Catholic Church Slams Law Forcing
Teachers to promote Islam and Gay Rights
MailOnline
By Simon
Caldwell
Last updated at 8:35 AM on 02nd March 2009
The Roman Catholic Church has
severely criticised a proposed new British code of
conduct for teachers which it says will force Christian schools to actively promote Islam and
gay rights.
The Bishops’ Conference of
England and
Their advisers say the code would
also seriously undermine the religious character of church schools by imposing
on them a hostile form of secular morality
The legally-binding code would
discriminate against Christian teachers in recruitment and in the classroom,
they say.
Principle 4 of the code demands
that teachers ‘proactively challenge discrimination’ and ‘promote equality and
value diversity in all their professional relationships and interactions’
before they can be registered.
It means that campaigners can
complain if teachers fail to observe the new demands and that teachers and
schools can be punished if a complaint is upheld.
Oona Stannard, head
of the Catholic Education Service, an agency of the bishops’ conference, told
the GTC in a written submission that ‘there was an understandable fear that the
call to “proactively challenge discrimination” could be used to oppose faith
schools per se, and the rights that they have in law, for example, to select
leaders who are of the faith’.
‘This anxiety extends similarly
to the direction to “promote equality”,’ Miss Stannard
said.
‘It would be unacceptable to
expect anyone to be required to promote something contrary to their own faith
beliefs and, indeed, it would not be possible for a person of faith to promote
another faith – this is a matter of conscience.’
Miss Stannard
added that there were grave concerns in the Church over the question of whether
Catholic teachers would in good conscience feel able to register under the new
code.
This means they would either quit
the profession or would be dissuaded from entering in the first place,
heightening the recruitment crisis already afflicting many schools.
The code proposed by the GTC
would be binding on all schools, including the 2,300 primary and secondary
schools run by the Catholic Church and the 4,660 run by the Church of England.
The GTC is insisting that all
teachers will have to sign up to the new code before they can practice.
The code will then be used by the
GTC to assess cases of serious misconduct by teachers and trainee teachers.
However, it will also be used by
school governing bodies and local authorities in recruitment and disciplining
of teachers; universities in assessing candidates for teacher
training and by employment tribunals assessing claims of unfair
dismissal.
Many Christians already fear that
equality and diversity rules are being used against them.
Caroline Petrie, a nurse, was
suspended by North Somerset Primary Care Trust, for failing to ‘demonstrate a
personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity’ after telling a
patients she would pray for her, while marriage registrar Lillian Ladelle, disciplined for refusing to preside over same-sex
civil partnerships, lost her case at the Employment Appeal Tribunal after the
panel ruled in favour of the Islington Council’s
‘commitment to equality’.
Brighton Council also withdrew
funding from Pilgrim Homes, a Christian care home, after staff refused to quiz
elderly residents over the sexual orientation in keeping with ‘fair access and
diversity’ policies.
The Christian Institute, a
non-denominational charity, says that the GTC code means that universities
might ask applicants about their willingness to promote gay rights and Islam.
If a teacher was asked at
interview if he or she was willing to use materials designed by gay rights
groups, the teacher could be rejected for declining because he or she would be
in breach of Principle 4.
If a pupil asked an RE teacher if
Jesus Christ was the only means to salvation and the teacher replied yes, a
non-Christian parent could complain to the GTC over a breach of Principle 4.
Ofsted inspectors would also be able to criticise schools for promoting the Christian vision of
marriage, while teachers who say they will pray for troubled pupils could be
suspended for failing to ‘value diversity’.
Colin Hart, Christian Institute
director, said: ‘Respect for people as people is not the same as respecting or
valuing every religious belief or sexual lifestyle.
‘Forcing this on Christian
teachers is to force them to go against their conscience,’ he said.
‘Teachers are there to teach not
to be diversity officers.’