SACRE NEWS ARCHIVE
This page contains archived news items which previously appeared on the news page and may be of interest.
THE TSUNAMI: WHERE WAS GOD?
Whether you are a teachers, pupil, student, parent or member of the public, you will have been profoundly shocked by the suddenness and scale of the disaster and its aftermath. Schools will be responding to it in all sorts of ways and just about every subject in the curriculum will have some light to shed on the grim epic. But teachers of Religious Education and Assembly Leaders have a distinct and extremely important role to play. They will need to discern the core religious questions and work out a considered and worthy response. The following extended reflection is offered as a starting-point.
An age-old Question
For many people with religious faith, the Great Wave has starkly and awesomely revived the age-old question of undeserved suffering: how could a God, supposed to be both all-powerful, all-good and all-loving, allow such a terrible disaster to happen? What possible justification in the grand scheme of things might there be for this nightmare, afflicting as it has rich as well as poor, young as well as old, Hindu, Buddhist, Jew, Christian, Muslim, Sikh and Humanist alike? Where was God?
These questions are age-old. They were raised in the Jewish Scriptures, supremely by the Wisdom thinkers and, in particular, the Book of Job. According to the Fourth Gospel, they worried close followers of Jesus who wanted a theological explanation why a man should be born blind. Theologians and philosophers of religion down the centuries have asked them. People of every faith and no faith ask them today when faced with the pain of the innocent.
Who's to blame?
It is impossible to quantify precisely, but a huge proportion of human suffering is indisputably attributable to human ignorance, folly or selfishness, sometimes going back a generation or more. Yet there remains a proportion of suffering for which, in all fairness, Homo Sapiens cannot be held responsible. However much human foresight and technology might have lessened the impact of the Great Wave, it would be absurd to blame ourselves for what set it off. Underwater earthquakes and tsunamis happen because the Earth is still forming: Creation, here and throughout the Cosmos, is still going on and the process necessarily involves movements of Earth and Water of sometimes awesome power, power which, sadly, is sometimes unleashed on human communities.
It is therefore perfectly understandable when people blame God for the natural disasters and much of the suffering they trigger and question both God's almightiness and God's all-lovingness. When undeserved tragedies occur, it is wholly natural to cry out, like Jesus, 'Why, God, have you forsaken us?'
'Sent to try us'?
Some people claim that God actually promotes life's trials and tribulations but does so for our spiritual development and benefit. They say: 'These things are sent to try us'.
Other people are not happy with this assertion. For one thing, the phrase doesn't differentiate between human and divine responsibility. What is all too easily attributed to God's intention may, on closer analysis, be the result of human action - human ignorance, folly, carelessness, greed, or downright selfishness.
The phrase may also reflect a certain fatalism implying that whatever happens is necessarily the deliberate will of God, a stance taken historically by people in just about all faith communities and still held by many today. Other believers object that this response denies humans the dignity of free will and all it implies.
Objectors also claim the phrase 'These things are sent to try us' doesn't draw any lines and may even suggest that God deliberately does all sorts of nasty, cruel things, to us in order to toughen our spiritual fibre, things, however, that not even the most morally ambitious parents would inflict on their children. Life throws up more than enough demands and challenges in its normal course, without God piling on the agony!
Objectors also ask: if God really does send trials and tribulations to test us, why is God so arbitrary, inflicting incessant suffering on this widely regarded good and kind person yet letting off scot-free that notorious rogue? If God deliberately triggered the undersea earthquake and its aftermath in order to teach wayward humanity a lesson, if this catastrophe really were the 'judgement of God' (as some assert), why did God choose a hotchpotch of mostly already deprived people living around the Indian Ocean rather than another hotchpotch living around, say, the Atlantic Ocean whose defiance of God's intentions and selfish abuse of the Earth may be more blameworthy?
Many objectors to the claim that God sends trials and tribulations to test us would be far happier if this notion actually meant: although God has made the world such that trials and tribulations are an inevitable part of life, these can be faced with an attitude that promotes spiritual growth.
Is God really all-powerful and all-good?
Mega-disasters certainly do challenge the traditional idea of God being both all-powerful and all-good. Surely, if God really is omnipotent, then God could have intervened and stopped the tsunami in its tracks and if God really is wholly good, let alone wholly loving, God would have intervened to prevent the slaughter and destruction. This is a perfectly logical reaction.
But does the Creator work like that? Science makes it indisputably clear that Creation has functioned according to precise laws and forces from the first millisecond of the Big Bang and continues to do so.
Creation as it really is
May be we simply have to accept Creation as we find it, as an entity that is government by an intricate and coherent web of laws and forces that are astoundingly 'finely tuned' (even if their complex interaction produces unpredictable and regrettable results) and, as a growing consensus of cosmologists assert, can only be adequately explained as the outcome of some kind of Ultimate Intelligence. Whereas Creation is a reality that has not only enabled life and eventually humans to evolve and overwhelmingly works for our benefit, our planet, like the entire Universe, is still forming and the cost of this is an element of unpredictable and serious danger.
In short, the Cosmic Intelligence posited by cosmologists, called God or something essentially the same by faith communities, appears to have given Creation a degree of freedom to develop and evolve, but the price of such freedom is uncertainty and risk. It appears that God has withheld a measure of control thereby allowing Creation - and Homo Sapiens its most elaborate and capable feature on tiny Planet Earth - a measure of freedom which, like it or not, in both the natural and human worlds, may cause undeserved suffering.
No one, however, has yet come up with a wholly satisfactory theological explanation for the kind of undeserved suffering the world witnessed in the Tsunami disaster. It remains the biggest challenge to faith.
The Practical Response?
The more urgent question is practical: how should human beings of any, or no, religious faith observing the still unravelling 'hell' respond?
Given that innocent suffering is a fact of life - seemingly an inherent possibility in the ongoing process of Creation and a necessary possibility if people are to retain their free will - the world's faith communities appear to agree that the disaster demands indiscriminate (though carefully managed) compassion. They believe God - or whatever name they use to address the Ultimate Reality - calls us to identify with our fellow Earth citizens struck so savagely by the Indian Ocean cataclysm and give truly generously so that relief and hope can reach all those who so direly need it.
If God, the ultimate source of physical power, true goodness and absolute love, seemed to be strangely absent in the 'earthquake, wave and carnage', perhaps God's presence may be discerned in the 'still, small voice' of goodwill, expertise and cash flowing in from distant places.
(Reflections written by SACRE member Edward Hulme, January 2005)
JOHN PAUL II
Can anything more be said or written about him? Possibly not, but RE teachers may well find their students intrigued and eager to discuss this remarkable Church leader. Some people claim he should be fast-tracked to sainthood, many think he deserves the epithet 'The Great', most at least acknowledge his integrity and internationalism.
There is no doubt that John Paul has travelled far more extensively than any of his predecessors thereby getting to know his global flock and acquaint himself with the world as it really is. It is indisputable that he has held out the hand of friendship to non-Catholic Christians, Jews and Muslims to a truly impressive extent only Pope John 23 of the 1960s being a possible rival in this respect.
Nevertheless, as always happens when a leader - or celebrity - of world renown dies, tributes sometimes go over the top, making extravagant and unsubstantiated claims. Some observers have implied that John Paul II single-handedly demolished Western Marxism-Communism whereas the truth is very different. Karol Wojtyla was a major influence in the Polish revolution, arguably second only to Nobel peace prize winner Lech Walesa, the Solidarity leader. But in Eastern Germany it was the Protestant Church, centred on Leipzig, that spearheaded the quest for change. Taking the collapse of 'Communism' as a whole, Soviet leader Michael Gorbachev's glasnost ('openness') and perestroika ('restructuring') policies were pivotal.
John Paul's attitude to artificial contraception and to the HIV/AIDS crisis, many assert, was unrealistic and detrimental.
Certainly, John Paul was a leader of great spiritual stature and huge influence. Whether he deserves the epithet Great, let alone should be sainted, is open to question. RE teachers will wish to help their students make an honest and dispassionate personal assessment.
SHORTER, SHARPER, SLIMMER...
That's how they will be! What, sausages? No, SCHOOL INSPECTIONS. From 2005, they will:
- last no more than two days;
- be more searching;
- involve smaller teams.
Each inspection will start from the school's self-evaluation then sample the quality of both the school's service to its pupils and its core systems. Direct observation will remain important but not dominant. The precise pattern will depend on the lead inspector's analysis of the school's self-evaluation.
Discussion with staff and pupils, scrutiny of written work, examination of date and assessment records and tracking of pupils through a school day will all be much more prominent than the inspection of curriculum subjects. OFSTED will gather information about subjects through a separate programme of subject-focused surveys in a sample of schools.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION will retain its special statutory position. As now, schools will be required to self-assess the extent to which they meet statutory requirements, including the provision of RE and Collective Worship. As in other subjects, the quality of RE provision will be assessed through subject-focused surveys.
(Digest of 'Process of Inspection' from DfES/OFSTED 'New Relationship with Schools, June 2004)
HAVE RELIGIOUS ASSEMBLIES HAD THEIR DAY?
Bath Chronicle feature writer Rowena Speirs posed this bombshell question in a recent feature article. 'Do you think there should still be collective acts of worship?' she asked members of the public.
Not surprisingly, interviewees' answers varied widely. 'Not all children are going to be religious or of the same religion', one woman observed, 'so I think it would be better not to have any worship in school assemblies'. 'I think they should be continued', another citizen commented, 'it is a good start to the day for children and they should think about religion'.
The enquiry was sparked off by questions raised by David Bell, chief inspector of schools. 'How many people in this country, apart from school children, are required to attend daily worship?' he asked. 'Are we right to be requiring from our young people levels of observance that are not matched even by the Christian faithful?'
The inspector noted that although Britain is now a largely multicultural society, the 1988 Education Reform Act required religious assemblies to be wholly or mainly Christian. Does this demand greater flexibility?
SACRE member Richard Brock, head of school improvement for B&NES, maintains that this daily opportunity for reflection is still a cornerstone for schools in the area. Any changes, therefore, should be done through full consultation with parents and the wider community.
Peter Bradshaw, local Roman Catholic co-director of the department of schools and colleges, claimed 'Collective prayer and worship underpins any Christian community. But some form of assembly is vital in non-faith schools too - children need to be given a chance to reflect on wider issues'.
Director of education for Bath and Wells Anglican diocese, Mark Evans, said it's important to give all children a time within an otherwise busy school day to reflect.
In a letter to the Bath Chronicle, SACRE member and Free Church representative Edward Hulme, asserted that, in principle, school assemblies were a vital element of school life. Whether they were in practice, depends on three main factors: how their function is perceived, the nature of their content, and the quality of presentation.
'In my view', he wrote, 'the supreme function of a worthwhile assembly - labelled 'religious' or not - is to nurture the innermost self or 'soul' of participants. All of us - younger and older, theists and atheists - need spiritual as well as physical and mental nurture. We need our conscience sharpened, our guilt assuaged, our values sorted, our prejudices lanced, our worries relieved, our hopes kindled, our empathy extended, our compassion deepened, our imagination inspired, our gratitude evoked, our motives exalted, our thoughts, words and actions integrated, our attitudes and relationships improved, our selfishness challenged, our will galvanised. In short, we need to grow in character'.
'Ideally, a school's ethos and atmosphere should constantly facilitate such growth. But assemblies provide an opportunity for deliberate and systematic spiritual sustenance'.
'The content of assemblies also determines their desirability. When this is trivial, patronising or authoritarian, assemblies are a waste of precious time. When, however, they help students face life and death questions, provoke thought and action on ethical and topical issues, and shed light on everyday worries and challenges; when they open students' minds to the insights of science, art, poetry and music, as well as religion; when they give children glimpses of authentic goodness and love and a vision of the world and themselves as they might be, then assemblies have a vital role'.
'Presentational standards are also critical. They can be slipshod or even chaotic. With meticulous preparation, careful timing and good voice projection, however, assemblies good in theory can be good in practice.'
Mr Hulme recognised that top quality assemblies need specialist expertise and considerable time, so holding a worthwhile assembly every day may be totally unrealistic in today's frenetic school world. But appropriately regular school assemblies - with sound rationale, content and presentation - he believed, could enrich individual and alike.
What do YOU think? Please let B&NES SACRE know via this web site.
CHURCH SCHOOL TEACHERS: NOTA BENE!
From 1st September 2004, there will be a new inspection framework for Section 23, Mike Brownbill of Bath and Wells Diocese Education Department warns in the School' Newsletter. 'This is the first complete revision in ten years, so we can't, I hope, be accused of chopping and changing!'
Key Questions, to help inspectors form their judgments, will include the following:
- How distinctive is the school in its Christian ethos?
- How well does the school develop the whole child in terms of personal qualities and the fostering of achievement?
- How inclusive is the school as a church school?
- How well is the school led and managed as a church school?
- How effective is the provision of collective worship and RE?
CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY?
This question, beside a picture of the Madrid bomb carnage, appears on a poster designed to recruit RE teachers.
Since 1996, the number of theology students entering university each year has dropped by 20 per cent. In England, the Teacher Training Authority (TTA) aimed to recruit 701 RE trainees from a pool of 856 theology graduates but found that only 581 enrolled on courses.
Mary Doherty, the director of teacher recruitment at the TTA, said: 'In the light of recent events, RE has become more important than ever. It is about answering the big questions for pupils, trying to make sense of all the grief, suffering and unrest in the world… People do not necessarily know what RE is like these days. It teaches pupils about the shared value of religions as a way of understanding modern life'.
Can YOU put the record straight and persuade someone you know to consider RE teaching?
OFSTED: IN REVERSE GEAR?
The new OFSTED framework, implemented from September 2003, still requires judgements on RE, collective worship and personal development. But reports suggest that schools are not nominating these areas as the focus of inspections, so they are sampled rather than examined in depth. This means both weaknesses and strengths may be overlooked.
School heads need to realise RE, collective worship and personal development are vital areas of school life and need proper inspection. Please try and persuade them!
THIRD WORLD DEBT: THE STATE OF PLAY
Wealthier states' obligations to poorer nations is an important theme in both RE exam and non-exam courses. Judging from comments made by students visiting a Fair Trade stall in Bath recently, many secondary level pupils have at least a basic awareness of Debt and Fair Trade issues. Most, if not all, schools in our area have held Assemblies on them. So what's the present position?
To date, only ten countries have reached 'completion point' (i.e. met the conditions imposed by the G8's 1999 Cologne agreement) so had their debt cancelled. 17 countries are at various stages on the way. Which means the project is seriously behind schedule. In fact, only $36 billion of debt stock has been cancelled out of the $100 billion promised (Jubilee 2000 estimating that $350 billion should be cancelled).
But debt relief does work. Jubilee Research's study of ten African countries shows that:
- in 1998 total education spending was only $929 million, less than the amount spent on debt service; today it is $1,306 million, more than twice what is being spent on debt service.
- in 1998 debt service took up twice as much as spending on health; now health expenditure is one third higher than debt repayments.
- in the countries reviewed there was no increase in military spending. Specifically,
- Mozambique has introduced free immunization for children;
- Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and rural Benin have scrapped primary school fees;
- Mali, Mozambique and Senegal have upped spending on HIV/AIDS prevention.
For more information:
Contact Jubilee Debt Campaign on 020 7324 4722 or www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk.
Also, for Christian Aid's Resources catalogue ring 08700 78 77 88 or visit www.christianaid.org.uk.
RS BOOMING? Yes, RS is booming, judging from this summer's exam results.
GCSE Results
Along with PE and Citizenship, there's been a dramatic rise in students taking GCSE Religious Studies. Nationally, takers were up an impressive 6.6%, with 59,717 boys and 81,320 girls sitting the exam. The total, of 141,037, lifted RS to 10th most popular of 40 available subjects. It was way ahead of such subjects as Business Studies, Drama, Economics, German, Media studies, Music, Social Sciences, Spanish, Statistics and Technology and still 7000 ahead of PE.
Of course, all bald statistics must be read with caution and popularity in itself is never an adequate measure of worth. Many children are obliged to take the exam partly because sitting it motivates them better. But the fact remains, that GCSE RS is now taken by large and increasing numbers of students. So broadcast the news and help raise the subject's status in the minds of would-be candidates, staff, parents, many Local Authorities and even central Government itself. This summer's success story spells out a vital message: religious education truly deserves better support - more specialists, more money, and, in many schools, more curriculum time.
A Level
At A Level, the national picture is just as exciting. Here, RS made the biggest leap (13.8 points) of all subjects! This summer, 14,418 students took it, making RS the 16th most popular out of 35 possible main subjects. More took it than took, for example, Computing, German and Political Studies but how many 'people in the street' would guess so?
Why are more students taking RS? Some observers suggest the increase reflects a growing interest in religions since the 9/11 attacks, others that it's because the syllabus deals with matters young people care about. Whatever the reason, the rise in takers should give RS teachers, and all who believe the subject is important, fresh confidence. Sceptics, are you listening?
Local RS Results?
What happened locally? We will give you a break down of Bath and North East Somerset RS GCSE and A level results when we have them.
PEACE GESTURE
A Peace Column, made by Peter and Pat Panton, is to be given to the people of Braunschweig. PACEM, an organisation promoting international reconciliation and peace, is to give the Peace Column to mark the performance of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem in the Domkirche on October 14 and 15.
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Three choirs are involved - Bath Choral Society, the City of Bath Bach Choir and the Braunschweiger DomChor. They will also perform the work in the Colston Hall, Bristol, on October 20th. Tickets from Colston Hall, Bristol, BS1 5AR, Tel: 0117 922 3686 or www.colstonhall.org and Bath Festivals Box Office, 2 Church Street, Abbey Green, Bath BA1 1NL, Tel: 01225 463362. (The War Requiem is one of the greatest compositions of the 20th Century and should be of interest to 'serious' sixth form students, particularly to those taking both RS and Music at A level) |
| The Peace Column was dedicated in Bath Abbey during Harvest Festival Matins on Sunday, 19th September. You can to see this beautiful and impressive symbol in the abbey during the fortnight following the dedication. Teachers taking groups round the Abbey in these two weeks may well wish to draw pupils' attention to the column. |  |
RELIGIOUS HATRED
Should inciting it be a crime? Yes, said Home Secretary David Blunkett in a recent speech about religious and political extremism. In fact, it should be as much so as inciting racial hatred and dealt with similarly, carrying a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment. Legislation could help protect minority religions from attack by right-wing fanatics and restrain fundamentalist extremists.
BUT, does criminalising morally and socially offensive conduct get to the heart of the problem? Will new laws be enforceable? What else should be done? Another vital issue for classroom - and web site - discussion!
SITCOM SLAMMED!
Local Roman Catholics are urged to sign a petition against a new satirical series. The programmes, to be broadcast in the autumn by digital channel BBC3, poke fun at the Vatican and, in particular, Pope John Paul II. Church leaders claim 'Popetown' is offensive and represents an abuse of public money.
'The BBC wouldn't dare to broadcast such a programme about the Jewish or Muslim faith', Father de l'Orme says,' because of the political storm it would raise'.
In their defence, Bath Chronicle correspondent John Collingridge reports, a BBC spokeswoman said people shouldn't judge the show until they have seen it in its entirety.
What do you think? Opposed on principle? Or prepared to wait until the series has been on air?
Please let us know - either now or, better still, when you have discussed it in the classroom. Sounds like a hot issue!
(Based on Bath Chronicle Report, 2nd July 2004)
WOMEN GAIN VOTE IN HEART OF ISLAM!
It's true that women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive, can only travel with the permission of a male relative, and must follow a strict dress code. But by October, when the country holds its first elections, women will be allowed to vote.
This seismic shift follows other, formerly unthinkable, developments, such as the fact that women now run some 10% of private businesses. Saudi conservatives don't like these changes, but they're happening. Who knows what else might happen in this Muslim stronghold?
SYLLABUS IDEA: BLESSING OR BLASPHEMY?
Controversially, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, recently risked the wrath of fundamentalists by praising the National Theatre's adaptation of Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' as a 'near miraculous triumph'. Writing in the Guardian, the prelate commented: 'This extraordinary theatrical adventure sets a creative religious agenda in a way hard to parallel in recent literature and performance.' He even suggested Pullman's writings could form part of schools' religious education syllabus.
While the Association of Christian Teachers condemned the play as 'shameless blasphemy' and the Catholic Herald claimed it was only 'fit for the bonfire', Rowan Williams noted that the author's ire was directed less at religious values than at religious institutions. Maybe you just have to see it to reach a fair verdict!
CHOCOLATE CHEER!
You can now eat chocolate with a clear conscience: simply buy brands with the Fairtrade Mark. You can buy lots of other fairly traded goods - like coffee, tea, bananas, oranges and fruit juice. So many businesses and organisations are using Fairtrade products at work that Bath could become a Fairtrade Zone. But we're not there yet! So could you persuade your staff-room - or your school - to 'buy Fairtrade'? If you do, please contact Fiona Remnant, 113 Newbridge Road, BA1 3HG (email: fairtradebath@yahoo.co.uk)
2nd July 2003: PHENOMENAL GROWTH IN EXAM RE
At GCSE level those taking RE/RS for both the full and short course have grown phenomenally in the last year. Now over 50% of 16 year olds are taking this range of interesting and stimulating courses. At 'A' Level Religious Studies is being sat by 18,623 students and 'AS' by 36,844 this year.
In Bath and North East Somerset secondary schools there has been some growth in both numbers and additional courses but nowhere near as much as the national picture. "Both the schools and B&NES SACRE need to examine this carefully and try to see why we are not matching the national trend" said Mike Brownbill, Chair of B&NES SACRE at the launch of their new website to support RE today, 2nd July. "It could be the way schools fix their option choices, a lack of resources, or perhaps the courses are not being offered in every school. There is no doubt that where they are well taught and resourced there is excitement, interest and great enthusiasm for RE among students. Nationally RE achieves the third highest grades of all subjects."
AGA KHAN ATTACKS WEST'S IGNORANCE OF ISLAM
The Aga Khan, spiritual leader of 20 million Ismaili Muslims, is appalled by how little the Western world knows about Islam's influence on art, science and philosophy. Speaking to a recent meeting of Islamic scholars, he said: 'While the Qu'ran may not propound a doctrine of Islamic art or material culture, it does offer imaginative scope in this direction. From early on, its passages have inspired works of art and architecture, and shaped attitudes and norms that have guided the development of Muslim artistic traditions'.
In a rare interview, the Aga Khan told The Times: 'My worry is the absence of knowledge about the Islamic world and general culture in the West. It is quite absent from secondary education and at university level... Yet Islamic culture's influence on Western civilisation is an extraordinary historical phenomenon that young people should be taught about... If you look at general education courses at secondary level, the Islamic world is significantly absent. I am not talking about the religion but the people, the civilisations, the culture, the artists, the philosophers and scientists.'
In your experience, is the Aga Khan's attack fair? Do you think the Agreed Syllabus does justice to Islam's impact in these areas? Do your school resources address his concern? Comments and ideas, please.
IMAM SPEAKS OUT
SACRE member Imam Rashad Asami has made it utterly clear that Bath Muslims do not and should not support terrorism.
Ten years ago, some extreme Islamic groups targeted young Muslims in the city but they were not tolerated by mainstream Muslims and would not be now. 'The fringe extremist groups', the imam asserted, 'are of no service to their community, to society or to religion… People must remember that Al-Qaida or any other murderous groups are not acting for their religion. They are political ideologists, making religion a scapegoat for their political gains'.
Mr Azami regretted that recent terrorists atrocities had threatened relations between the Muslim community and the Western world. 'Muslims in Bath', however, 'have had exceptionally good relations with all the communities and organisations in the area who have, in turn, helped us develop our relationship'.
A group called Islamascope was set up after September 11, 2001, to bring together the Muslim community, the Council, the local Racial Equality Council, church representatives and Bath police. It continues to foster understanding and co-operation.
Members of SACRE who know Rashad would add that he himself has worked tirelessly to build bridges, visiting church groups, taking part in inter-faith events and by being a totally committed local citizen, liked and respected for his warmth and wisdom.
NATIONWIDE MUSLIM PLEA
Muslim community leaders have called on mosques to show their unequivocal opposition to terrorism. On 31st March 2004, the Muslim Council of Britain, representing 400 organisations, sent out a two-page statement, calling on all imams to reinforce the message of peace.
Quoting the Qur'an, the letter said: 'He who kills any person unless it be a person guilty of manslaughter or of spreading chaos in the land should be looked upon as though he had slain all mankind and he who saved one life should be regarded as though he had saved the lives of all mankind'.
The statement called on Muslims to look out for 'mischievous or criminal elements infiltrating the community and provoking unlawful activity' and to co-operate with the police.
At the same time, the Muslim Council is also concerned about media misrepresentation and its impact on popular and even police perceptions. 'Over the last three years more than 500 Muslims have been arrested but only 94 have been charged and only eight convicted'.
YOU SAY 'YES' TO RESOURCE CENTRE
The 42 of you who answered the questionnaire (86 were sent out) gave a resounding 'Yes' to the question 'Do you want a local religious and cultural resource cente?'
- 41 Heads of RE/ RE Co-ordinators said they were likely to use one,
- 40 would find the provision of additional relevant books or artefacts useful,
- 41 would find guidance on visiting speakers and practitioners helpful,
- 35 would welcome additional RE INSET training,
- 34 would be likely to visit exhibitions at such a centre, and
- 42 would welcome the chance to meet with people from other cultures and faiths.
50 YEARS OF 'INTERFAITH'
SACRE congratulates Rev Marcus Braybrooke, President of the World Congress of Faiths, on completing half a century promoting good interfaith relations. Marcus has also worked vigorously to correct Christian misconceptions and misrepresentations of Hinduism, Judaism and Islam.
Back in the sixties, he and fellow members of the WCF argued that Religious Instruction should become Religious Education and that children should be introduced to all the world religions.
There was the opportunity to meet and hear Marcus at the Friends' Meeting House, York Street, Bath, on Thursday 13th May 2004, when he told the story of interfaith dialogue.
FAITH SEMINAR
This took place on 22 October 2003 when Secretary of State Alan Clarke met key representatives of the main faiths. It was widely agreed that a national framework for RE would be 'a significant step forward'. Such a framework must be rooted in a clear understanding of the purpose of RE, placing a strong emphasis on shared aims and values but equally respecting difference.
Should this lead on to a statutory national syllabus for RE? The Secretary of State recognised this was contentious but even if it came about believed SACRES would continue to play an important role in shaping religious education to local need. The way forward, he claimed, was to ask QCA to develop a national framework and only then consult about making it statutory.
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