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May 17
Vote for change: get us all (some way) out of the horrors - currently - in our primitive and 'The Infantile Situation' GB - UK. See, Google or the blog entries below - 'The Origin And Function Of Culture' Geza Roheim (and) 'Important Civilizations' Bertrand Russell.
Don't make it far worse with a very silly and self-centered protest vote or no vote at all.
Map: England council elections 2009 - Vote: Lib Dem |
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Use this map to follow BBC coverage of the run up to June's English council elections. |
'Whenever you kill a human being you are killing a source of thought too. A human being is a collection of ideas, and these ideas take moral precedence over a society. Ideas are patterns of value.' Robert T. Pirsig. And, 'When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kind of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.'
We all want (liberal) "revolutionary democracy". 'It can offer nothing to compare with the royal processions, the military parades, the music pregnant with associations, the flags, the innumerable emblems, by means of which patriotic sentiment can be worked up and the real presence of the motherland made manifest to every beholder. Huxley. Note: (because of this - within the present very unpredictable and 'infantile situation' GB). The principal job of any government, including the present weak and ineffective one; shown up by it's results and in the increase in popularity of the minor parties - with the particular extreme one - such as the BNP: the majority of its citizens' is to prevent it falling into the wrong hands'! BNP leader Nick Griffin has been pelted with eggs and forced to abandon a press conference outside Parliament. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8091605.stm Pull your fingers out, whomsoever is in government! “People who are hungry, people who are out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.” Barack Obama. Philosophy: 100 million or more (infantile) deaths http://luckyme0.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!A18BF3FCC5E126A2!2400.entry Man the Killer. Educational failure of the UK - The Nation blinded by Educational Religiosity - a nation without philosophy is well within the 'infantile situation GB'. Religion and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8121131.stm Five people have been arrested and another eight taken into custody during an Armed Forces Day event in Glasgow. One person was injured in George Street where sectarian songs and chants were sung, as a service was conducted in nearby George Square. Killing is fun - Until man consciously, regards himself as one species, strife and war will continue. Notes of Dad's, 'They seek in peace the joys, their generation (or whoever has 'missed out') missed in war' CND.
"Philosophy is the childhood of the intellect, and a culture that tries to skip it will never grow up." Thomas Nagel .
Who has got the responsibility? "I was reminded of something Justice Louis Brandeis once said: that in a democracy, the most important office is the office of citizen. Barack Obama 'The Audacity Of Hope'.
Religion and Morality
First, faith made otherwise decent people commit acts of unspeakable horror, showing how ordinary and everyday feelings of human kindness, and revulsion at cruelty, can be, and have been, overruled by religious belief (and dogma, secular enthusiasms, or any other, religio/political enthusiasms)
Secondly, it exposes as utterly hollow the claim that religion sets an absolute and unchanging foundation for morality.
Some maintain that their Man God had something new to say. Consider therefore this extract from the writings of China-man Mo Ti who lived in the Fourth Century B.C.
"The mutual attacks of state on state, the mutual usurpation's of family on family, the mutual robberies of man on man, the want of kindness on the part of the sovereign and of loyalty on the part of the minister, the want of tenderness and filial duty between father and son, these, and such as these, are the things injurious to the empire. All has arisen from want of mutual love. If but that one virtue could be made universal; the Prince loving one another would have no battlefield; the Chiefs of Families would attempt no usurpation's; men would commit no robberies; rulers and ministers would be gracious and loyal; fathers and sons would be kind and filial; brothers would be harmonious and easily reconciled. Men in general loving one another; the strong would not make pray of the weak; the many would not plunder the few, the rich would not insult the poor; the noble would not be insolent to the mean, and the deceitful would not impose on the simple." I find this message more inspiring than the unproved promises of immortality and hell fire. The two largest religions, appear to me, to be: carrot and stick religions. Perhaps all are, I am not a donkey, some of the time: so I don't respond. Ref, Doctor murdered http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8076253.stm 'Identity and Violence: The Violence of Illusion' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym12o1i2Mak
May 14
Great Britain (GB). Locked Within - 'The Infantile Situation'.
> The Infantile Situation UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8041232.stm Ref, Geza Roheim. The welcomed end to the propaganda and inherent silly ridiculousness's of PC-ness's and Britishness, by our MP's with some more appalling examples (The 'leaders' in GB). Ref, 'The Neurophysical Hypothesis' And 'The Psychological Hypothesis' b) The protracted helplessness of the new born and the consequent uncritical submissiveness to authority. d) The discovery of and the mind splitting fear of death. The unpalatable truth (we hide it,. See, Google - the 'infantile situation' is hardly mentioned or mentionable) of the infantile situation, and our inability to cope with, or even, consciously recognize the libidinal (those unseen - mothering ties - in the 'libidinal ties' 'The Origin And Function Of Culture' of Geza Roheim's). The ties that have formed all our social systems and culture - mostly, the more ancient (GB) or tribal through long ages of maturation are 'inherently closed systems', and the - apparently, less-liberated or 'liberal' ones that give only a little way forward, if any way forward: to the fruition of new ideas (new ideas that can come only from freedom). Ref, 'The Long Childhood' Bronowski and 'The Clever Imbeciles' of Koestler's. The birth of "The strategic survival personality" (the - 'strategic person' - a state that is static; all time consuming and very stressful).
"MPs' expenses: how Gordon Brown and his Cabinet exploit expenses system - Gordon Brown and his most senior ministers have been forced to defend their use of parliamentary expenses after the Daily Telegraph revealed details of their claims."
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What is the working class dream? |
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While some people dedicate their lives to escaping their working class backgrounds others have no interest in climbing a class ladder, says Laurie Taylor in his weekly column. Ref, 'Toff Down Pit' Kit Frazer. |
(A cleric living and working among miners and who has worked at the coalface, stated on the 'BBC World Service' in an interview on the 26th of January 1984, "That the group solidarity was their ethic. They had little regard for the concept of individuality. That was why anyone who offended against the group solidarity was outlawed and despised and could legitimately be ill-treated." The most interesting part of Frazer's experiences, concerns the almost unbridgeable gap between his background and education and that of the miners. He came to admire the quick fluent banter (evangelicalism), but was often frustrated that the miner's conversation was observational (shallow), rather than analytical (deeper). So many conversations are, with sometimes, great annoyance and shallowness - day, today, trivia, so on... Sunday Times 1985. Article regarding - Kit Frazer's book,'Toff Down Pit'. The Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (2BC - 65AD) wrote, "Religion is recognised by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful," and said, "The time to live is now", something believed by all modern day humanists.)
Time for the law to tackle discrimination against non-religious people:-
The British Humanist Association (BHA) has briefed all MPs and Peers ahead of the Second Reading debate on the new Equality Bill, which will take place in the House of Commons today. The BHA has already been working closely with Parliamentarians ahead of the Bill’s publication, and has now published, in a briefing, its key recommendations which aim to promote equality between all people, whatever their non-religious or religious beliefs. Naomi Phillips, BHA Public Affairs Officer, said, ‘There are some exciting opportunities within this Bill for us to try to affect some real changes to the law on matters relating to specifically to humanists and other non-religious people. Especially important for us will be to prevent discrimination by religious organisations that are working under contract with public authorities to provide public services.’ Read more on our website
Why? Europe, and full integration: could be the much better bet for the UK, as we need to reduce the 'infantile situation' - in those powers of our monarchy, church (involvement in schools) and the 'state'; reducing them, right down to its very lowest minimum involvement, with the UK's current and appalling 'infantile situation' and all the great inequalities (class, religiosity, wealth, so on...) http://shamedagain.blogspot.com/ Vote: LibDem: for a way out of 'The Infantile Situation'!
Scary - "The Catlin Arctic Survey, a gruelling 10-week expedition to measure the thickness of sea-ice, has ended." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8047862.stm The Age Of Stupid http://www.ageofstupid.net/ Britains Age Of Stupid-mess's and Silliness's - British Education Policy (UK). Global Crisis by 2030 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7951838.stm May 07
Scientists have found more evidence that the Indonesian "Hobbit" skeletons belong to a new species of human - and not modern pygmies.
Evolution. Fish to Man. Man's Debt To The Past.
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Author: Stephen Law
ISBN: 0415427681
Science Times
New Respect for the Nap, a Pause That Refreshes
By JANE E. BRODY
You must sleep sometime between lunch and dinner, and no halfway measures. Take off your clothes and get into bed. That's what I always do. Don't think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That's a foolish notion held by people who have no imaginations. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one -- well, at least one and a half."
--Winston Churchill |
Playground for Faith and Belief. UK. Quangoes of Religiosity. Religion in Schools REBT and Disconnection. Church Schools and Faith Schools UK. |
RBS lost £24.1bn in 2008 - the largest loss in UK corporate history. The boss and his deputy; 'welcomed' in England - not like Michael Savage, however much we would not like him or not listen to him in the UK. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8033060.stm "Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said coming to the UK (patronising us all with a zero discernment ability - the general public can only discern for themselves, as far as that of a Terry Wogan) should be a privilege." I think that the greatest privilege of any UK Citizen will be to put our current Home Secretary firmly out of any Office. The published list is puerile, divisive, and well within - the 'Infantile Situation GB' ('Dustbin Stasi') British National Defence as petty propaganda (Iraq Weapons - and the missing from the list: Iran's President amongst the many other 'dread-fulls' from around the world) British-ness as silliness, so on...Saying he will not only take Jacqui Smith to court for libel but ask his 10 million listeners to boycott vacations in the UK and UK made products. Thanks Jacqui - just what we need in Britain... Doctor Mick says: May 6, 2009 at 7:38 pm. “This is not some Terry Wogan type character….”, Jaqui Smith. “I will not have some little twit in the British government defame my name!” Who pays for all this (crap) including the List, the repercussions and so on...?
New Labour on its last and very old and tired legs. Any government can take criticism, but very seldom: constant and complete utter ridicule! May 05
Or - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/may/01/religion-henry-vii-monasteries
"Quangoes of Religiosity" Church of England and its privileged position or its 'abandonment' (esp, from: education).#
Jenni will be finding out about the physical and mental changes which take place as children mature into adults - and hearing how these developments create some of the stereotypical teenage behaviour. Including drama: Restless. BBC - BBC Radio 4 Programmes - Woman's Hour, 15/04/2009 Ref, DVD 'The Long Childhood' Bronowski - obviously, science has come a long way, but Bronowski has the art and the emotion, to show the way, or to bring some light; on those particularly perilous years. http://www.bbcshop.com/History/Ascent-Of-Man-DVD/invt/bbcdvd1608
Compulsory Sex Education - Reaction from the young and old (parents) religious fundamentalists who are fighting it on religious grounds - Biblical or Koranic http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8020480.stm showing "tribal stereotypical behaviour" (savage science, or, that of - anthropological anomy) in their (children and parental) objections, causing stress and some division in our society through the maintaining of sexual ignorance: the withholding of 'knowledge' to children, young people, and the vulnerable, for unforgivable and sometimes wicked - 'tribal honour' behavior, superioress and superstitious - ambition/gain. http://www.channel4.com/learning/microsites/L/lifestuff/content/up_close/letstalksex/index.html 'Sex Education is a Children's Right' http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/apr/28/sex-education-faith-schools The real 'hosts' of wickedness and ignorance - If we know that sex and relationships education of an objective sort improves young people's health and well-being (and we do) and if we accept that it is the right of the child to receive information of all sorts (which it is) and if we go on to conclude that the responsibility of society is therefore to ensure that all our children receive this entitlement, then why allow state-funded religious schools to do something different? Why in particular, as has been announced today, should the religious character of a school (which may or may not be shared by the school's pupils or their parents) be allowed to skew the sex and relationships education that children receive?
A wonderful replacement for RE, and most of the time that is wasted with PSHE and RE http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/pupils-need-greek-myths-to-stop-english-lessons-from-turning-into-media-studies-542292.html I would include Philosophy and: more of the Classics - Herodotus and Thucydides, so on...
Boarding 'could transform the lives of some children' http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8032961.stm May 03
Freedom of Ideas - good or bad in 'their time'. Darwin (200 Anni) and Marx - and the many 'others'.
(outside the 'closed system' or "tribal stereotypical behaviour" in our young and vulnerable or the old)
"At other times, he suggested hunting offered essential philosophical insights. In an essay about man’s capacity to manipulate nature in contrast to the animal world’s having to operate within its constraints, Engels wrote: “One can daily observe how unerringly the fox makes use of its excellent knowledge of the locality in order to elude its pursuers, and how well it knows and turns to account all favourable features of the ground that cause the scent to be lost.” Yet another solid socialist reason for riding to hounds. A class war built on banning blood sports would, to Engels’s mind, constitute a very parochial form of communism. By contrast, his communism was about cascading the riches of life to all." May 01
A 'great day': http://www.equalities.gov.uk/ Equality Bill. UK Parliament. BUT,. "New Bill fails to promote real equality for non-religious people. The British Humanist Association (BHA) has today welcomed the Government’s Equality Bill but has also described it as a ‘missed opportunity’ for improving equality for non-religious people in the UK, with many of its provisions retaining privileges for religions and its failure to abolish endemic discrimination against non-religious people in our education system." http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/273
MSN 'Quote Of The Day'
RE, 'Search'.
{Over - when you consider other subjects and areas that 'superstition' (superstition and "who knows what": exactly is spirituality, but we tend to base our modern education and school ethos's on it, and for many, it is now, a good excuse for - very silly - within 'the infantile situation', and subjected, by some, to exclusion or isolation, by the way of the 'two edged sword of ridicule'. Ref, Joseph Rowntree) may have progressed into (ideological/indoctrination/child domination, and a: frightening, threatening, form of the 'control mechanism') the many other 'areas' and Subjects at School - 5% of our Children's time used up, by (some) force and (possible) intimidation (generally a disgraceful example to our children of bigotry, hatred, sectarianism and selection, so on...), from an unelected source and (in some cases of vulnerability) over 100% of Parents time is used up in trying to unravel the damage and ignorance that has, and - thereby been caused. It is a parents duty to know, or we are at the mercy of every crackpot idea and political nonsense (local - RE 'Search' and SALED + SACRE). No solid base (for children) and therefore no freedom; producing no ideas; but duty is a dirty word today. Ref, 'Power of the Guardians' Prof Amartya Sen "Never has so much power been in the hands of so few in the UK" BBC Today Programme. And, 'Identity and Violence: The Violence of Illusion' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym12o1i2Mak School Admissions UK http://www.dorsetforyou.com/media/pdf/o/l/Junior_-_Middle_School_Transfer_-_Sep_09.pdf "The shallowness of any wonderful pluralism of our UK society in its appallingly bad classification of its people - religion, being the very much overestimated type, of an historically appalling and bad form of classification - having no, or very little meaning at all, to anybody (except, it seems in various educational departments and government) within our present majority, living in our knowledge based culture". Ref, "67% Don't want Church Schools or Faith Schools". And, 83% think that, "Religion does more harm than good". And, all cultures and people vary enormously in their personal degree of religiosity, which makes religion an even worse form of classification - putting it on a pedestal and perpetuating it through the generations, especially in some of the young and gullible (less - advantaged) a vicious cycle of ignorance. Let's banish God from the classroom http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article547341.ece "Let’s stop pretending that every school can teach every child anything meaningful about religion. Let’s scrap RE lessons." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5304304.ece A bit more of History, Evolution, and Cosmology - might not be, such an unbelievable waste of our children's and most parent's time: in the unscrambling of utter nonsense. Ref, Replace RE with the 'greater knowledge' (in some sort of 'life class') that is contained within Atheism: study of atheist thought or thinking - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism less boring, more multicultural - an 'open thought system': as, vs: the "clever imbeciles of the closed system" A.Koestler and "The Infantile Situation" G.Roheim, leading to more ideas for the future in the UK's 'knowledge based culture'! Ref, USA / UK (relationship) Constitution(s).
"Not good for the digestion (getting at the truth), but if we are going to sup with the Devil the soup should be tasty and hot enough" House of Lords, UK Parliament.
"It is the admiration of ourselves" Charles Darwin - "Oh dear, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8008926.stm bail us out (the Banks and the Bankers', are much more important than you - powerless, and quite beastly children, and with your irresponsible, lazy, and immature greedy parents. The honest parliamentarians and bankers - must ruin all our lives for at least the next 15-20 years) A.Darling".
A table of young people's well-being in 29 European states - the EU plus Norway and Iceland - has ranked Britain 24th. Ref, 'The Infantile Situation' and the, 'Clever Imbeciles' and the, 'Closed System' UK.
Living in 'Great Vulgaria Britain' (GVB) and 'In The Age Of Stupid'  photo - Pensioners' (Veterans) Disgusted - demo!
The French Revolution: Mark Steel 'Vive La Revolution' part 3
"How could I look my (children) grandchildren in the eye and say I did nothing"? asks Sir David Attenborough. Experts predicting temperature rises throughout the century, entire ecosystems could be lost, and floods threaten. Attenborough speculates on these consequences of global warming and what we can do to avert them. Unsurprisingly, the onus is on all of us in the West to reduce our energy use."
If one of the tipping points of climate change has been reached, such as, the full scale melting of the ice caps I calculate that within 40 years many countries due to sea levels rising will be very different, civilisation as we know it now could only have 80 years to go: London will be well underwater by that time. Then combine the drying up and resulting death of the rain forests, which could mean the end of all life on Earth within a 150 years. The largest and most powerful polluter is America, which has a fascination with preposterous superstition (more than in the UK), this, then is, a recipe for the neglecting of any current reality for promoting any fast change in public attitudes. Ref, "man's dominion over the Earth", 'this world, as some or a temporary abode', man's self-admiration (of itself), and so on...
Spring Report 2009: A report by our Chair on Accord’s progress since its launch
Accord was born on 1st September 2008
Personally I had been concerned about faith schools for several years, but I always felt I was a lone voice - certainly within the religious world. While I was able to raise the issue every now and then, there was no structure through which to link up with others or to urge a change of policy.
It was that sense of frustration that led to Accord, which aims to unite all those with issues about faith schools - be it their very existence or the way they operate.
Accord can claim to be doubly unique:
First, it goes beyond the stale arguments by those ideologically predisposed for or against faith schools. Instead, it is much more nuanced. It asks: what is the best interest of the children and society at large? It believes the answer is schools that are inclusive, tolerant and transparent.
Second, it is a broad coalition of both those who are religious and secular: Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, humanists, atheists; all of whom desire an educational system that is based on social cohesion - and not just as a slogan but in reality.
The actual birth of Accord was traumatic. Before the day was out, representatives of the religious groups which have faith schools had jointly produced a three-page press release which not only condemned us, but which deliberately tried to stereotype us as yet another secular conspiracy frothing at the mouth and trying to destroy all that was good in education.
There was also an avalanche of criticism in various religious papers, which served to give us a lot of prominence but which was also painful for Christians, Jews, Muslims and Hindus who value their faith without wanting faith schools.
Still, we did not turn the other cheek but have been forthright since then in putting our view forward, through radio and television interviews, as well as articles in various papers and on websites. And as well as criticism we received strong support from sources as diverse as the Economist and the Church of England Newspaper editorial.
We also kept in the headlines a fortnight later when Accord’s views were widely sought by the media on the opening of the first Hindu school in Britain.
Our response was simple: by dividing Hindu children from those of other faiths, there was now an enormous responsibility upon the school to work very hard to overcome the social barriers this could cause.
This in turn begs specific questions that apply to all faith schools, and which form the four key concerns of Accord (which will be particularly relevant to the forthcoming Equalities Bill):
- Admissions: should state funded schools operate admissions policies that take account of pupil’s religious belief, and which discriminate against those who come from what is deemed “the wrong faith” or no faith at all? This is the litmus test as to whether those schools are serving the local community or serving themselves.
- Employment: should state funded schools operate recruitment and employment policies that discriminate on grounds of religion. I can at least understand the argument that an RE teacher should be of a particular faith, but what about the Maths teacher, French assistant, kitchen staff or caretaker?
- Syllabus : as there is no National Curriculum for RE (why not ?) and as faith schools can opt out of the locally agreed SACRE syllabus (how come ?), how can we ensure they follow an objective, fair and balanced syllabus for education about religious and non-religious beliefs?
- Accountability: is it wise to have a system of inspection whereby special arrangements are made for faith schools that other schools do not have, which permits exemptions from the normal OFSTED regulation. Why should this be the case and why are faith schools not monitored like every other school?
Once the initial glare of publicity was over, the hard work began of campaigning for these reforms, targeting those most able to deliver. So Accord has met with government via the Department for Children, Schools & Families; with the Liberal Shadow Minister for Education and the Conservative Shadow Minister too, as well as other MPs and members of the Lords.
We have tried to expand the coalition with like-minded groups, both those in the educational world (from teachers union to educational think-tanks) and those from the religious communities (such as Christian clergy, the Chair of the Muslim Forum and the Hindu Academy).
We have also sought advice of, and made connections with, bodies that work in other spheres but who sometimes cross-over into the area of faith schools - such as the Runnymede Trust.
It is hard work, but we have found that there are many who profoundly agree with our position and are glad that such a forum exists.
There is definitely a new mood in the air: the rapid expansion of faith schools in the last two decades (without nearly enough public attention) is now being challenged by people who are uncomfortable at what has happened; people who feel that it is important that children from different backgrounds do not grow up as strangers, or even hostile to each other, but as fellow citizens.
What is more, independent evidence has recently emerged that admissions procedures are being abused and some state-funded faith schools are acting unethically: either by covertly charging parents or by selection procedures that discriminate against children from less academic backgrounds.
Moreover, the case for examining faith schools has recently received a boost from a report issued by a report entitled ‘Right to Divide’, published by the highly-respected Runnymede Trust. It endorses faith schools, but suggests ways of improving them, many of which answer the key questions of Accord listed above.
There have also been two major pieces of research by academics at the London School of Economics and the Institute of Education showing that religious admissions cause social segregation and don’t improve results over all.
And most recently we have seen the fruits of our hard work with the announcement of a new Lib Dem policy on faith schools. At the party’s Spring Conference in Harrogate on 7th March they announced that they will oppose the creation of new faith schools that discriminate in admissions and would require existing faith schools to prove that they are inclusive or loose state funding.
The policy also commits them to fighting for RE lessons that teach “about beliefs, not what to believe”, for the ability of children to withdraw themselves from collective worship on grounds of conscience and for the right of teaching and support staff to be appointed and promoted without regard to their personal beliefs.
It is another step towards our ultimate goal of changing legislation. Relying on the goodwill of governors or the common-sense of head-teachers is not enough. It is only by initiating legislation about admissions, employment and accountability that the goal of inclusive schools will be achieved.
So, to sum up the position so far: Accord is just over six months old, but we feel that we have started to make our mark....and we have created a vehicle that not only gives voice to concerns about faith schools but is in a position to press for change.
With the Equality Bill due to be published next week we know that the next few weeks and months will be busy. We will be in touch very soon to let you know how you can help, so please keep a look out for future emails
Wish best wishes,
Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE
Chair, Accord http://www.accordcoalition.org.uk/
Teachers report 'racist bullying'. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8014880.stm Children's minister Delyth Morgan said racism in schools was "completely unacceptable". "Children are not born racist and we must work hard to ensure they are educated to be tolerant of difference, and stop bigoted views from outside schools spilling over into the playground," she said. Ref, when? 'In The Playground For Faith And Belief'. UK.
Ministers and 'troublesome priests' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8017388.stm
 Smacking, Beating and Drugging: Children. Private Schools - Public Schools. Sexual Abuse. Church Schools, Faith Schools, Childcare Institutions. UK.
BAFTA Award - Documentary - Chosen http://www.chosen.org.uk/ 'Selected Groomed Abused'
The Unloved
"Two inquiries into the alleged abuse of children by Catholic orders in the Republic of Ireland are to publish their findings."
Promises: Private and Public Schools of the UK - The number one choice of schools: have they really changed, we like to think so, but they still rely on the 'clever imbeciles of the closed system'. The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, said those who perpetrated violence and abuse should be held to account, "no matter how long ago it happened". Ref, governments will not act to abolish them (above): in the 'infantile and closed situation' of GB.
'The Making Of Them' Nick Duffell (Starvation with Kaolin and Morphine) http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jRNVLgfJHKkC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=Preparatory+School.+Kaolin+and+Morphine.&source=bl&ots=tVpRMR9mQj&sig=mqIWTBRqnfzXcvj7xq_sHXLv_KY&hl=en&ei=zffaSZeIM4GUjAf52YG-CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 Hundreds of girls heavily sedated in UK care homes during the 1970s and 1980s may be at risk of having children with birth defects, the BBC has found. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7985912.stm
Boarding 'could transform the lives of some children' http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8032961.stm
There is also however, a more personal answer. 'Science tells us what we can know, but what we can know is little, and if we forget how much we cannot know, we become insensitive to many things of very great importance. Theology, on the other hand, induces a dogmatic belief that we have knowledge, where in fact we have ignorance and by doing so generates a kind of impertinent insolence towards the universe. Uncertainty, in the presence of vivid hopes and fears is painful but must be endured if we wish to live without the support of comforting fairy tales ('The Infantile Situation GB' - 'Identity and Violence' Amartya Sen). To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralysed by hesitation, is perhaps, the chief thing that philosophy in our age can still do for those who study it.' Ref, BR - Daddy. Ring a Scholar - A telephone and Internet helpline offering advice about the true teaching of Islam is being launched in the UK today http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8078344.stm And, 'Hi-Tech Theology' http://www.elhatef.com
TAKE ACTION!
Consultation on New Guidance for Religious Education in England
What is the issue?
On 30 April, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) issued new draft guidance on the teaching of Religious Education (RE) in English schools for public consultation (ending on 24 July). The guidance is intended to replace that issued in 1994 (Circular 1/94) which was widely believed, even at the time, to represent very poor advice on RE. The BHA was represented on the steering group that helped to produce the new draft, but it fails to address our two principal concerns in RE:
- that RE should be the study of both religious and non-religious beliefs;
- that humanists should have the same right to be full members of the local committees writing and overseeing RE syllabuses as religious people have.
We are now very concerned that the guidance will, at best, offer no improvements in these two areas and, at worst, undermine the positive developments that have occurred, in defiance of the previous guidance, in the years since 1994 (and especially since the Human Rights Act 1998).
What do we want?
We want the government to use the Human Rights Act to read references to ‘religion’ in the present law on RE as references to ‘religion or belief’. This would mean that non-religious philosophies such as Humanism would be included. In particular, we want the references to the content of RE as being about ‘principal religions’ to be read as ‘principal religions or beliefs’ and the eligibility for full membership of Standing Advisory Councils for RE (SACREs – the local committees that oversee RE) and Agreed Syllabus Conferences (ASCs – the local committees that set the RE syllabus) as a representatives of ‘religions’ to be read as ‘religions or beliefs’, giving humanists the right to be full members alongside the religious representatives.
The phrase ‘religion or belief’ is taken from the language of the Human Rights Act and it includes non-religious beliefs such as Humanism. The phrase ‘religion or belief’ is already used in the government’s national framework for RE (2004) and in the RE section of the secondary curriculum (2007) as well as in the proposed new primary curriculum (2009). In those places, it is made clear that it includes Humanism. It is very important that this should be the case in the new guidance, and that it should be made clear that this is the interpretation that should be given to the law on RE in light of the Human Rights Act*.
What can you do?
You can respond to the consultation, urging that the guidance should make it clear that RE should be the study of religious and non-religious beliefs and that humanists should be eligible for full membership of SACREs and ASCs. You can do this by downloading the questionnaire at http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_22295.aspx and completing it or you can complete it online by going to http://tinyurl.com/onrhct and registering your email address. You will then be emailed the link to the consultation.
When completing the consultation you can make use of the BHA’s response to the consultation which is at www.humanism.org.uk/reguidance
You can email your MP, using the BHA’s easy online facility at http://tinyurl.com/oerynv and urge him or her to make your views known to the government and support changing the guidance.
If you are a teacher, you could explore the possibility of your school making a response to the consultation and urging the changes we are looking for.
If you are a teacher of RE, or otherwise involved in RE as a professional, you can mention this in your own response to the consultation, and you can also contact the National Association of Teachers of RE http://www.natre.org.uk/ or Association of RE Inspectors Advisers and Consultants (AREIAC) http://www.areiac.org.uk/ and urge them to support the changes we are seeking.
If you are a member of a political party, you can write to the education spokesperson of your party to urge them to support the changes we are seeking. For Labour, this is Sarah McCarthy Fry on mccarthyfrys@parliament.uk , for Conservatives this is Michael Gove MP on govem@parliament.uk , for Liberal Democrats this is David Laws on lawsd@parliament.uk
If you are a member of a SACRE, whether as a humanist or not, you can urge your SACRE or local authority to make a response to the consultation supporting the changes we are seeking.
PLEASE DO ALL THE ABOVE insofar as you are in a position to do so. This is the most important issue we have had to deal with for many years and we need the maximum effort from everyone if we are to win our rights.
Please copy any submissions you make or correspondence you enter into on this subject to Paul Pettinger at the BHA ( paul@humanism.org.uk or by post to British Humanist Association, 1 Gower Street, London WC1E 6HD).
* The Human Rights Act at section 6 forbids discrimination on grounds of religion or belief by public authorities and in section 3 requires existing legislation to be “read and given effect in a way which is compatible with the Convention rights”.
If you know anyone else who may be interested in taking this action, please feel free to forward this email to them!
Not already a BHA member? Join now and support our vital work!
A global education programme designed to foster understanding between religions has been launched by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8091098.stm @  http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/
Amnesty International
"Children, I'll argue, have a human right not to have their minds crippled by exposure to other people's bad ideas—no matter who these other people are. Parents, correspondingly, have no god-given licence to enculturate their children in whatever ways they personally choose: no right to limit the horizons of their children's knowledge, to bring them up in an atmosphere of dogma and superstition, or to insist they follow the straight and narrow paths of their own faith.
In short, children have a right not to have their minds addled by nonsense. And we as a society have a duty to protect them from it. So we should no more allow parents to teach their children to believe, for example, in the literal truth of the Bible, or that the planets rule their lives, than we should allow parents to knock their children's teeth out or lock them in a dungeon." 'What Shall We Tell The Children' 'Amnesty Lecture' Oxford - Nicholas Humphrey. http://www.mindmeister.com/13207398
Also: children, prehistoric boy or girl, were totally absorbed in the activities of their parents (hypnotically so? Ref, ease of human indoctrination and wishing to believe - almost anything, esp - when young) Therefore society could not advance - parent to child, child becomes parent, and in exactly the same exacting mould: seen in some tribal cultures today - the ‘closed system’ of no cultural, and no social advance or of little or any scientific advances! Dr J.Bronowski. ‘A broad menu’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7630042.stm Jacob Bronowski ‘The Ascent Of Man’ ‘The Long Childhood’ http://www.bbcshop.com/History/Ascent-Of-Man-DVD/invt/bbcdvd1608 Sexual segregation in some tribes (natural state of homosexuality of puberty recognised as normal, even encouraged - a practise for the adult role - 'perverted' by any adult involvement) Re-segregation after the 'myriad of types of initiation rites' - homosexuality after an initiation rite is given up, for the young male or female, to play the full part in the adults or tribal forms, of the societies accepted forms and its structures of heterosexuality. "Even if homosexuality were, as a matter of fact, 'unnatural' (which it probably isn't), that would not, by itself, justify us in morally condemning it." 'The War For Children's Mind's' Stephen Law.
Reform RE - Petition Number 10 Downing Street http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/reformRE/#detail
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