sometimes i feel like i am living in an alternate universe, a sorta bizarro world that looks quite normal 97% of the time but then... WHAM! something crazy occurs. take this week for instance, when i saw the jesus bus backing onto the primary school playground. yep, you heard it... a bus specifically designed( and emblazoned with a big-ass cross) to bring the gospel to people parked on school property. not only would this not fly in the US, but it would be ILLEGAL as well. i was floored, i was aghast, and damn right i was pissed.
now, you need to remember i live in scotland where most people are white, and most people are christian. the Acts of Union 1707 created a link between the government and the protestant faith, hence there is no separation of church and state like we are used to in the US. Winter break is still called "Christmas Break" and hence Spring Break is "Easter Break". None of this seems OK to little ol' heathen me. WE ARE NOT ALL CHRISTIANS!!! On the news here they speak of "an increasing number of homegrown jihadists" and i would think there is a direct correlation between this and the fact that an increasing number of people in the UK don't celebrate Christmas or don't want to jump aboard the jesus bus. alienation breeds dissent, and in some cases terror.
on the second day that the bus was at the school (it was there 3 days), i asked ruby's teacher nonchalantly"so, what is up with the bus?" She told me it was there so "kids could go into it if they wanted to, and they sing songs and stuff like that." Sounded quite innocent, not all fire and brimstone like i was assuming.... but leaving the school that day i saw a class of 2nd year kids being lined up by their teacher to go onto the bus, and it didn't look like the kids had a choice whether or not they were there. And to be honest what 6 year old would not want to leave the stuffy classroom to go sit on a cool blue double-decker bus and sing? but i ask, is this right? and shouldn't the parents of the kids been told about this prior to the jesus sing-along? and who are these people anyway? i mean, Jonestown seemed innocent at first, right???
And what does this have to do with curriculum? this is not a religious school, this is a public school. Are the kids being told this is only one of many ways of viewing the world? certainly doubt the dudes on the bus are saying that. they wouldn't be all happy-clappy living their lives in a run down blue bus if they didn't think their way was the best and only way, all others be damned.
if tomorrow i walk to school and see a muhammed bus, or a shiva bus, or even a buddha bus, i would simmer down. but i don't see that happening, much less condoned by the administration or by parents. but to me, only a jesus bus equals indoctrination, while a plethora of buses would lend to cultural understanding.
5 comments:
Interesting about the difference between US and Scotland.
I assume the bus was there as part of the RME (Religious and Moral Education) part of the curriculum, which does teach about different religions/faiths. And if a cool high-tech Muslim bus offered to come to our l'il part of the world it'd probably be welcomed to the playground too.
Oh, how I miss you!!! :) I am 150% on your page with this.
i think i might call around for the high tech muslim bus! I have no problem with RME, i actually taught alot about different religions in the US in all my World History classes, You can't understand history or a culture without knowing about world religions. But in doing that i had to make sure that i wasn't making one religion seem more important than any of the others. And invariably i would get asked "well what religion are you??" and i would never say because i didn't want them to see me as biased. To me, that is how religion should be taught.
Teaching about world religions is fair game, it's just when one is presented in really shiny packaging and the others are all blah blah blah drone drone drone that clearly the one in the shiny packaging is more attractive. I would be furious too; all religions deserve equal treatment and equal time, or shouldn't be presented at all.
Remember too though that even the 'separation of church and state' here isn't equally applied. Where there are vociferous majorities of Christianity, in the Bible belt, there are often overlooked violations of the law - and they're only ever enforced (reluctantly) when lawsuits are filed and won. Freedom from religious tyranny was hard won, like union labor gains, and must be continually fought for, again and again.
eden, you know I am right there with you. I would have been livid and making a stink. I get really frustrated when I am suppose to respect other peoples religion (generally its the Christian religion who cries the loudest) and in return no one thinks to respect my non religion. I'm happy to learn about your views, it makes me know you on a deeper level, wouldn't you like to know me on a deeper level as well? I'd throw the Jesus bus right there next to that Mary statue I got from that student of mine - in the trash.
And the idea that kids would be taken into the bus as a part of their class infuriates me. I feel so bad for the kids who don't believe in Jesus and are made to feel like they have to just sit there quietly and hope that no one notices they think its a bunch of crap. Shouldn't everyone feel welcome at school? When I was coaching lacrosse my team tried to start having a team prayer before each game......uuhhhh....hell no! I put the kibosh on that and I know a few of the players and parents thought I was the devil! Hah!
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