Most liked posts in thread: Rule of the Mob - Batley School

Aye, it reminds me of the time cartoon poo emojis had to be removed because a few 'grown ups' got upset.

 

What a ridiculous comparison.

Don't bother replying because I'm not debating the point but it's safe to say that comparing people's death to a few cartoons you didn't want to be drawn shouldn't ever be brought up in the same conversation.

 

Some of the things that those with religious beliefs take such mortal offence to, whilst tolerating substantially greater evils within their own culture and practices, show that religion has very little place in modern society, to my mind.

 

That's the religious equivalent of my lad saying to me 'Dad, I wanna be a Leeds fan'.

 

That's a stupid comparison, the fire was a real occurrence...

 

I'm no doubt one of the 'woke lefties' that our resident right wing authoritarian @Tony Wilkinson is referring to.
My take is that it was stupid of the teacher to show the cartoons knowing full well, as an RE teacher, that this is totally verboten in Muslim culture and was (rightly or wrongly) bound to cause upset. Particularly as those particular cartoons were deliberately designed to offend and had previously caused international outrage. I can see that purpose of doing so was to illustrate intolerance, so in one sense it was well meaning, but the chances of this approach working, without provoking predictable angst, were next to zero, so it was extremely poor judgement by the teacher. There are plenty of other ways to illustrate how certain minority groups are discriminated against, without using those, already infamous, cartoons.
Having said all that, I dislike all religions and think they all get cut far too much slack. If you must believe evidence-free fairy tales about supreme beings and waste your life worshipping imaginary creators that's up to you. But I don't see why that means the majority who don't can't say, or illustrate, what we think about your lifestyle choices. There are far more real and important injustices to protest about than someone drawing a nasty cartoon about an ancient prophet. I can absolutely see the worth of teaching kids about comparitive cultures, but that shouldn't just be centred on religion. If people insist on indoctrinating their children about their particular brand of fairy tale, so be it. But I think that should happen at home or in churches, mosques, Sunday schools etc. Religious schools are an anachronism that provoke division and if it was up to me I'd follow the French example and ban the lot of them.

 

When I was a kid I was made to go to church by my mum. I never believed any of it. I joined the church choir because I liked singing and got paid (a little) for it.
I remember once asking the Choir Mistress to explain how the process of Jesus rising from the dead had the effect of saving the world and what exactly was it saving the world from. She was clearly not happy being asked this and mumbled some incoherent nonsense that indicated she had no more idea than I did. It's all just fairy tales.

 

I think that if you saw pictures of the people at the event it's clear that the majority just wanted a day out and a row with the police.

 

We should take a lead from France which forbids religious Schools etc and is a secular country, Religion should be taught in private places and at home and not in Schools, Demonstrations and protests outside schools should also be banned to allow students and teachers access to education without hindrance

 

Just looking at those images from today of all those upstanding pillars of the community who have never made a mistake in their life.

Stones and glass houses springs to mind.

Onto the actual topic itself-the irony is the teacher was trying to educate the children what intolerance and freedom of expression meant. Looks like he/she gave their best ever, and sadly possibly their last, lesson.

In Kirklees borough, where Batley Grammar School is located, the syllabus says: pupils should also understand "key areligious values including democracy, human rights, rule of law, secularism, freedom of expression and tolerance" - this is taught in Key Stage 3.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30813742

 

Correct, the poor right minded Batley folk have the horrendous Tracy Brabin representing them.

 

Sure, I understand that most RE teaching, at least in secular state schools, is comparitive. But even calling it RE elevates religion to a status that I don't believe it should have. It's only one aspect of culture but is given a prominence that others don't get. And I wonder how much comparitive religion is taught in some faith schools, which are little short of indoctrination centres.

 

Interesting point. I have always struggled to understand why a school will teach physics, chemistry and biology-all essential elements of our physical existence with actual evidence to back up the science and then teach a story from a book about a bloke who died and then came alive some days later to save the world.

 

Nice one, I'm off to protest with 15,000 others down at Valley Parade tomorrow about not being able to attend the football.

 

I don't suppose that matters though does it? Aren't they protesting at the content of the lesson and not that a child was taught it?

I still don't believe they've a right to gather outside the school though and I'm unsure why the police haven't moved them on after the first and simply allowed the school to close.

 

To be fair he should apologise as I have no doubt he knew what he was doing and if not then not fit to teach anyway,

 

Does anyone on here remember the Headmaster of the school in Manningham being hounded out of his school years ago. I had to walk through the protests to get into work. Hunnyford was his name. The protesters didn't give up until they got what they wanted. And all he said was kids in school should be able to speak English.