I did not condemn the IRA in 1971 when
I wrote calling for the withdrawal of troops from Ireland. I was reminded of
this the evening of Bloody Sunday, 30-01-1972, when a group of male, drunken rugby club thugs
played a game of judging how near my head they could throw beer bottles, whilst
singing, “13 dead taigs it should’ve been more.”
In 1978 I wrote a series of articles
under the name Christian Torres calling for a reversal of women’s rights, a ban
on contraception and other reactionary things. I got tremendous support until
someone realised they were spoof articles and then there were more bottles. I’m
not sure how hard Debbie Day Crickmore was going to hit me with her bottle as
it was coming from behind. Someone stopped her and then a group of profound Christians held a meeting to decide if
they would pray for me. They decided I was too far in league with the devil for
prayer or salvation.
In 1982, the publication of my first English Language
book for Collins was met with intellectual condemnation of my revisionism by
Haringey’s English Advisor. Mind you he was trying, unsuccessfully, poor soul, to
seduce my wife.
My use of words has been provocative
at times. I have been pleased that my last blog on Parenting and Childhood in
Crisis has been so well received by an audience seven times greater than usual
and I will return to this theme later in the year. I have been told that
parents respected my stance that I am no better than anyone else.
However...
My exhilarated, blistering, biblically
uncompromising prose has me in trouble with a few self-appointed spokesmen for Catholicism.
Only the very safe, the very cloistered, isolated and dogmatic can be so sure
of wrong and right. Waving both English and Irish passports, I am amazed, and
politically impressed, that the church in Ireland has lost so much credibility
through covering up the sins of its priests that we now have laws allowing
divorce, gay marriage, contraception and abortion and a gay Taoiseach whose dad was born in Mumbai. This is
fantastically 21st century. However, the governors of St Mary’s
Catholic School, Bishops Stortford, and their lawyers, worry that I am dangerous,
and, in their deepest, darkest thoughts they seem to fear I wish to perform
satanic rights with their young people.
Now I’m not a devout
catholic but I have a view on heaven. When St. Peter does his interminable
shift of listening to some priests, some nuns, some bishops, archbishops and
popes explaining why they performed or covered up sexual, physical and mental
abuse of young children I wonder how worried he will be that the next guy
seeking entry thinks single faith schools are divisive.
Following a three page speech against
my right to free speech by the governors of St Mary’s it was worrying to see
that their Headteacher, recently so under siege from just about every national
newspaper – and not for the school’s exam results – joined in the final declaration
: “We repeat that we respect (his) right to hold
and express his views in accordance with the law, but…”
Oh dear, there was a
“but”.
Apparently my freedom of
speech does not include opposing the idea of faith schools, which I see as segregating
children at a time when we need to draw together as humanity and show that killing
people because of their faith is not admired by any of their very similar gods.
Blind faith in one’s righteousness
would be a terrible thing and damning freedom of speech can only end in
tyranny, silence and fear, if we are silent. At times in the last decade I have
been invited to speak on Holocaust Education in the House of Commons, to an
audience including the education minister in the Department for Education offices
and in the Russian Embassy on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. My
message was that we have to stand up for freedom of speech and freedom of
worship and that when we don’t, after the murder of Jews, Catholics,
Communists, Slavs, Homosexuals and the Disabled they will be coming for the rest of us.
I reckon their
Headteacher hankered for a return to 1492, and the expulsion of all Jews and Muslims
from Catholic Spain unless they converted to Catholicism. Nobody expected the
Spanish Inquisition, but they came to seek out, torture and often execute those
“conversos” who were still secretly holding on to their old faith. I guess
their religion would call them martyrs, just like many in the Book of Saints we
had at home.
I think I will have to leave my job
within the next 10 years, so I’ve been thinking ‘succession.’ The advert for my
job will have to reflect the nature of the school. Catholic schools try, even
though, it severely diminishes the field of possible candidates, to demand that
the Headteacher be a practising catholic with a letter from the parish priest. Shortlisting
is a breeze in faith schools. Would I be right in thinking that Jewish faith
schools and Muslim faith schools use the same sort of deselection criteria? I
knew a Seventh Day Adventist supply teacher who moved straight into headship as
the governors felt that his religion was more important than his teaching
experience or qualifications.
Would it be at all controversial or
against some Equality Act if a state, co-educational, comprehensive, non-denominational
school put out a job advert that says, “No Catholics, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims or
Jews may apply?”
After being accused by
the governor, lawyer and Headteacher of being anti-Catholic, I rang my sister,
my nephews in Ireland, my old friend Father Danny who is an enforcer for the
church. I consulted the old men with whom I shared a primary school education
and duties as an altar server. Most of them thought there had been a misreading
of religious works, the latter group said it was my turn at the bar. I never
kept in touch with any of the kids, now adults, to whom I taught Catechism
classes on Saturdays at St Mary Magdalen’s.
My view is simple:
What
divides us or segregates, by religion or class, fosters discrimination and
makes society weaker. A few weeks ago
faith schools were allowed by government decree to have 100% of their faith
children in their schools. Is this because society is coping so well with
matters of faith? Does it reduce the number of attacks on Jews? Does it encourage
moral development in our schools?
I know it was 1969 when we had the catholic
lesson on sex education. It was all about STDs and Mickey Green asked if wearing
a condom reduced the risk. He was taken aside and no-one ever answered his
question. Were catholic schools surprised that there were unplanned pregnancies
that filled their Magdalena Laundries and provided many American families with
children they could adopt in return for a wee bit of cash?
There are no
static context free British values and I understand that values evolve with the
maturity of a society. Who would have thought Ireland would be the first
country to vote for Gay Marriage in a referendum. There is no place for Sharia
Law in Britain and we need to respect British Muslims into society, not
ostracise, isolate, label and condemn them.
In 2017,
about one third of the 20,000 state funded schools in England were faith
schools, 6,814 in total, of which 68% were Church of England schools and 30% were
Roman Catholic. There were 48 Jewish, 27 Muslim, 11 Sikh and 5 Hindu faith
schools – these last 4 on the increase whilst the others slightly declined in
number.
Are we really
surprised that Muslims do some Islam related teaching in state sponsored Muslim
schools, that their ethos may be a bit different to the
going-to-mass-in-school-time Catholic faith schools? Do boys in Jewish faith
schools wear the kippah, Sikhs turbans and Muslim girls the niqab? Surely the
refusal to insist on secular state schools means we tolerate faith schools
praising and proclaiming their own religion just a bit. Do we doubt that the
Methodists, Greek Orthodox and United Reformed Church who all have state
funding for their schools, sometimes go on a bit about what they consider the
best bits of their faiths? Allow and encourage faith schools and we must accept
that elements of separatism will pervade. The Friends (Quaker) school might
mention pacifism when talking of war, much to the distaste of those who glorify
British wars. And as for the Hindu Free school with a ban on sausages…
If we
segregate children by religion are we surprised they become segregated socially?
If we want a multicultural society our kids have got to grow up together.
Let
all schools educate about the similarities between religions, the fact that
there are different views of religion. A little thought to town planning, to
mixed housing provision to help create communities of people of all races,
religions and colours who consider themselves British and who can celebrate
their faith, or none, in a fair society based on good old British values:
equality of opportunity, meritocracy, inclusion, fair play and doing the right thing.
Dennis O'Sullivan
