyle; firing was not allowed over discrimination against Mbuyi and procedural irregularities in her disciplinary hearing.Victoria Allen: teaching assistant who was disciplined through a written warning from her school for saying that homosexuality is wrong (stop TARGETING US, motherfuck!), and the school in question even publicly apologised to her for upsetting her during the school’s disciplinary process.Let’s even consider some cases where Christians were again doing nothing wrong, and the courts protected them and their rights? I apologise that this is a bit more threadbare a section than others, but it’s not without cause:Colin Atkinson: electrician working for Wakefield and District Housing who bore a cross in his van, his employers tried to force him to remove it from sight after a tenant complained about it, he was later allowed to keep the cross as it was not harming man nor beast when passively resting inside a vehicle.Paul Song: a sad instance of intolerance from another religion, Song was a Brixton prison pastor who was driven out of his work by a Muslim colleague. The case never went to court so I cannot speak on behalf of the other side, but on the basis of available facts, he was later reinstated to his post.Oxford University Christian Union: students in 2017 preemptively stopped a CU from joining Balliol Freshers fair to promote secularism; the decision was later overturned by a university committee, with a vote that no such organisations would be banned in future (this was resolved without any court action).But sure, I’ve not provided enough evidence perhaps.Those who point to gaps in transitional fossils are never happy, either.All I can say is this: miscarriages of justice do indeed happen. There are cases that are decided wrongly. I don’t much like the example of Ladele v UK, wherein Lillian Ladele lost her job after the UK law on same-sex marriage changed to include it as a right, and she did not want to proceed with that. As much as she was breaching the rights of others, she had entered into a job expecting to be able to carry out her Christian values, and I have sympathy where there has been a breach. I’d have rathered she be given a conscientious objection-based exception on this ground, caveated to protect the rights of gay people to strike a fair balance. But even then, Christianity still attracts protection from discrimination under legislation such as the Equality Act 2010.They’re just asked to share that equality for a change.Miscarriages happen, and I’m not naive enough to think that this is not the reality in which we live. Be it Manchester, Britain, or Manchester, America! And they get amended! I’ll give you an example from Scotland in Parliament: we were originally going to restrict churches from operating services until the 23rd July 2020, which would disadvantage them compared to restaurants and the like, but with enough pressure and work with faith organisations the government reviewed and allowed them to gather with a person cap of fifty. And even then, religious people weren’t happy, calling the limit “arbitrary”, forgetting that nightclubs, bingo, theatres, music venue, and live outdoor events are being limited for review after the 31st July 2020. Churches are live music venues and theatres in essence, so they’re the better comparator for discrimination than restaurants, and they’re getting a fifty-person head-start on any other venue due to their religious character.It’s a bit of an arbitrary line at fifty, but so would fifty-one be. So would forty. It’s a bit unfair that a church can’t open at the same time as businesses, but businesses have taxes to pay to kickstart a post-COVID economy (unlike places of religious worship). And at present, the Scottish Parliament is coming under fire for a new hate crimes law that would place restrictions on (you guessed it) hate crimes, with opponents claiming that the provisions would disproportionately affect religious people expressing their religious views. The legislation needs tightening (the role of a legislature), but even at that, I wouldn’t be shocked if this indeed is the case. Quite frankly, religions do hold some severely hateful views which can have horrifying implications for the affected. You don’t want to be shut down as phobic pests; don’t be phobic pests then, you ninnies!And remember, even with this, religions are protected as a vulnerable characteristic! Scotland has loads of initiatives and attempts to curb crimes motivated by religious hatred and bitter sectarian rivalries (nowhere is this better depicted than in Scottish and Glaswegian football culture and the Orange Marches, the latter of which is still inexplicably allowed to continue). A good example of this in legal practice is the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 s74, which makes an offence of religiously-aggravated prejudice (yes, even Christians!). This legislative zeal has led to some legal absurdities, such as the unworkable Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 (now repealed) which was slammed as an illiberal measure “railroaded through Parliament”, which is very problematic in and of itself. Nobody likes bad law.But damn, you can’t tell me they didn’t try.I can’t quote the entire cabal of religious liberty cases for you. I’m tired and bored of it by this point. I have plenty, plenty more in my research pile, and I’ve cherry-picked the best ones for you. I’m nice like that, you see. Cases where Christians won, cases where they didn’t. Not always, but for a disturbing portion of the time, the Christian has been seen to do something shitty, has been called out for it by employers, has then lost their job, and has either had that decision to fire them upheld on a balanced view or has been remunerated somehow for their troubles and losses.Remember how I described the above cases, the Eweidas and the Lautsis and the Kokkinakises? They were aggressed against by the State (which is why supranational organisations like the EU and Council of Europe are so important, to correct State-level wrongs where home judges get it all wrong!), or by an employer, or by a private individual. Their harm came first, was unprovoked, and they fought against it. I know wonderful Christians, and I think the world of them; I know that many would never transgress my rights, as I would hope to never transgress theirs (and if they want to talk with me where I may have done so, I want to hear about it and do better!).But then, in others, like Powell and Sutcliffe and Amachree and Ngole, this aggression came first. Gay people were denied shelters and a safe working and learning environment. Parents espousing homophobic values were asking to take on the care of a child that wasn’t theirs who could have very well grown up to be gay, or bi, or trans, or non-conforming, or whatever else. Others were being told that they were Hellbound, or unworthy of cake, or were preached to down a phone for half an hour. Some were forced into prayer against their own secular freedom of conscience (freedom of religion also means freedom to not believe in a religion!). Pastors hold whole prayer sermons to beg forgiveness from God for the Gays and the evil curses they bring to the world, and then complain when their employers want nothing more to do with them.But hey, Christians want to be able to fire gay people because reasons! There was a Bible burning in Portland in August 2020 during a protest, and I strongly condemn that as a highly offensive action, but a) this was the action of a group of protesters, not the State, and b) other protesters came by and put the flames out. Claiming this as a sign of your impending discrimination is inaccurate; it’s hateful and senseless (despite Christianity as a religion in the West being totally entangled with both systemic power and the historic slave trade), but it is nowhere near discrimination. Remember, the most extreme religious people would do the exact same thing to secular materials if Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humane Vitae is anything to go by, so while I am angry at that group of protesters for their actions, my sympathies are watered down by context.Free speech is great, but if it’s protecting Nazis and Westboro in the US, it can sure as hell cover a book burning as a symbolic act. A horrible act, but the right extends. Unless you want to argue that free speech shouldn’t, in fact, be absolute, in which case we can then discuss how your rampant homophobia is gonna get a walloping limit placed on it to protect minorities against the aggressions you’re known for levying against them?It’s stuff like that that really tap-dances on my last good nerve.See how these cases play out? Christians aren’t free to force their beliefs on others! Religion is a right up until you shove it down someone’s throat without consent. Being gay is a right up until you shove your penis down someone’s throat without consent (bad wording, but I couldn’t make it work any other way). If I attempt to convert a Christian friend, colleague, or family member into the Gay Brethren, as a bisexual, I will have infringed upon their rights. They will genuinely believe as a sincere value that Christian values are the best for their life, so if I try to force them to convert, I as a bi have breached their rights to their identity, and that’s just not on for anyone to do.It’s a very simple equation.But while we’re not trying to force people to be gay (and no, giving them the option and the representation and the love does not force anything), evangelical mantra dictates that religion must be preached, brought forth into the world, witnessed to the non-believers and infidels. Any religion in the world has that element to it. If that’s not helpful, think of it like this; I don’t choose when I get a boner, but you choose what you’re going to believe, what you think is right and wrong, and who to hurt.So quite frankly, when they’re preaching, they gotta behave themselves so to not cross a line into our rights. Our rights to not believe, to hold no faith, to live an agnostic or atheistic lifestyle, to love and marry and have sex with whoever we like, to have abortions when our conceptions of the beginning of life are so divergent. The right to religion works a bit like this; you don’t want an abortion or a gay marriage? Then don’t have one, friend! I’m not religious, but I want religions to succeed and thrive, in recognising the common humanity between myself and the one who holds to their faith in God, karma, or anything.But don’t force others to not do so, equating homosexual love to “murder” as a sin, because they hold a different value! That’s where persecution comes in! And the counter-argument is “well, we don’t want to believe in The LGBT+/abortions/women’s rights”; trouble is, we’re here, and we’re tangible (unlike God), so you’ve got no reason to not “believe” in us unless you’re claiming solipsism or a variant as your life philosophy! And religion was at the heart of all of those issues that still require protection to this day. Religion justified the slave trade, which has had repercussions for black people in America, Britain, and all across the Western world. Religions played a significant role and provided significant justification for some of the greatest evils (and joys!) of our world history. So please don’t create a problem, then refuse to clean up your mess when called out.It’s like that Bo Burnham song Straight White Male said:Straight white maleI know the road looks tough aheadThe women want rightsThe gays want kids (what?)Can't you just leave us alone?And also "No" to the things you asked for(They're being greedy and they know it,)And that’s the thing; we never did get left alone by you!Like, when you say “can’t we get along, even if we disagree?”, we can! Of course, of course we can! But what are we disagreeing about, and why?Are we in disagreement about whether or not Peter Capaldi was the best Doctor in Doctor Who? I think he was, but I’ll respect you if you disagree. Many preferred David Tennant or Matt Smith, and both are strong contenders for that title. Do you prefer hot dogs to burgers? I think you’re crazy, but I’ll buy you one when I go for my burger. Besides, hot dogs are delicious too! Do we disagree on politics? That’s a tougher one, especially in our current climate, but I’ll take a measured approach. I’ll disagree when someone says “I agree with BLM, but I wish they hadn’t attacked X statue…”; like, I genuinely couldn’t have given a shit about that statue, but we agree on the important part.We can make a distinction between a passive “not-racist” and an active “anti-racist”, but I’ll be your friend at the end of the day.The Brexit debacle is a good example; a very good friend of mine and I disagree so much on it! She’s far from a traditionalist, but she’s in favour of some of the economic arguments from the Leave side, which failed to sway my sympathies in light of losing twenty-seven other states and an enormous trading and human rights bloc for what was essentially a vote fueled by xenophobic masses. But she’s not xenophobic at all! She considered the arguments and drew a different conclusion to me. I won’t agree with her, but I respect and want her as my friend. We disagree and we know that, but I was still at her wedding as her bridesman (told you she wasn’t a traditionalist!).But are we disagreeing because you believe that, since you are religious, everyone else should toe your line and deny human rights to others?Then you can get fucked.I owe you nothing.It’s kinda hard to take seriously the rights of those who have treated the rights of others as a joke for so long. I make a conscious effort to not get angry at my situation, but there’s always a nagging voice. If you were born a few decades ago Andrew, you might have been killed or chemically castrated like Alan Turing was (y’know, one of the British heroes who helped win WWII through combating German cipher technology), with many Christians thinking more about the fact that you wanted to have sex with a man more than the fact that you were being, say, executed by your own government and all.Or, if we wind the clock back even further, a lovely stoning!Only this month, the US Supreme Court ruled that employers could refuse to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees on the grounds of sincere religious belief. The UK and other legislatures account for the conscientious objection of medical staff in carrying out abortions unless it is necessary to save a pregnant woman’s life (see s4 of the Abortion Act 1967 and Spain’s Ley Orgánica 2/2010). Only last month, the US Supreme Court threw gay people a wee bone by making it that we (they in America) can’t be fired from their jobs for being gay. Isn’t that the best compromise, mate! Such important provisions in healthcare is denied to one group (including a watering down of trans healthcare access by President Trump in June and hitting their access to refuge shelters as well) on the basis of a religion whose claims are non-testable and unsubstantiated beyond the twisting of (abundant) apologetic literature.But we at least have a right to keep our jobs after boning someone! How charming! How special I must feel! Gay people have been “pardoned”!THE FIRING THING SHOULD HAVE BEEN SETTLED FUCKING YEARS AGO.HOW DARE YOU WHINE ABOUT PERSECUTION IN THE WEST.You are persecuted elsewhere. Anyone who is denying that is an idiot and a fool, who should be taken to review the evidence from the Bishop of Truro (real name Philip Ian Mounstephen) and other think tanks that publish the actual facts and statistics of what happens in theocracies, and in otherwise oppressive regimes that cannot afford the serious competition that religion brings to their reigns.But you are not persecuted in the West.Being asked to be nice to gay people, being asked to let women speak in churches and access necessary healthcare, that is not persecution.Being prevented from discriminating against others is not persecution. It’s the recognition that some (not all) Christians who take their religion to the extreme are garbage people who want to instate theocracies for the minority. Persecution comes from State efforts to hunt you down, a concerted effort at the highest echelons of government (the one that’s implementing religious liberty taskforces and supporting the Bishop of Truro’s report and quoting from the Bible to drum up nationalistic support) to kill you, to make you a nobody in the country, to revoke citizenship, to take away your job on the sole basis of who you are, to commit acts of violence against you, to make legislative decisions against you on the single, sole basis of who and what you are, and nothing else.Not that Christians never experience this, but until you can talk about having the police raid bars looking for Christians to arrest for being Christians (like they did to LGBT+ people prior to Stonewall), being denied the right to vote (like they did to women), be deemed legally as property (as they did to black people), have your healthcare removed (like they’re doing to women and trans people), have your livelihoods destroyed by concerted State efforts (like in Kristallnacht) and being shipped to unspeakable horrors (like Uighur Muslims and yes, Christians in CHINA are experiencing), you’re a far cry from persecution.So please, ask me why you can’t storm a mosque as a Christian, or why you can’t ask the Stonewall charity to print out conservative propaganda that’s done so much harm to LGBT+ people, or to hold an anti-gay rally during Pride Month, all in the name of the free speech you want for yourself and nobody else (and while we’re at it, stop whining when I swear if free speech to express religion is your whole bloody shtick, yeah?). These are questions that an actual, real life Christian has asked me, along with asking how it could be discrimination to refuse a gay couple (with dreams, hopes, aspirations, and human dignity (all important here, which you’ll understand once you see the comparator they used)) a place at a B&B but not for a farmer to sell non-sentient, lifeless grain and crops to ASDA and not to Tesco (both of which are British supermarket chains).Oh, and another real question; why shouldn’t science classrooms cater to religious tales on the creation story since they’re all just “possibilities” and “theories”, despite the presence of religious courses in school and university curriculums (and forgetting too that not only are scientific theories testable (not infallible, but testable), but we’d be here till Kingdom come if we started with Shinto accounts, moved to Buddhism, Islam, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, then to the accounts of Wicca, Voodoo, Rastafarianism, Pastafarianism, the Greek and Roman pantheons, Hinduism, the Egyptian Gods, the Lovecraftian Dream Cycle… or was it just the seven-day creation account from the Book of Genesis that you wanted?).All asked hypothetically, I hope.I was watching a film series recently which encapsulates this sheer naivety and lack of critical thinking, called God’s Not Dead. In it, an elderly character with a straight face says the following line: “In this day and age, people seem to forget that the most basic human right of all is the right to believe.” Mate, that’s a really lovely sentiment, and belief is innately human. I can’t stop thinking! But I rather prefer having my head attached to my shoulders, without the looming threat of the Christian extreme right cropping up with a view to taking it for their warped interpretation of the Bible.Hearing the odd horrible word against your faith isn’t a nice experience. I know that, as a former Christian. When I was flyering for my university’s Christian Union, hearing such hurtful words was difficult, and it made me feel bad. I lost a friend to my former homophobia. But Article 9 ECHR rights to religion are intrinsically tied to Article 10 ECHR rights to free expression; mean words are mean and saddening and even cruel, but if you attack free speech, the only thing that’s standing between anyone and really, really real persecution, by shutting down mean words (which are often valid critiques that evangelicals just don’t like!), then your whole religion goes down. You’ve opened the floodgates, as Christians are so fond of saying in the wake of gay rights legislation.And atheists can abuse free speech too! Nobody’s denying it! We’ll go too far, on the merits of the case sometimes, and actively abuse faiths; an imbalance that needs redressing! But if Christian values against gay people, that God despises the “lifestyles” we choose, have been held to be “worthy of respect in a democratic society” (see the Mbuyi example again), then so is an atheist’s right to tear into a belief system. You can’t have that scale tipped entirely in your favour without that same consequent imbalance. And atheists and agnostics are absolutely going to ask you about your stance on gay people as a Christian (even the nice ones that wouldn’t hurt a fly!), because so many of you make such a ruckus about us as immoral monsters who want to corrupt your children that it’s become a rightfully intrinsic part of our perception of Christians and Christianity.We’re wary of you because of that, and just a little scared.Sorry.I know this is a hard concept, given that the Bible has told you to expect persecution for your beliefs because we unbelievers hate “The Truth”. You’ll find that sort of language scattered throughout the Bible: take Galatians 4: 13-16:As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. Where, then, is your blessing of me now? I can testify that, if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?Early Christians faced serious persecution. Many of them were executed and tortured for their faith. I know that Emperor Nero was famous for his fervour, using the practice of damnatio ad bestias (destruction through beasts) in which Christians were wrapped in animal skins and thrown to rabid dogs. Most of the New Testament disciples were executed horrifically, with many Christians even suggesting that this points to the strength of their convictions (and therefore, because they believed it so, they had to be correct, just like I believe that pineapple tastes bad on pizza and therefore it is so!).Being asked to be nice to groups you’ve since oppressed for centuries, and then seeing those groups getting sick to death of it, is not persecution. You’re not a martyr on a cross for defending God from the liberal plague; you’re just a dick.Even God doesn’t get in the way of people who just want to live their lives without Him! It’s disgusting language, but check Romans 1: 21–24:For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.I mean, thanks for calling us “degrading”, you mass-murdering lunatic, but I’ll take whatever I can get by this point. Does your God paint Himself as a damsel in distress? No! So why would you feel the need to batter down the human rights of others, if you’re not doing it in some sad show of virtue-signalling to your church community?If you’re discriminated against by private individuals on the basis of your religion, as seen above, there’s a good chance the courts will see your case on its merits and rule in your favour. In a religiously neutral State (or a mockery of one, in the case of the United States), the State will do you no sin on the basis of your religion.But it’s not gonna do you any favours above other people, either.That latter scenario is called “theocracy”, my friend.I’ll leave you with one last thought:Less well known is the paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.Karl Popper told us this. If we tolerate the people who want to destroy tolerance, it vanishes under the weight of that onslaught.Any democracy has to recognise this. Recognise rights not as trumps that defy any attempts to balance them, but as open to balancing on the merits of their case. You (the general and abstract “you”, not intended to be directed at anyone in particular) want to practice a faith calmly, you want to leave gay people and women and black people and all alone and live with us in peace, love, and understanding?Wonderful. Sit at the table. Please!Let’s find you a nice drink and refreshments.Try to start a fight with vulnerable people? I promise it’ll be finished.Law is just a very civilised way of doing so.