It’s time for an end to the segregation of children by faith

Posted on September 5th, 2008 by bryan.
Categories: General.

As children across England and Wales returned to school this week, an eclectic mix of organisations joined forces to launch the Accord Coalition, which promotes inclusive schools and an end to special arrangements for state-funded faith schools.

The Coalition’s Declaration of Aims argues:-

  • that in a pluralist, multi-cultural society, the State should promote tolerance and recognition of different values and beliefs;
  • that schools should welcome all and be committed to non-discrimination; and
  • that schools should promote a culture of questioning, of knowledge, of respect and of exploration of values, where students develop their own identities and sense of place in the world.

The Declaration continues, stating that State-funded schools should:-

  • operate admissions policies that take no account of students’ - or their parents’ - religion or beliefs;
  • operate recruitment and employment policies that do not discriminate on the grounds of religion or belief;
  • follow an objective, fair and balanced syllabus for education about religions and non-religions beliefs; and
  • provide their students with inclusive, inspiring and stimulating assemblies, in place of compulsory acts of worship.

‘The Guardian’s’ Polly Toynbee is also President of the British Humanist Association, a member of the Accord Coalition.  She used her most recent commentary piece to highlight and to oppose the (increasing) segregation of children by faith, especially in the era of the ‘Academy’.  Neither she nor the Coalition calls for anything extreme or radical - only that children, teachers and other school staff should be free from discrimination on the grounds of their religion or beliefs.

Toynbee writes that ‘class, ethnic and faith segregation are the most damaging reasons why the Accord Coalition needs to prevail’.  She adds: ‘The State can’t protect children from pernicious views and doctrines [about creationism, sexuality and women's rights] at home - but it has a duty to protect them in State schools’.  If only the State subscribed to that view.  Instead, we have 7,000 faith schools, with more opening every year in the form of Academies, which already discriminate against the majority by focusing much needed funding and expertise on the few.

Toynbee suggests that ‘faith schools may be Blair’s most damaging legacy’, yet their number continues to multiply with the permission of Parliament.  That’s why we have two choices: either to give credit where it’s due and to continue to despair about the undue and unfair influence of religious interest groups over our elected representatives; or to support the Accord Coalition and it Declaration of Aims.  I know what I will be doing!

To read Polly Toynbee’s commentary in full, click on the link below.

Faith schools may be Blair’s most damaging legacy (’The Guardian’, 2 September 2008)

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The merits of athiesm

Posted on August 24th, 2008 by bryan.
Categories: General.

Professor AC Grayling wrote in Thursday’s ‘The Guardian’ a compelling commentary about the merits of an atheist Prime Minister. It is one of the best pro-atheism pieces I’ve read, avoiding completely the usual criticisms of being anti-religion.

Instead, Grayling suggests that religious movements should be seen as civil society organisations (like trades unions, political parties, the Scouts, etc.), with every right to exist and to have their say, but as self-constituted interest groups no more entitled to a bigger share of the public pie of influence, privilege, tax handouts and legal exemptions than any other interest group.

Moreover, Grayling recognises that religion - unlike race, age, gender, disability (and, I add, sexuality) - is a matter of choice, that one can change or not have at all. As such, he argues (and I’ve long agreed), it should pay its own way and take its place in the queue along with other interest groups.

Atheism is not an attack on any or all religions. It’s about levelling the playing fields; equality; fairness; and respect. That can only be a good thing.

To read the article in full, click on the link below.

The rise of Miliband brings at last the prospect of an atheist Prime Minister (The Guardian, 21 August 2008)

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Social EXclusion

Posted on June 7th, 2008 by bryan.
Categories: General.

How does opening Britain’s first Hindu-only state school ‘promote community cohesion, inclusion and … inter-cultural and religious diversity’. Answers on a postcard, please. Surely, community cohesion requires people to live, work and study together, irrespective of religion and background.

BBC News - Hindu state school beginning work

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Tony Blair’s misguided ‘Faith Foundation’

Posted on May 29th, 2008 by bryan.
Categories: General.

Former PM, Tony Blair, has promised ‘to spend the rest of [his] life’ uniting the world’s religions. He is launching tomorrow a ‘Faith Foundation’ that will attempt to bring religions together to tackle global issues such as the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals, ranging from eradicating extreme poverty to ensuring environmental sustainability.

However, one of its priorities will be to fight the spread of malaria. Mr Blair said: ‘If you got churches and mosques and those of the Jewish faith working together to provide the bed nets that are necessary to eliminate malaria, what a fantastic thing that would be’. But why is this a religious / faith issue? Surely it would be even more ‘fantastic’ to get ALL people working together, regardless of and without reference to their religion / faith. By all means, get the faiths together to find a way to stop them from killing / harassing / insulting each other, but please don’t give them a formal role in combating health issues - we have already seen what can happen when religious organisations get involved in fighting HIV / AIDS!

Mr Blair’s intentions are very commendable. However, if he wants to make a real difference to the lives of ALL people, he should avoid using religion as a way to address life and death issues that impact severely on people of all and no faiths. Even better, he should concentrate on making his millions as a consultant, peace envoy and author.

BBC News - Blair ‘to devote life to faith’

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Catholic hypocrisy

Posted on March 27th, 2008 by bryan.
Categories: General.

It is interesting to read that Cardinal O’Brien has had a pacemaker fitted following recent heart problems. Whilst I wish him a speedy recovery, surely this is a further example of his hypocrisy - he accepts life-saving medical treatment that arguably goes against the natural order of things, yet he won’t support the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill and the breakthroughs that this could lead to for those suffering from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other degenerative diseases. One of these days I will understand Catholicism - but it won’t be any time soon!

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Cardinal O’Brien’s at it again …

Posted on March 21st, 2008 by bryan.
Categories: General.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, will during his Easter sermon urge the Prime Minister to re-think ‘monstrous’ plans to allow hybrid human-animal embryos and to allow Labour MPs a free vote on the issue. He will also urge Ministers to resign instead of voting in favour of the new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

This is an issue of ethics and morality, so I do support Cardinal O’Brien’s call for a free vote - albeit reluctantly! However, I object to his scaremongering, in particular his references to Frankenstein, and his misrepresentation of a science that could lead to cures for diseases including MS and Alzheimer’s. I also object to his hypocrisy - he will say that the Government has no mandate to change the law in this area, changes which, he will argue, do not enjoy ‘widespread public support’. That may be so, but if anyone lacks a mandate or public support to speak on this or any other area it is Cardinal O’Brien - the unelected leader of a minority religion.

Religious leaders are entitled to preach to the converted. However, they should be prohibited from exercising influence over Government or Parliament, or from using public institutions like the BBC to spread ‘facts’ that are no more believable than the Bible!

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Secular education

Posted on March 9th, 2008 by bryan.
Categories: General.

“‘Is the study of philosophy and theology a waste of time?’ Hawking, a notorious athiest, looks at his screen, and grimaces. ‘Yes’, he says, finally. ‘Most of it is based on a complete disregard of observational evidence and modern science’” (Stephen Hawking, interviewed by Rachel Cook in The Observer).

Stephen Hawking was talking, I think, about graduate and post-graduate study. But I’m sure he agrees that it applies equally to the teaching of religion in schools to children. The Campaign for Secular Education includes in its Statement of Aims and Objectives:-

  1. Our aim is to have every child educated to the highest standards of intellectual honesty appropriate to their age and stage of development - in local schools where they can mix freely with and socialise freely with children of other races, classes, and creeds.

  2. Instruction in religion should be the province of parents and their religions, in homes and churches if they insist on indoctrinating their children in their particular faith. It should be not be the business of the state education system to do other than educate, or to condone indoctrination.

  3. Children have rights over and above those of their parents and they deserve objectivity.

  4. Teachers should be free to teach their subject/s without having to undergo vetting on their religious affiliations, or lifestyle choices, and should be qualified and allowed to answer questions of ethics, belief etc. in an objective way.

  5. There should be a programme of integration of Religious Schools.

The Campaign is not to ban or to detract from religion. Instead, it’s about removing religion and indoctrination from the state education system and putting them back where they belong - i.e. within the home, church, temple, mosque, etc. But it also recognises what many fail to understand or to accept - that children have rights over and above those of their parents and that they deserve objectivity.

Richard Dawkins argues that there is no such thing as a Christian, Muslim or Hindu child, merely children with Christian, Muslim or Hindu parents (not forgetting the role of their teachers). A child of 5, starting school, is simply not in a position to understand what religion is, never mind to make an informed choice about what religion (if any) to follow. Any ‘decisions’ that the child does make are the result of indoctrination by those exercising (or, arguably in the area of religion, abusing) their power and control over the child.

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A long rant - any excuse to get away from the calculator!

Posted on June 4th, 2007 by bryan.
Categories: General.

My brain is now completely dead - which is a good thing, because I’ve also lost the will to live.

I really don’t know how people work with finances all day, every day. I’ve just been doing it for a few weeks and I struggle to keep my eyes open for more than 30 minutes at a time! I don’t know whether I now have respect or increased pity for the Finance Team at my work - on second thoughts, it’s definitely the latter. But then they are the type that get excited by a balanced Excel spreadsheet. I suppose that someone has to be into that sort of thing.

Life over the past 10 days has pretty much been taken up with revision. I did manage to pop out (with my notes) to Hyde Park yesterday to enjoy the sun, but otherwise I’ve been stuck indoors most of the time. The only thing saving my sanity is Classic FM and the odd visit to the BBC News website, but even that pis**s me off - if it’s not the Catholic Church in Scotland getting upset about a woman’s right to have an abortion it’s reports that Manchester United will spend £50m this summer on transfer fees.

The abortion story really annoys me. First, it’s the fact that a religion still thinks it has the right to dictate to a woman how she should lead her life - I thought that was the role of the courts and Parliament which, for the record, legalised abortion in Scotland in 1967. Second, it’s that same Church’s call that Scottish Catholic MPs who support abortion should not put themselves forward for communion. Well, if Cardinal Keith O’Brien has such an issue with our elected representatives, maybe he should decline any further funding from the Scottish Executive in support of Catholic schools. Of course, that would mean the Church would have to find another source of income to continue to preach its doctrines of hate and lies - to children as young as 5. Third, it’s the fact that the BBC (and other media) continue to give air time to the likes of Cardinal O’Brien. He has no mandate to speak on behalf of ‘Scotland’s Catholics’ - he is un-elected - but yet his often inflammatory statements get more coverage than the many other real stories affecting the nation. Scotland might have a strong Catholic community (many of whom are non-practicing), but it’s out-numbered at least four-to-one by non-Catholics. We elect people - of all sexes, colours and creeds - to represent us, and it’s time for them to stand up against the Catholic (and any other) faith when it starts preaching at the majority of the dis-interested (and happily excommunicated) population.

As for the Manchester United story, I can’t help but think that the £50m that it plans to spend this summer ‘buying’ already wealthy players could be put to much better use. But take heart, apparently we will have our first £200K per WEEK footballer within three years. Is it too late for me take up the game??!

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