Britain First? Not if it is this lot...
Today the hate group (yes I call them that freely) Britain First posted this letter template on Facebook saying that parents should use it to get their children out of Religious Education lessons that would encourage children to join Islam or some such nonsense.
I do not post this here to encourage or condone their words. In fact, my response is below. I fear that my liberal and well reasoned argument will be deleted from their page and so I post it below for you to read. I add that people are free to make up their own minds about everything and if your view is different from mine then you are entitled to it. I just hope that you will respect my view.
'Anyone who uses this is never going to solve anything. When I was at school Religious Education was only in Primary School and dealt mostly with Christianity as taught by the local Methodist and Holy Trinity churches. When I went to secondary school we had Religious Studies, which I took to GCSE level (as it was an option).
Thinking back to my GCSE option meetings we were told that in actuality we did not need any religious faith. In fact I am a staunch Atheist and proud to call myself one. I had (as I have now) friends that were Christian, Jewish, Muslim and even identified as Jedi (see the 2001 census) and Wicca! The lessons we attended as Religious Studies looked at every aspect of a person's life and how their religion helped them to inform their own lives. Even within a religious (see Christianity even for a good pointer) there are different denominations and each has their own interpretation of how a person should live their life.
Every Muslim person I have known have been against the terrorist acts that have been taken in the name of Islam and they are sick of being tarred with the same brush. Through learning about the religion of Islam alongside Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Sikh and Hinduism I have been able to learn tolerance, forgiveness and how we can respect and learn from one another. As an Atheist I would never be able to understand why someone else follows a certain religion (or specific denomination within their religion), but I can respect their individual reasons and see that they live good lives that contribute towards the local society they live in.
By telling our children they cannot learn about another religion we are telling them to be close minded, bigoted individuals and so I fear for our future. The world is becoming smaller as technology allows us more interaction and travel becomes easier. Filling skills gaps around the world means that others will come bringing their cultural differences, but we will move to other places with our skills and bring our cultural differences. By learning about those differences we allow for smoother transition, less fear and therefore less of a culture of violence.
Fear of the unknown breeds terrorism, hate crimes and violent acts and only when we educate our children do we say that we are willing to work to a future where this does not exist.
Yes there are extremist cases out there. Islam is not the only religion with these issues. On a daily basis we see the same problems in different places around the world with Christians, Jews, etc. and yet our narrow-mindedness has focused on this one group of people. I am not condoning any extremist action anywhere, but I stress again that education is the key.
Any parent who uses this letter is failing the next generation and contributing to the fear and hate culture. Now, more than ever, there should be a call for Relgious Studies (NOT Religious Education) so that we can learn and bring about a more positive view for the sake of all.
Intolerance will be the death of us all, not one individual religion.'
'Anyone who uses this is never going to solve anything. When I was at school Religious Education was only in Primary School and dealt mostly with Christianity as taught by the local Methodist and Holy Trinity churches. When I went to secondary school we had Religious Studies, which I took to GCSE level (as it was an option).
Thinking back to my GCSE option meetings we were told that in actuality we did not need any religious faith. In fact I am a staunch Atheist and proud to call myself one. I had (as I have now) friends that were Christian, Jewish, Muslim and even identified as Jedi (see the 2001 census) and Wicca! The lessons we attended as Religious Studies looked at every aspect of a person's life and how their religion helped them to inform their own lives. Even within a religious (see Christianity even for a good pointer) there are different denominations and each has their own interpretation of how a person should live their life.
Every Muslim person I have known have been against the terrorist acts that have been taken in the name of Islam and they are sick of being tarred with the same brush. Through learning about the religion of Islam alongside Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Sikh and Hinduism I have been able to learn tolerance, forgiveness and how we can respect and learn from one another. As an Atheist I would never be able to understand why someone else follows a certain religion (or specific denomination within their religion), but I can respect their individual reasons and see that they live good lives that contribute towards the local society they live in.
By telling our children they cannot learn about another religion we are telling them to be close minded, bigoted individuals and so I fear for our future. The world is becoming smaller as technology allows us more interaction and travel becomes easier. Filling skills gaps around the world means that others will come bringing their cultural differences, but we will move to other places with our skills and bring our cultural differences. By learning about those differences we allow for smoother transition, less fear and therefore less of a culture of violence.
Fear of the unknown breeds terrorism, hate crimes and violent acts and only when we educate our children do we say that we are willing to work to a future where this does not exist.
Yes there are extremist cases out there. Islam is not the only religion with these issues. On a daily basis we see the same problems in different places around the world with Christians, Jews, etc. and yet our narrow-mindedness has focused on this one group of people. I am not condoning any extremist action anywhere, but I stress again that education is the key.
Any parent who uses this letter is failing the next generation and contributing to the fear and hate culture. Now, more than ever, there should be a call for Relgious Studies (NOT Religious Education) so that we can learn and bring about a more positive view for the sake of all.
Intolerance will be the death of us all, not one individual religion.'
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