Posted on 01/29/2013 11:20:21 AM PST by Morgana
January 28, 2013 (Pjsaunders) - The Daily Telegraph carried a front-page story this week saying that the Government is ‘powerless’ to stop teachers getting sacked if they refuse to endorse same-sex marriage.
It quotes a senior source at the Department for Education admitting that the UK is not ‘in control’ and that European judges will have the final say.
We knew that teachers were under threat, but now we know the Government secretly thinks so too.
The Coalition for Marriage (C4M) recently published a legal opinion from leading QC Aidan O’Neill (summary here) confirming that one of the major impacts of David Cameron’s new law allowing same sex marriage would be in the classroom.
It says that the law will require that children learn about gay marriage in sex education lessons.
This is because Section 403(1A)(a) of the Education Act 1996 imposes a duty on the Secretary of State ‘to issue guidance’ ensuring that pupils ‘learn the nature of marriage and its importance for family life and the bringing up of children’.
If gay marriage becomes law then ‘its importance for family life and the bringing up of children’ must be taught as part of sex education.
In addition, if gay marriage is taught within schools outside sex education, Mr O’Neill says that parents would have ‘little prospects of success’ in claiming a legal right to withdraw children from such lessons.
The Coalition for Marriage has now published a new report giving details of exactly the sort of material our children will be reading.
Gay Rights Activist group Stonewall has already produced a recommended reading list for primary and secondary schools aimed at normalising lesbian and gay families.
Titles include ‘King and King’, ‘Mom and Mum are getting married’, ‘Daddy, Papa and Me’, ‘Daddy’s roommate’, ‘Josh and Jaz have three mums’ and ‘Mommy, mama and me’.
Countering stigma for vulnerable children is one thing, but attempting to engineer and reshape children’s values and worldviews is quite another altogether.
A teacher training guide, also produced by Stonewall, suggests that primary school children could perform some of the storybooks as school plays.
An accompanying teacher training DVD produced by Stonewall, with support from the taxpayer-funded Training and Development Agency for Schools, suggests that pupils must become ‘resilient’ to the values of their parents and grandparents.
This is in reference to some parents and grandparents who may have objections to issues such as gay marriage.
In 2009, Muslim and Christian parents in Waltham Forest, East London, were threatened with prosecution for withdrawing their children from primary schools lessons that used the gay marriage story book, ‘King & King’. The council said the withdrawals were ‘unauthorised’ absences and that action would be taken against the parents.
The legal and political pressure to use these books in classrooms will be all the greater if marriage gets redefined. Culture wars about the meaning of marriage shouldn’t be dragged into our schools.
But some extreme local authority somewhere will try to do just that, and woe betide any teacher or parent who objects.
What we have learnt from two of the recent four European court cases involving Christians who lost their jobs for manifesting their faith is that under the Equality Act the right of Christian conscience is trumped by gay rights.
The Bill to redefine marriage was published on 25 January and MPs will vote on it for the first time on Tuesday 5 February.
I hope that these concerns will come up in debate and that MPs who back gay marriage will be around to hear them rather than just mindlessly filing through the ‘yes’ lobby in obedience to ‘unofficial whips’ when it is time to vote.
A national day of prayer has been called for on Sunday 3 February.
ping
Allah Akbah?
This ping list is for the “other” articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. Articles pinged to the Another Reason to Homeschool List will be given the keyword of ARTH. (If I remember. If I forget, please feel free to add it yourself)
The main Homeschool Ping List handles the homeschool-specific articles. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping list. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from either list, or both.
Our future if we don't watch it.
This is worthy of both lists, ping
The rights of gays must be respected and embraced by all. Christians shall not be allowed to have personal opinions unless they are consistent with those of the state. Thus sayeth the Bizarro World Court.
daddys roommate? where’s the marriage in that um family arrangement?
sick sick sickos
Don’t the feds control the home school coursework?
What if they put homosexual type (sex ed) questions on the standardized test?
No, hell no, no and that's why I have guns. What I choose to teach my kid is my business. Some states require a certain number of hours in particular subjects but that means "history", "math", "science" and they don't get to control the curriculum.
What if they put homosexual type (sex ed) questions on the standardized test?
Then I'll make sure my kid blows away the rest of the test so missing three questions about gay marriage doesn't hurt her score. It's not like most homeschoolers teach to the tests. And in most states there are alternatives to testing, or you can pick which test to give your kid.
I'm sure she will. She's got good genes and wise parents.
Mine also blew away the standardized tests so missing a couple wouldn't hurt their score either.
Besides, if they just pick *C* for every answer, they'll do about average.
In the History of the world, in the last 6000 years at least, every society that has embraced this agenda, has been wiped off the map. And I really mean wiped off (the country or territory as it existed is gone!).
God never changed his law, and it is absolute! If I’m wrong, show me in history, how am I wrong?
I’m not a christian. I’m a messianic, and no I don’t back up or turn the other cheek. As my high priest instructed that it is for fellow believers, to turn there cheek’s to believers.
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