The Sci Fi Catholic Yak Module
These are two items of major concern... one of schoolchildren being FORCED to pray to Allah upon threat of punishment...hhmmm smells VERY much like Islamic fundamentalism, convert or die. If I was the parent of these kids they would be immediately pulled from the school and the powers that be inundated with letters.. A spade is a spade folks... God bless these kids for accepting the crown of martydom for their faith and not succumbing to teacher or peer pressure.
The second one about receiving Communion...I am a Eucharistic Minister and I take my appointment very seriously. It is an extreme honor and I will die to safeguard the Body and Blood of our Precious Lord. I also live my life and go the extra mile to live in a state of grace such that I can distribute the Precious Body and Blood at any time should it be needed--often during Daily Mass or sometimes pinch-hit on a Sunday Mass. For Catholics that I KNOW personally are in mortal sin..ie living together, those who support abortions, etc-- I will NOT serve them. For everyone else--I do not know if they have been to Confession or not so I depend on their personal conscious. For those that I KNOW PERSONALLY are NOT Catholic..I will NOT serve them, even if the priest does. The priest does not know everything and it is up to his servers to assist him in such matters, such as consuming the host on the spot, assisting those who may be having difficulty, etc. I say SHAME on the priest, deacon, and/or server who KNOWINGLY served Sally Quinn knowing that she was not Catholic. Receiving the Precious Body and Blood of Our Lord is not a "feel good" thing. I hope Sally does the right thing, go to a priest, and confess her wrongdoing. She knowing took Holy Communion fully KNOWING she wasn't supposed to, and not out of ignorance or "copy cat". This is just another instance where even though I think it is crass an announcement needs to be made at the beginning of Mass--especially at a funeral Mass such as Mr. Russet's where many guests of various faiths will be present--that only Catholics in the state of grace are permitted to receive Communion. You can always walk up with your arms crossed and receive a blessing, and I would be delighted to give you one..
My rant is done..these two articles made me VERY ANGRY (think Marvin the Martian)... Peace..
Let's all calm down a bit. I very much doubt the teacher in question is a Muslim, and I don't believe this is forced conversion by covert means.
If you examine the National Curriculum for the U.K. in Religious Education (link here: http://curriculum.qca.org.uk/key...map/index.aspx)
you will see that at Key Stage 3 (which I think is the stage these kids are at, if they're 11-12) the curriculum states:
"The study of RE should include:
a. Christianity
b. at least two other principal religions
c. a religious community of local significance, where appropriate
d. a secular world view, where appropriate.
All of the above can be taught through the following themes:
e. beliefs and concepts: the key ideas and questions of meaning in religions and beliefs, including issues related to God, truth, the world, human life, and life after death
f. authority: different sources of authority and how they inform believers’ lives
g. religion and science: issues of truth, explanation, meaning and purpose
h. expressing spirituality: how and why understanding of the self and human experiences is expressed in a variety of forms
i. ethics and relationships: questions and influences that inform ethical and moral choices, including forgiveness and issues of good and evil
j. rights and responsibilities: what religions and beliefs say about human rights and responsibilities, social justice and citizenship
k. global issues – what religions and beliefs say about health, wealth, war, animal rights and the environment
l. interfaith dialogue – a study of relationships, conflicts and collaboration within and between religions and beliefs.
Explanatory notes
Christianity: This should include Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Non-conformist and Pentecostal branches of Christianity, both in Britain and globally.
At least two other principal religions: These include, as listed in the non-statutory national framework, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. By the end of key stage 3 all these principal religions should have been studied in sufficient depth. The Baha’i, Jain and Zoroastrian faiths may also be studied.
A religious community of local significance: This may be included to give a local focus to the study of how religion and belief impact on individuals, families and the community.
A secular world view: This includes, as in the example given in the nonstatutory national framework, secular philosophies such as Humanism.
Religion and science: This could include opportunities to look at where religion and science diverge or come together in their interpretation of the world.
Expressing spirituality: This could include exploring human experiences such as suffering. For example, experiences of the Holocaust or genocide could raise questions about people’s abiding sense of meaning in the face of pain and fear.
Health: This cou
More linky goodness:
http://ks3.reonline.org.uk/
teens..._topicheads.php
Online resources for the R.E. curriculum. If you look through, you'll see (I hope) that it's not "Secretly Forcing Islam Upon Britain".
Once again, I think the teacher was clumsy and insensitive - would Muslim children have been forced to say Christian prayers? However, they might have been included in trips to a Christian church or Jewish synagogue or Hindu temple - unless the parents very strongly objected, I imagine.
Fuinseoig-- The cirriculum described is very similiar to a Philosophy of Religion course I took at the college..and I agree that having a basic understanding of the various religions of the world is essential to temper bias and discrimination.
However children at the age of 11-12 are very impressionable, and very susceptable to "fitting in" and making teacher happy so as not to get punished. What this teacher was doing was more than just discussing religious philosophy..having the children dressing up in Muslim headresses and saying Muslim prayers is more than "Lets dress up and pretend we're Muslims for a day." It crosses a line into "religious education" that I don't believe belongs in public schools. And for the teacher to punish children (in addition they were probably intimidated in front of their classmates) for not wanting to participate way crosses the line of mere clumsy and insensitive...he/she should be fired over that, and the lesson plan thoroughly reviewed and revised by the school administration. Heck even in my Philosophy of Religion class we were NEVER required to recite prayers, or attend another church or temple...we did have the local leaders of the various faiths give presentations, then if we so desired we could attend their religious services. But our grade didn't hinge on any of that..and we were impressionable college students..
Sure, Sara, and I think the teacher handled things very badly.
My point, though, was that is is less down to some inscrutable Muslim plan to turn the kids into converts to Islam and more down to the incredible amount of form-filling, paperwork, and box-ticking to be done in the U.K. when teaching (I know from personal experience as my brother taught there and I typed up her thesis for a girl studying to be a teacher in the U.K.)
It's crazy but they have to dot the 'i's and cross the 't's exactly the way the curriculum lays out, and if the curriculum lays out that Key Stage 3 pupils must have and demonstrate hands-on knowledge of what the topic is, then the teacher has to do that. And yes, that means demonstrating that they did something more than just watch a video of Muslims praying (which, if you read the accounts, they did beforehand).
Now, if the teacher in question had just gotten the kids to kneel on prayer mats and say "This is how Muslims pray", no problem. I bet they also did something for the Harvest Festival that Anglican churches have, and something for Hannukah or whatever.
On the one hand, if you have pupils refusing to follow directions for classwork in class, then the teacher is going to discipline them. On the other hand, you can't *force* children to pray.
It's particularly sensitive because of the subject; if the kids had gone home and said they got in trouble because they didn't want to paint a still life in Art class, for example, we wouldn't be hearing about it like this. And you have to allow for the ages involved - 11 or 12 year olds are going to make a big deal out of why they got in trouble at school ("It wasn't my fault! The teacher was picking on me!") not deliberately or with malice, but because that's how children are.
Of course, the way the school is handling it is very poor - 'we can't comment because all our regular staff are out on leave and no-one is responsible for anything' is just asking for the worst interpretation to be put on things.
But I see this story is already doing the rounds as a kind of proof of "dhimmitude in Britain/the Muslims are taking over!" scare, and I really don't think that is what's going on at all. I'd like if this kind of "see! this shows the Clash of Civilisations is real and we have to bomb the towelheads now!" fervour could be nipped in the bud before it gets out of hand.
Not that this is what our host is doing, but there will be more than enough frothing at the mouth without throwing fuel on the fire.
And now I've scrambled enough metaphors, I'll shut up 
Yeah, I said I'd shut up, didn't I?
I'll just note that this comes from "The Daily Mail".
Which is a very right leaning, High Tory paper that never lets an opportunity for alarums and excursions pass by. If it's not the Eastern Europeans flooding into Britain and taking over, it's the threat to British culture if the schools stop teaching the glories of the Empire.
And the collapse of the housing market which will involve the middle class in complete and utter ruin and all the readers of the "Mail" will be reduced to begging for scraps on the street.
And the E.U. is out to get Britain. Just because.
And why oh why can't Maggie Thatcher be Prime Minister again? The country went to the dogs after the Iron Lady.
So, you know, is it a question of "Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson" or were they given detention for refusing to obey the teacher?
It's maybe a subtle point, but it's a real difference.
So, you know, is it a question of "Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson" or were they given detention for refusing to obey the teacher?
Well, with nothing to go on besides the article, I'm inclined to think the two boys were given detention for refusing to obey the teacher when she told them to kneel down and pray to Allah. I see no subtle difference. The teacher was out of line.
Is it a subtle Islamist plot? I sincerely doubt it. It's one teacher engaged in misdirected tolerance education, is what it is. Isolated incident perhaps, but part of what appears, at least to us alarmist (I really mean that, not sarcastically)conservative Americans, as Lucky I think called us, to be a growing trend in Europe--or did Bridget Bardot not get thrown in jail yet again for criticizing Islam? We get more and more news about people being thrown in jail for quoting the Bible or suggesting Islam has inhumane practices, or kids getting detention for refusing to recite Muslim prayers, and I hope you can forgive us for thinking Canada and Europe have gone nuts.
One should not be grateful that the Aztec religion is no longer practiced, or that teacher would be conducting classes on cutting hearts out....
(By the way, it reminds me of what my sister who worked at the World Bank told me, about a Muslim co-worker who insisted in bringing a compass to ascertain the direction of Mecca, so that he knew where to put his prayer rug. All the other co-workers had a bit of fun nudging the rug so that it did change direction. I hope that Allah took notice of the man's intention, insted of the rug orientation)
All the other co-workers had a bit of fun nudging the rug so that it did change direction.
That's a rather irritating little joke. That kind of petty nonsense bothers me a good deal.
D.G.D., I agree that the teacher was out of line. But permit me once again to say that I'd like to see the other side of the story before leaping on the "Islamistic takeover!!!" bandwagon.
For example, suggestions in the R.E. curriculum include having the children visit a church and make a stained glass window (not a real one, okay, but a collage type thing or a painting) afterwards.
It strikes me that, with very little alteration, that "Daily Mail" story could be rewritten for non-Christian parents to be OUTRAGED!!!! at the "forcing my kids to perform Christian activities" angle.
I know there isn't a snowball in hell's chance that, for example, they'd make kids pray the Angelus as part of "learning about Christianity" and I don't think they should.
Neither do I think children should be forced to pray to Allah or Jesus or YHWH or whomever in a class like this.
But once again, I think this is just one individual's stupidity and clumsiness, and not a national Government-mandated programme to force stealth conversion upon the Christian children of Britain.
Comparing teaching methodologies:
"Ooooooh! I've just realised that I could have walked into class today, hurled a water balloon filled with red paint at the wall and screamed, "It's Blood Month, ladies!" (Such wasted teaching opportunities! I must be ten kinds of fool to have given up that job.)"
Enbrethiliel at Sancta Sanctis, about July being the month of the Most Precious Blood 
Commenting by HaloScan
