But I don't want to kneel down for Allah

[RabidGibbon]

This whole story reads to me like a teacher decided to introduce a novel, and a little misguided, concept of hands on learning, the class clowns saw an opportunity to prance about and make a scene, the teacher lost control and started handing out detentions.

Its a total non-story, but I do know an RE teacher and I'll ask her if forced conversions to Islam are part of the national curriculum. Incidentally, I was made to close my eyes, lower my head and clasp my hands whilst saying amen for thirteen years of my life, and it didn't make a Christian out of me, If I'd refused I most likely would have got detention, and it certainly wouldn't have made the national papers - but then again, back in the day when you got detention you tried to keep it secret from your parents, rather than running home and getting them to commission you a human rights lawyer.

In the first sentence of the article the words pray to Allah are put in parentheses indicating, at least to my mind, that praying to Allah isn't what is going on. If some kids refused to do so then the teachers response should have been “fair enough, sit it out”. However as I pointed out above, the teacher seems to have lost it – we don't know the whole story, these two kids could have been real swine, who needled the teacher at every opportunity. I know my class at school always saw the RE teachers as easy marks, and driving them into a frenzy was a sort of mass participation sport. After all, which parent cares if their kid is falling behind in RE, whilst doing well in Maths, Science and English (or whatever heathen language foreigners might be taught?).

Its all just a massive storm in a tea cup.

Technical note: A public school in the UK is one that you pay to send your kiddies to (above and beyond taxation)* so that they can learn the proper accent and form the cliques early on that are necessary to the correct governance of these islands. I'm not sure what the schools that the proletariat swarm to are called. Primary for the nippers and Secondary once you hit 11 – 12? Grammar schools needed you to pass a test, but I think they got done away with universally a long time ago.

Off Topic by far my favorite quote in the linked article is this one:

The Article
"I haven't got a problem with them teaching my child other religions and a small amount of information doesn't do any harm.”

If I ever have any kids to send to school, I hope it will be with the thought “I hope they don't learn enough information to do them any harm...”


*Although if you can afford to send your brat to “public” school, you can probably afford a tax lawyer who can cut your tax bill to that of your 16th century forefather, whilst claiming retrospective compensation for the trade monopolies your family lost when the Dutch performed their coup d'etat in 1688.

[Tribesman]

This topic is hilarious , so many of the usual suspects getting their panties all twisted up with their outrage over a total non-story

I guess according to tribesman, if the headmaster wanted to demonstrate with some of the pupils during sex-ed class, it would be their fault as they registered for school and agreed to be polite and do what they were told! What a logical breakdown...

logical breakdownPanzer you have suffered a complete breakdown of your logic circuit there
Errrrrr..... lets see if I was tribesman if the headmaster wanted to do something illegal it would be entirely in accordance with the school policy and code of conduct that the teachers pupils and parents had agreed too

Yes Panzer your logic really needs fixing .

[Samurai Waki]

The only time I ever prayed to Mecca was in protest of taking my first communion at age eight. I may have had my quarrels with the almighty, but god help me if I disobeyed my Parents. I couldn't watch TV or play video games for two weeks...

[Pannonian]

The only time I ever prayed to Mecca was in protest of taking my first communion at age eight. I may have had my quarrels with the almighty, but god help me if I disobeyed my Parents. I couldn't watch TV or play video games for two weeks...

You can face the almighty on even terms, but your Parents outnumber you 2-1, and are thus to be feared.

[English assassin]

Head of the justice department just declared his love for the implementation of the sharia in the brittish justice sytem, you missed that?

err, yes, I did miss that. That's because it didn't happen.

I remember the Archbishop of Canterbury saying he thought it would be an idea if some disputes between muslims could be resolved having regard to Sharia. This caused the predictable -storm, all of which was entirely misplaced because:

1. Jews have had religious courts in the UK for ages without the world ending, and

2. Anyone can already have any contractual dispute they like resolved in accordance with any set of laws they like, provided they agree, and have a passing familiarity with the Arbitration Act, (here's how the Beth Din does it: http://www.theus.org.uk/the_united_s...in/litigation/), and

3 Rowan Williams is a bearded idiot, and nothing to do with the British Justice system.

Frag, old chum, I'm active in secularist societies, have no love for religion full stop, and certainly no love for religion in any form in schools, but this story is about one badly planned lesson, not a hidden plan to have us all worshipping Allah. What I am saying is I am entirely with your prejudices on this one, but the facts just don't support you.

[Tribesman]

err, yes, I did miss that. That's because it didn't happen.

Come on EA you can understand Frags mistake , it was widely reported as that , the fact that it isn't that at all shouldn't stand in the way of his phobia .
Just like when Williams made his speech the claims about what he said were not about what he said at all .
But tell me as I am quite thick . This new thing where two parties in civil disputes can agree to arbitration through a third party in accordance with British law (well English/Welsh law) , how comes they invented it recently and sneaked it up on the people without anyone knowing anything about it ?
I mean it must be a very new thing or the outrage would have been going on for years and the media wouldn't bother with centuries old news would they .

[Fragony]

the fact

The fact that isn't true, gimme.

At EA, wanted to post it the the weird thread but you can only do that to Lemur so many times. It is indeed just a stupid teacher but still everyone feels the need to defend it, I think the stupidity of this pretty much needs no flowers to impress. But we all have a blind spot somewhere.

Don't we tribes.

[JR-]

.

Technical note: A public school in the UK is one that you pay to send your kiddies to (above and beyond taxation)* so that they can learn the proper accent and form the cliques early on that are necessary to the correct governance of these islands. I'm not sure what the schools that the proletariat swarm to are called. Primary for the nippers and Secondary once you hit 11 – 12? Grammar schools needed you to pass a test, but I think they got done away with universally a long time ago.

i am a product of the grammar school system, and there are still about 150 left in Great Britain.

there are loads currently in northern ireland, which is why the educational standards are so high, but in the interests of equality-of-outcome they are being banished as they produce children too clever to fit in with the regimented masses of illiterate twits that are considered the benchmark of british achievement.

[Tribesman]

i am a product of the grammar school system

Yes quite .


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKzi_JlrdEY

[JR-]

Yes quite .


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKzi_JlrdEY

[Tribesman]

Yeah its just the charachter that springs to mind whenever someone mentions grammar school , not of course suggesting furunculus that you would write a rubber cheque like Crawfords character

[JR-]

quite, and thank you.

[CountArach]

My Primary school (Which is Public) made me say a prayer every week. That is far worse than this situation where the children did not have to pray.