Share |

Monday, 1 December 2014

UK: Teachers “scared to teach about Jesus” for fear of offending Muslims

This article speaks only of the fear of offending “those of other faiths,” but when Bolton starts talking about how Christianity must be taught so as to aid the integration of new immigrants, it is clear that he is talking about Muslims, as no one is worried about the low rate of “integration” of any other group.

So what we have here are British teachers readily discarding their own culture and heritage for a watery and content-free multiculturalism that will, in the end, only pave the way for the takeover of Britain by those who still have confidence in their own beliefs, traditions and culture. Those who are proud to be British and interested in exploring what that means are derided as “racists.” Britain, in short, is a spent force, and is doomed to a future of blood and chaos.

“Teachers ‘scared to teach about Jesus’: Fear of offending other faiths prevents children1 [sic] learning true meaning of Christmas, BBC presenter claims,” by Sarah Harris, Daily Mail, November 29, 2014:
Fear of ‘offending’ different faiths means pupils are not being taught the true meaning of Christmas in schools, according to a BBC presenter.
Roger Bolton, of Radio 4’s Feedback programme, said that some secular teachers are also ‘unsympathetic to religious education’.
As a result, many pupils are not learning the crucial fact that Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus.
A lack of understanding of Christianity is also preventing youngsters from gaining a proper understanding of religious imagery in literature and drama as well as European art.
This ‘ignorance’ in schools is being compounded by broadcasters’ reluctance to tackle ‘faith issues’ in children’s programmes.
Mr Bolton, who previously presented Sunday, Radio 4’s main programme for religious news and current affairs, condemned the trend in a ‘viewpoint’ piece written for this weeks Radio Times.
He said the Band Aid single, Do They Know It’s Christmas? would be better renamed for school children as ‘Do They Know What Christmas Is?’
He said: ‘Older readers might think this is a redundant question, but I’m afraid it’s not.
‘In some schools in this country, little is taught about the true meaning of Christmas, possibly because secular staff are unsympathetic to religious education or because of the fear of offending those of other faiths.
‘And broadcasters aren’t doing much to remedy this ignorance. It is difficult to find any children’s programmes that regularly deal with faith issues.’
Mr Bolton said there were ‘exceptions’ such as On Angel’s Wings, a BBC1 animation this Christmas, which is based on War Horse author, Michael Morpurgo’ s picture book.
It tells the Christmas story from the point of view of a young shepherd boy.
‘But there is little else in prospect, and the consequences of this lack of coverage are becoming evident,’ he said.
The presenter pointed to a Bible Society survey published earlier this year that claimed a quarter of children had ‘never read, seen or heard of Noah’s Ark’.
A similar proportion was ignorant of the Nativity; 43 per cent had never heard of the Crucifixion, and 53 per cent had ‘never read, seen or heard’ of Joseph and his coat of many colours.
Mr Bolton wrote: ‘Does this matter? I think it does, for both cultural and communal reasons.
‘The United Kingdom cannot be understood without appreciating the role Christian culture has played in its development, from the introduction of the parish system to the replacement of a monarch (James II) because he was a Roman Catholic.
‘In the time of Henry VIII what one believed about the doctrine of ‘transubstantiation’ was literally a matter of life and death.
‘Our 17th-century Civil War was fought in large part over the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings.
‘Without a knowledge of Christianity, what will our schoolchildren make of much of our finest literature and drama, filled as it is with Christian imagery? Or much of the finest European art?’
He added: ‘It is also vital that children of other faiths learn about Christmas. How can they begin to integrate into our country if they know little of the faith still at its heart?
‘Of course, the reverse applies, too. How can they feel welcome in this country if we make no real effort to understand what is often the most important thing to them and their families – their faiths?’…
And that means that what is most likely to come out of this is more state school teaching about…Islam.

No comments: