> However what is at stake, for Muslim women and especially in France, is the
> requirement to cover the head if they are to observe their own faith; and if
> one accepts the right to believe, doesn't this follow? (What about male
> observant Jews in French schools by the way?).
The news this morning (R4's Today, I blearily remember) suggested that the French governmnet was
heading in exactly that direction and would be likely to insist that observant Jewish males not be
permitted to wear their caps.
>
> Isn't the only proper approach to keep the curriculum and practice of state
> schools totally secular but not to bar pupils from doing whatever they have to
> do as individuals to observe their faith? But where do we draw the line? I
> couldn't countenance female circumcision; and Taliban-style observance is
> somewhere on the continuum between that and the girls' headscarves.
Where indeed! Should particular religions be permitted to withdraw children throughout the day's
teaching to carry out their observances (say for regular prayers)? Should schools be expected to
permit shrines to be set up to a variety of different deities on their premises?
>
> By the way, my great-grandfather's many children were withdrawn from religious
> education back in the 1890s: 'Stand up all those children whose father
> doesnt't believe in God' and they all trooped out of the morning assembly,
> duly humiliated.
I come from a Welsh Calvinistic Baptist background and am very familiar with these sort of
attitudes.It's precisely this type of bigotry and humiliation that should be expunged from all
schooling by not permitting religion (of any kind whatsoever) a presence. Good for your great
grand-dad! (and I wish I could have thus got out of the endless tedium of daily Christian
observance at my schools).
Richard.
Richard Price,Staff Welfare Officer.
Mantell 1A18, University of Sussex, Falmer,Brighton. BN1 9QN
Tel. 01273-877712; Internal 7712
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