My father, who was a very wise man, told me in one short sentence how religion worked: “On the first day Man created God.” I was already deep into middle age when he came up with this gem and, via the autodidactic process, I had already worked out that there was probably no God. I could not rule out the existence of a supernatural dictator, carrying out permanent surveillance on every single person on the planet at the same time, but it seemed highly improbable. ‘His’ existence is every bit as likely as there being fairies at the bottom of the garden. I can’t prove they aren’t there, but it’s unlikely. Which leads me to the Yorkshire town of Batley and more specifically its grammar school.
Demonstrations have taken place outside the school following an RE lesson in which a teacher allegedly showed a picture of the Prophet Muhammad to a class full of pupils. It is understood the picture was one of the cartoons from the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo which so offended certain islamist maniacs they murdered many of the magazine’s staff. Once the story at Batley emerged, the teacher in question was suspended by the headteacher and is now “in hiding”. Yes, you read that right: a teacher is in hiding, presumably to ensure his safety because he showed a cartoon to some pupils.
Naturally, the usual suspects dashed to the cameras to express their distress. Sky news reports: “Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation in Manchester, described the lesson as a “despicable attack on our faith”. He continued: “Our hearts are pained to know a teacher working with 70% Muslim pupils didn’t consider the hurt this would cause.”
Again from Sky News: ‘Yunus Lunat, an executive member of the Indian Muslim Welfare Society in Batley, told Sky News he thinks the teacher “went off script” and was trying to “provoke”.’
In an act of rank cowardice, the school headteacher Gary Kibble said this: “The school unequivocally apologises for using a totally inappropriate image in a recent religious studies lesson. It should not have been used. A member of staff has also relayed their most sincere apologies.”
I find this disturbing on many levels. Unlike some backward countries around the world, we do not have blasphemy laws in this country. We are, theoretically at least, a country in which free speech is permitted. We are allowed to satirise, criticise and indeed ridicule anything and anyone within the law and that includes religion. Older readers may recall the great comedian Dave Allen who made a decent living out of, among other things, ridiculing the catholic church. Some people were offended and upset by Allen’s comedy, but so what? Along with those freedoms to which I have already referred, we have the right to be ridiculed and offended. There is no reason why islam should be treated any differently.
People should, of course, be allowed to worship their God. After all, there are plenty to choose from. But they must also do so within the confines of a country that increasingly has no religion. Moreover, we do not want to be dictated to by religions which seek to interfere with our own lives.
As a first step, we need to abolish all faith schools to end the proselytisation of young children. Let them make up their own minds as to which God they choose to believe in, or not as the case may be. And then make it clear that no one can dictate, within the law, what is and what isn’t offensive.
Give religious fanatics an inch and they will take a mile. The Batley scandal shows what happen when good folk fail to stand up for basic freedoms. What happened to the aforementioned Charlie Hebdo is sinister example of that.
