It is reported that a London primary school teacher has been banned from working with children after telling pupils that Britain is a Christian state.
Apparently, this is such a dangerous sentiment to express that a senior detective from the Metropolitan Police’s child abuse investigation team launched a hate crime inquiry. Eh?
Stating the bloomin’ obvious is child abuse? The teacher also pointed out that King Charles is the supreme governor of the Church of England and that Islam is a minority religion in this country.
The silly melodrama was sparked by the teacher reprimanding some Muslim pupils for washing their feet in the sinks of the boys’ loos when facilities had been set aside for this purpose in a special prayer room.
First of all, if this is how the police spend their time, it is no wonder burglars, muggers and rapists flourish. Secondly, if a teacher can be banned for stating facts, then the entire profession is at risk.
Britain is indeed a Christian state. It is arguable whether it is still a Christian country, given declining church attendance and the persecution of Christians who hold traditional views, but it is, quite undeniably, a Christian state. |
We have an established church. Bishops of that church sit in the House of Lords as of right. Our ceremonies of state are based on Christian liturgy. Our monarch is the supreme governor of the established church.
That this embarrasses some left-wing MPs is irrelevant: the facts are as stated and as the teacher, who does not wish to be named, stated.
When stating the obvious about Britain becomes child abuse, Christianity is under attack - Ann Widdecombe
|Getty Images
It could hardly be an act of discrimination to require the pupils to use the foot-washing facilities laid aside for them. Where exactly is the hatred that the police spent their time investigating?
It has for many years been the case that you can openly espouse any religion in this country except Christianity. As long ago as 2006, British Airways disciplined a Christian for wearing a small cross, while allowing Sikhs to wear turbans, which are a lot more visible.
In 2012, a manager with Trafford Housing Society was demoted with a 40 per cent pay cut after writing on his private Facebook site that he thought gay marriage would pose problems for the Church.
Nowadays, many Christians have reached a point where they simply hide their light under a bushel and avoid saying anything as simple as “God Bless”.
We have lost sight of the difference between tolerating other faiths and surrendering our own. Indeed, at the millennium itself, the government actually tried to hold the celebration without so much as a Christian prayer.
“There must be some suggestion of Christian triumphalism”, said one government minister. So what exactly were we celebrating then? Two thousand years of what?
The ironic aspect of all this is that other faiths just do not understand why we so often play down our own. The only reason someone should be banned from working with children is if that person represents a danger, either physical or mental.
It is impossible to see how stating facts can be dangerous. This is less a free speech issue than a common sense one, but, however it is defined, Reform in government will provide a strong and unequivocal set of countermeasures.
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