It is beyond belief that a socalled “educated” teacher would even think of teaching about LGBT in a school made up of predominantly Islamic children never mind do it. He/she is not fit to be in that position. And this is nothing about “tolerance or progressiveness” it is about common sense. Just goes to show what idiots and dumbo’s our kids and grandkids have to put up with these days. A case of “educate the educater”
Teachers are not paid to teach what they think is appropriate for a certain age/religious group, they should teach the curriculum as set out by the education authorities regardless.
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Perhaps predominantly Islamic children are more in need of knowing it’s ok to be gay if their parents are so opposed because of religious beliefs. Also as Tim says it’s the national curriculum. We all need to learn to be tolerant of different views, the parents opposing this teaching are just proving how intolerant they are.
My children learned about all religions at school, quite rightly. As for LGBT the children of these parents will not progress they’re careers in the UK if they are not on board with embracing diversity, it’s near the top of every in house training programme.
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Teresa, that maybe the case with Islamic children, but as you may or may not know, it wont happen and more demonstrations will be taking place. Islam is not tolerant despite what is published or said. The parents of these children are intolerant not only to this situation but also others and belive me they will carryout things that those of us who are not of that belief would shudder at. Unfortunately Islam ist not a diverse belief and also is not tolerant to other ways and beliefs especially when it involves the western ways of life.
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Then more reason than ever to educate the children.
As with all members of society it is the less educated who are often more resistant to change. I worked near Keighley for 20 years in a hospital laboratory where I had many Muslim colleagues. They fasted at Ramadan and celebrated Eid but they were also very tolerant and open to western culture. We talked about anything and everything and I never sensed any hostility towards the different lifestyles led by the rest of us.
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State school, national curriculum.
I find your comments divisive, you cannot have separate systems in our state schools.
If Muslims object to their children learning that there are people who have a different outlook from themselves, they should send their children to a Muslim faith school.
Perhaps their children should also be taught that Christians in the Middle East are suffering from what amounts to genocide at the hands of Islamic states?
As you say Islam is not tolerant, but I understand that their faith says that they have to respect the laws of wherever they live.
The UK must not bow down to this intolerance.
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I am not in favour of Religious Schools - unless they do include all aspects of other religions within their curriculum. 
IMO it is time to bring folk together. If the world is to become a better place, we must give the children a broad education rather than a narrow, blinkered view.
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Then more reason than ever to educate the children, I fully agree, however their belief doesnt. You say we talked about anything and everything, did they tell you all about the Koran and its contents. I think not. You wouldnt sense any hostility, they love the western style of life and the freedoms it gives them compared to that which their belief allows.
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Jane in a perfect world this would be heavenly, unfortunately we dont live in a perfect world. Good luck with the teaching Islamic children that Christians are being persecuted in the middle east. Your understanding is incorrect. Why do the muslims shout for Sharia law instead of the countries law. Because they do not accept another countries laws as numerous criminal occurences have shown. The UK has already bowed and is being shafted for being tolerant.
There is a point at which we have to say, you live here and you accept the law of the land.
No Sharia court should take precedence over UK law.
The ultra orthodox in Isreal are, at last, being taken to task for exempting their sons from military service.
An example to follow.
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I fully agree, but the UK and some other countries have allowed the PC and liberalisation to go too far. Julia Gillard had the right approach, when she said publically " you have the right to leave".
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Any one can buy a copy of the Koran if they wish. (Amazon). What I found out is most people are the same, we all have family tensions, money worries, children’s upbringing to think of, careers and health issues. We are all essentially the same and my work colleagues were mostly just like me. Why look for differences where they don’t exist?
Sharia law, homophobia etc are prejudices/opinions held by a minority of Muslims.
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Good point. Why have teachers at all? Whack it all on a video and job done? Think of the savings!
Well Teresa as ever there is no clear delineation. As I sit and look at my small bookcase by the computer I note that there is a copy of the Koran (bought whilst working in the Middle East for some three years, a copy of the Revised Holy Bible, a copy of The Communist Manifesto, and a copy of The Wealth of Nations. Only one of them is worth reading sensibly.
The Koran also suffers from translations - or so I have been assured, plus the differences between Shia and Sunni. Much of what is taken as ‘Islamic Law’ is very hard to find, but obfuscation applies to all but one of the books. Guess which one?
I think what is acknowledged is that Islam was and remains a Religio-political force - and I use the term ‘force’ advisedly as it was spread through military conquest. It is also, as is still the case for Christianity - evangelical - as in seeking converts. Interestingly as far as I am aware only one religion is not evangelical and that is Judaism.
Yet, interpretation is wide open, but Islam in the pages of the Koran is indeed largely pacific, but again as with the Bible there are also savage parts included.
Of course in Islamic countries the Koran is the basis for Civil Law and this is where the problems are. Yet we also ‘swear on the Bible’ in British Civil Law (not in France though).
In reality religious books are not a ‘whole’ by one author despite the impression that they are ‘the word of God’. They are collections of varying quality of impressions, fantasies and interpretations made by people long after the Principals disappeared.
People who are thus ruled by Holy Books are not dealing in realities but with unsubstantiated facts/fictions from which to build a ‘Faith’ - in itself indefinable or provable.
For every ‘truth’ in both the Bible and the Koran it is possible to find a counter ‘truth’ in the selfsame books.
Hardly seems a great foundation to a democratic way of life does it?
As we know only too well the minority make the most noise.
They get media attention and make themselves look like the underdogs.
These parents need to get real and understand their obligations as UK citizens.
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You can imagine the outcry, “But we are UK citizens”.
Many of them also have dual nationality, and the Julia Gillard example should apply to them.
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Been said a long time before her - Michael Howard said the same thing, as did many PMs in Australia. Of course it is a totally correct observation to make. People are always shouting for their ‘Rights’ but very few shouting about their ‘Responsibilities’.
Now what Century did I just visit to answer this?
What do you mean? Teachers are there to open people’s minds, that means teaching about the world we live in, that there are all sorts of people in it and we don’t condemn them out of hand.
If by “common sense” you mean ‘don’t do xyz because some people might get cross’ that is a risk worth taking - and they aren’t ‘Islamic children’ btw, they are Muslim.
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I think most of us know that the bible and other religious books are a collection of stories based on a perceived truth. Both Muslims and Jews believe Jesus was a prophet. As I said before most Muslims are peaceful humans who abide by the law of the country they live in. My colleagues had great respect for Christian values. And guess what most of my colleagues have drank alcohol, eaten at Ramadan during sunlight hours and generally broken the rules occasionally just like the rest of us, which they probably wouldn’t do in some countries.
You don’t mention the US (apparently a democratic country) who are extremely evangelical in many parts and have extreme right wing views due to a zealous interpretation of the bible. Where abortion is outlawed in some states and whose legal system seems to be run on a revenge basis. Where maternal deaths are higher than those in China and where carrying guns is normal.
My brother was once given an option of working in Texas or Kazakhstan. He chose Kazakhstan as being safer.
Of course extreme groups in any country are to be feared and I certainly wouldn’t be comfortable living in a strict Islamic state but neither would I want to live in the US.
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