Religious Worship in Schools
A generation ago in Scotland it was customary to have a period of Bible or Catechism instruction at the beginning of every school day, just as it was considered customary in the Highlands to have a school holiday on the Thursday of the local communion season to enable children to go to church with their parents. This was part of the cultural heritage and respected by most people in such communities. At school, pupils had to recite answers to The Shorter Catechism and Bible verses. Even then, parents had the option of withdrawing their offspring from such instruction, but this was rarely done. Sadly, over the years, this vital feature of school life has gradually diminished and now God is scarcely mentioned in many schools. Religious instruction in schools is, however, still enshrined in our law. There is a right and a duty to provide religious observances, a right which humanists and secularists are currently challenging.
In England and Wales, the Education Reform Act of 1988 requires a daily act of collective worship in all maintained schools – those funded through local authorities. One Government report states: “It is a matter of deep concern that in many schools these activities do not take place with the frequency required or the standard which pupils deserve”. A Department of Education circular in the mid-1990s insisted that “all maintained schools must provide religious education and daily collective worship for all registered pupils and promote their spiritual, moral and cultural development”. It adds, “The syllabuses must in future reflect the fact that religious traditions in the country are in the main Christian whilst taking account . . . of other principal religions”. The legislation is designed, it claims, “to ensure that pupils gain a thorough knowledge of their Christian heritage, as our country has a long tradition of religious freedom, which should be preserved”.
Scottish local authorities also have a duty under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, “to provide religious observance and religious education in Scottish schools”. This act goes back to 1872, when the state introduced compulsory education; previously education had been provided by the churches. Guidelines recently published by the Scottish Government state that such observances are an important part of a pupil’s education at all stages of primary and secondary school. They go on to insist that these observances should be held at least six times a year in addition to any traditional celebrations. Teachers are encouraged to draw on Scotland’s Christian heritage and to liaise closely with chaplains when planning these observances. We may have cause for concern about the quality of such collective worship, but the fact remains that, across the nation, our schools still have a legal duty to hold some form of religious worship with a focus on Christianity.
The Scottish Secular Society is, however, determined to overthrow this right, saying that automatic religious observance amounts to “an abuse of human rights”. This autumn they will send a petition to the Scottish Government asking for parents to have to opt in for their children to attend religious observances rather than to opt out, as is the current situation. Caroline Lynch, chairwoman of Secular Scotland, says that parents are not being informed about their opt-out rights and that children who do opt out are made to feel that they are being punished and are missing out on something. A Church of Scotland spokesman countered her argument by stating that spiritual education was intrinsic to the upbringing of children. He added, “It is utterly implausible to imagine a parent having to opt in to other cross-curricular or whole-school learning activities”. Tellingly, Mark Gordon, author of the Secular Society’s petition, let slip their true intentions: “We do want religious observance removed completely, but we don’t feel that is a winnable case”; so evidently they view this petition as a first step.
Gary McLelland, chair of the Edinburgh Secular Society, states quite openly: “For us religious observance has no place in the education system in 2013”. An Edinburgh mother, Veronica Wikman, was apparently so incensed to find her son learning “creationist hymns” and being taught that God created the world in six days that, backed by the Edinburgh Secular Society, she lodged a petition with Edinburgh Council calling for all religious observance to be discontinued in its non-denominational schools.
The Humanist Society of Scotland supports this atheistic intolerance. Their education officer, a former headteacher, stated that the petition to Holyrood “is a useful first step, but our view is that religious observance should have no part in the state curriculum”. This aim of eliminating all forms of religious worship in schools has led some commentators to feel that this will be the next battle facing the Christian Church, after the same-sex “marriage” issue. Satan is never short of agents and weapons seeking to destroy Christianity, and where could he find a more strategic place than where the seed of God’s Word may be sown in young impressionable hearts? Some pupils will never hear about God at home and have never been to church, but they may just hear something in school that could cause them by God’s grace to “remember now (their) Creator in the days of [their] youth” (Ecc 1:1) and come to hear Him, who is Wisdom personified, saying, “I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find me” (Prov 8:17). KHM
Protection of Children from Homosexual Propaganda
The Herald reports that Free Church minister Rev David Robertson – while “opposed to gay marriage and accepting ‘biblical teaching’ about homosexuality” – is “the first Scottish church leader to publicly condemn the homophobic Vladimir Putin regime over its treatment of minority groups in Russia”. The newspaper refers to Mr Robertson’s explanation on the Solas website about why he agrees “with Stephen Fry’s condemnation of President Putin”.
Stephen Fry wrote to the Prime Minister recalling that the 1936 Berlin Olympics proceeded under Hitler, although he had passed a law in 1934 which resulted in persecution of Jews. “Putin is eerily repeating this insane crime, only this time against LGBT Russians,” wrote Fry, in condemning what he calls “the barbaric, fascist law that Putin has pushed through the Duma. . . . He is making scapegoats of gay people, just as Hitler did Jews.”
The legislation which has triggered Fry’s hysterical outcry is Law 135-FZ, which Russia enacted on June 29 to protect children from having a homosexual lifestyle promoted to them. To agree with Stephen Fry’s condemnation of this law is in effect to disagree with what is, in principle, a good law.
The prestigious international body, the Alliance Defending Freedom comments that the new legislation “is incredibly popular in the Russian Federation as a means of protecting family values. The law was passed by a vote in the Duma with 100% approval”. The Alliance adds, “To be clear, media reflections regarding the law have been grossly exaggerated and have provided a distorted view of [its] aims and scope”. It also gives examples in the international media of the law being misrepresented as persecuting homosexuals for following their lifestyle, whereas its actual purpose is to prevent them promoting their lifestyle among children.
Furthermore, 103 pro-family bodies worldwide have signed a statement supporting Law 135-FZ because it protects the “innocence and moral formation of children by prohibiting propaganda of ‘non-traditional sexual relationships’ among them”.
Whatever legitimate criticism may be made of the Putin regime, this new Russian law is necessary. Other governments should likewise take steps to prevent homosexual activists entering schools to promote their lifestyle. It is a heartless person indeed who would deliberately lead children into sinful and self-destructive practices. Jesus said, “It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend [that is, cause to stumble, to fall into sin] one of these little ones” (Lk 17:2). NMR