Faith schools in the UK have been in the news lately, with a new bill introduced that will allow them to teach sex education in the way that reflects their religious views. The irony, of course, is that while Schools Secretary Ed Balls said that the bill aimed to promote equality, encourage acceptance of diversity and emphasise the importance of rights and responsibilities etc, it could potentially do the exact opposite. In particular, Catholic schools will be able to teach students that the use of condoms and premarital sex are morally wrong, while preaching the “benefits” of abstinence – a policy supported by the Pope during his last visit to Africa. Both Muslim and Catholic schools will also be able to teach students that homosexuality is a heinous sin, despite the government’s line that homosexuality is natural – a line largely supported by the British public, according to polls.
While teenage pregnancy and inadequate sexual education are major problems in the UK, concessions to faith schools about the teaching of sexual education is a serious problem, especially concerning the issue of homosexuality – given the UK’s comparatively liberal stance on gay rights. Meanwhile, the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales have proudly announced that it was their lobbying that won them the most recent concessions, following the granting of the right to discriminate on grounds of parental employment and admissions policies over the past decade or so.
The government has issued a blustering response , replying to criticism from Accord that “all schools would have to teach SRE “in line with the principles outlined in the bill including promoting equality and encouraging acceptance of diversity – which contradicts their own bill, given Islam expressly forbids homosexuality and Catholicism the use of contraceptives. In particular, Ed Balls stated that faith schools had to make clear that their views were not the only ones, and that “the bottom line was that all young people must by law receive accurate and balanced information so that they could make informed, positive choices”. But how can teaching about the moral turpitude of homosexuality and the use of condoms be considered accurate and balanced? This entire affair reminds me of the Board of Education in the State of Alabama, where state school teachers are made to grant equal weight to the “theory” of creationism as they do evolution, while biology textbooks must carry a disclaimer to the same effect.
Mind you, what I do find quite amusing about this new bill is, as Sandi Toksvig pointed out on the news quiz, that while religious homophobes may find it far easier to exercise their views, secular homophobes have been left in the cold. Surely that’s also a form of discrimination. Oh dear.
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