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Church of England indoctrination conspiracy
The status quo
For decades parents have been happy sending their children to Church of England primary schools - the author went to one and it made him a devote atheist.
Education at such schools was excellent and the whole "religious" part was minimal - part of a long traditional of liberalism in the C of E where tolerance was practised towards those of different religions and towards those of none.
It was not necessary to be a Christian or to attend church to get a child into the local C of E school. In many rural communities, the C of E primary school was the only local school - so "choice", that favoured word of politicians, was meaningless - and no-one really minded.
However, in 2001 that whole liberal, come-one, come-all, attitude changed - dramatically and for the worse.
What were school supposed to be teaching?
Under the 1996 Education Act schools were supposed to offer an act of corporate worship and Religious Education. Both were to be "of an essentially Christian nature" but they should take into account the wide variety of religions practised in the country.
Schools were supposed to teach about religions but not indoctrinate children into one specific religion. They were not teach that god was a fact (it is a belief) - in other words, they were to acknowledge secular alternatives to religion.
Schools were not to proselytise - preach in order to convert people of another faith, or no faith, to theirs.
The Dearing Report
In 2001 the Archbishop of Canterbury commissioned the Dearing Report: "The Way ahead: Church of England schools in the new millennium."
The reasons for commissioning the report were simple:
- church attendance was falling dramatically - less than 7% of the population attend church services;
- fewer and fewer parents were sending their children to Sunday School;
- the Church of England was threatened by the rise of alternative Christian churches - especially those of an evangelical and fundamentalist nature;
- other religions, such as Islam, with a much stricter view on the indoctrination of children, were making significant advances.
Without the ability to influence young minds the Church of England was in danger of going the same way as the majority of its parishioners - dying of old age.
Unashamed indoctrination
Existing church schools are criticised for being insufficiently distinctive.
The report demands that Church schools should
- concentrate more on their Christian "nurture" function;
- "re-Christianise" children;
- become places that "offer Christ";
- "demonstrate that educational 'effectiveness' is concerned with the development of the whole person as a child of God";
- "explore the truths of Christian faith".
The fears of the Church of England are underlined at the start of the report:
"Our work has confirmed the crucial importance of the church schools to the whole mission of the Church to children and young people, and indeed to the long-term well-being of the Church of England."
Without the ability to indoctrinate children in church schools the long term future of the church is in doubt.
The tone of the report in phrases such as "explore the truths of Christian faith" indicates that they do not want children to think for themselves, to challenge alternative views of the world - they simply want them to believe.
Objectivity, rationality, logic, balanced discussion - all these have now gone.
Strategy to implement the report
The Church acknowledges that there has never been a better time to increase its ability to influence the minds of children.
The current government, lead by a fundamentalist Christian Prime Minster, Tony Blair, and an Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly, who is a member of the secretive Opus Dei Roman Catholic sect, is making it easy for anyone with a relatively small amount of money to take over a school, with the help of 93% funding by the tax payer, and to turn that school into a religious indoctrination centre.
The Church strategy is three fold:
- change the nature of its existing schools so that they teach Christianity rather than teach about religions.
Over 30% of Derbyshire primary schools are religious - the national figures are 22% of all schools are Church of England and 10% Roman Catholic.
There is considerable resistance to this change from current head teachers, teachers and members of local communities - but, in the end, the Church will have its way because of the unique relationship it has with the government on the funding and control of church schools.
- increase the number of church primary schools and set up, or take over, at least 100 secondary schools - again, aided by the government and the tax payer.
- increase its influence on teacher training;
"The report stresses the need for the Church to encourage vocations to teach and challenges the Church at all levels to promote teaching as an important expression of Christian ministry. It identifies the future supply of Christian teachers as the most important issue facing Church schools."
Do Church schools work?
The beginning of this article indicated that Church schools were excellent. In fact, that excellence has been challenged:
- Church schools are selective;
- Church schools take fewer children from deprived backgrounds than non-selective schools;
- selective schools will always do better then non-selective ones;
- Ofsted recognises this: "selection, even on religious grounds, is likely to attract well-behaved children from stable backgrounds."
- The National Foundation for Education Research told MPs:
"On the basis of our research, looking exclusively at achievement, there is not any evidence at all to suggest really that increasing the number of faith schools will improve the level of achievement. Our finding is that basically, when you apply value-added analysis, that advantage all but disappears, which suggests that the difference is based on intake. Interestingly, you can hypothesise that if they do have better ethos and better behaviour and so on that would lead to better achievement, but we did not find any evidence that that is so."
The Church of England is now claiming that its schools are not selective and they are open to all.
If they are indeed open to all, how do they cater for the moral and cultural education of the children of secular or atheist parents?
Where are the views and beliefs of non-believers in the curriculum of Church of England schools?
The evil of faith schools
- Faith education is narrow-minded and bigoted.
Education should be open-minded. It should encourage pupils to think for themselves and to challenge the world around them - including the beliefs of adults.
No-one objects to someone becoming religious after balanced study - the ability to make an informed choice is central to a democracy.
You cannot make an informed choice, from a range of alternatives, if you have been indoctrinated in a single belief.
- Faith schools are a cynical attempt to indoctrinate the young
It is almost impossible to change the religious beliefs of adults - they have too many things to worry about and they are too set in their ways.
Children's minds are open, they listen, they absorb new ideas at a phenomenal rate.
"Give me the child and I will give you the man."
The Church knows this, it has always understood this - it forgot it for a short time - now it is cynically exploiting children for its own benefit.
Ask this: if the Church is not indoctrinating children, why is it unwilling to offer the study of comparative religion (rather than Christian religious instruction) and then allow young adults to make up their own minds when they leave school?
- Faith schools are divisive.
One look at Northern Ireland will show how true this is.
One look at the narrow-minded indoctrination that takes place in Muslim schools will show how true this is. How can an atheist pupil survive in a Muslim school?
"The problem with faith schools is not their purpose but their consequences. They may be designed to inculcate religious values, but they result in religious ghettos, which can destabilise the social health of the country at large.": Rabbi Jonathan Romain, The Times.
"It saddens me that the churches and the state continue to acquiesce in the sectarian divide by allowing aided (faith) schools to continue." Former Bishop of Repton, The Times.
"In my view the continued support of the Catholic Church in England for selective schools is surely at odds with its commitment to social justice, and perhaps the time has come for the Catholic community to ask: what is the point of selective Catholic schools?" Mike Ion, former deputy head of a Catholic comprehensive school, The Tablet.
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