How a New Christian Right Is Changing US Politics - BBC News

Nov 28, 2023 | A new battle of faith is being driven by some pastors and politicians in the United States. Their central message is that the country's conservative Christian way of life is under threat, and American society is moving in the wrong direction.

The BBC’s Barbara Plett Usher explores the impact of this growing movement on US politics.

Muslim Students’ Robes Are Latest Fault Line for French Identity

THE NEW YORK TIMES: When the French education minister declared that the abayas favored by some Muslim women “can no longer be worn in schools,” he stoked a fierce debate over the country’s secular ideals.

A person in northern France wearing an abaya, which Gabriel Attal, the French education minister, declared in late August “can no longer be worn in schools.” | Denis Charlet/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The mass French return to work, known as the “rentrée,” is often marked by renewed social conflict. This year has been no exception as the summer lull has given way to yet another battle over a recurrent national obsession: How Muslim women should dress.

Late last month, with France still in vacation mode, Gabriel Attal, 34, the newly appointed education minister and a favorite of President Emmanuel Macron, declared that “the abaya can no longer be worn in schools.”

His abrupt order, which applies to public middle and high schools, banished the loosefitting full-length robe worn by some Muslim students and ignited another storm over French identity.

The government believes the role of education is to dissolve ethnic or religious identity in a shared commitment to the rights and responsibilities of French citizenship and so, as Mr. Attal put it, “you should not be able to distinguish or identify the students’ religion by looking at them.” » | Roger Cohen, Reporting from Paris | Friday, September 15, 2023

Isn’t life strange? At the very time that Iranian women are fighting to be able to throw of the encumbrance of the abaya, young French students are fighting for their right to wear it!

In Iran, many young Iranian women have lost eyes and all sorts fighting for their right to be free. Young French Muslims don’t know how lucky they are that the French government is looking after their rights and interests.

How much longer must the long-suffering French authorities—and people—put up with this nonsense? These young girls are troublemakers; they are pushing their weight around; they are trying it on. This is politics; it is not religion. These young students are being perverse and unreasonable. Don’t they know, don’t they understand, that they go to school to be educated, not to make political statements?

One of the hallmarks of French society is laïcité, as these young women know only too well. Laïcité is there to ensure that all can live together in peace and harmony. The nearest word to laïcité in English is secularism, but there is a difference. Secularism stresses individual freedom of religion; but French laïcité stresses collective freedom from religion and religious institutions. Laïcité was born out of the desire to free French society from the shackles and domination of the Roman Catholic Church. This also explains why the French are sensitive about re-introducing religious symbolism back into everyday French life.

How lucky young French Muslim students are! They should therefore start appreciating the freedoms that the French government affords them; and they should look over their shoulders at their Iranian sisters in Islam, who are so oppressed by the Iranian government. If they did this, they would be able to start to appreciate the freedoms afforded them by the French government and society. – © Mark Alexander

If you would like to read more about French laïcité and US secularism, please click here.

French Schools Send Home Girls Wearing Banned Abaya Robe - BBC News

Sep 5, 2023 | A number of schoolgirls in France have been sent home, after arriving wearing the abaya – a long Muslim robe which was banned from schools in the country last week.

According to official figures, 298 girls - mainly aged 15 or more - turned up at school in the banned garment, and while most agreed to change and were allowed to attend classes, 67 girls refused to comply and were sent home.

It comes after the education minister announced that pupils would be banned from wearing the loose-fitting full-length robes worn by some Muslim women in France's state-run schools, as part of the nation’s strict ban on religious signs in state schools and government buildings, arguing that they violate secular laws.

Florida Lawmakers Pass Bill Limiting LGBTQ Discussion in School

REUTERS.COM: March 8 (Reuters) - Florida lawmakers on Tuesday passed a Republican-backed bill that would prohibit classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity for many young students, rejecting criticism and student protests that characterized the measure as discriminatory and misguided.

The legislation, referred to by its opponents as the "don't say gay" bill, has stirred national controversy amid an increasingly partisan debate over what schools should teach children about race and gender.

Governor Ron DeSantis, who is seeking re-election this year, has indicated his support for what is formally called the "Parental Rights in Education" bill. He and other Republican politicians across the United States say they want to give parents more control over what young children learn in school.

Democrats say such policies will harm the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community. The Florida measure bars classroom instruction in public schools on sexual orientation or gender identity for children in kindergarten through third grade, or from about ages 5-9.

It also prohibits such teaching that "is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate" for students in other grades. Under the law, parents would be allowed to sue school districts they believe to be in violation. With video » | Gabriella Borter | Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Schools Drop Anti-homophobia Guidance at Outposts in Middle East

LGBT charities have raised their concerns with the schools | DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/PA WIRE
THE TIMES: Middle Eastern branches of leading British private schools have scrubbed anti-homophobia guidelines from their bullying charters.

An investigation by The Times has found the international franchises of schools including King’s College, Sherborne and Royal Grammar School (RGS), Guildford, omitted rules designed to stop homophobic bullying.

The rules, a legal requirement in Britain, have been ditched because homosexuality is illegal in some Middle Eastern countries. Schools wishing to open on the Arabian peninsula have to follow strict Islamic government guidelines on ownership, curriculum content and patriotism to obtain operating licences.

Such rules have been used in Middle East franchises to ban teachers from educating pupils about the Holocaust, evolution and the existence of Israel.

LGBT charities last night urged the schools, which earn tens of millions … » | Ben Ellery, Jacob Dirnhuber | Saturday, January 22, 2022 [£} *

The Times currently has a special offer for new subscribers: the first month is free.

One in Five Teachers Are Still Uncomfortable Discussing LGBT Topics with Children

METRO: One in five school teachers are still uncomfortable talking about LGBT+ topics with pupils, a new poll has revealed.

Independent research by Just Like Us, the LGBT+ charity for young people, found that only a third of teachers are ‘completely comfortable’ talking in the classroom about things related to being lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.

Over 6,000 primary and secondary teachers were surveyed, and 3% of them even said they were ‘completely uncomfortable’ discussing these with pupils.

This comes despite the regulator Ofsted requiring primary schools to include different types of families – such as lesbian mums or gay dads – in lessons. » | Gergana Krasteva | Thursday, November 18, 2021

Why Finland Has the Best Education System in the World

A segment on the approach to education in Finland taken from "Where To Invade Next" by Michael Moore.

Florida Votes to Allow Teachers to Carry Weapons in the Classroom

THE TELEGRAPH: Florida has voted to allow teachers to carry weapons in the classroom in the latest response to last year's mass shooting at the Parkland high school.

In the aftermath of the massacre, in which 1 7 people were killed, state representatives lifted a ban on arming those who "exclusively perform classroom duties".

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is now expected to sign off a new law that enables teachers who pass a 144-hour training course to carry a gun.

Activists including a gun control group started by survivors of the Parkland shooting, March for Our Lives, are calling on Governor DeSantis to veto the reform, using the hashtag #BooksNotBullets on social media. » | Phoebe Davis | Friday, May 3, 2019

Joanna Williams: Early Education and the Snowflake Generation; The Political Agenda on College Campus; Brexit, Trump, and Political Ideologies

Joanna Williams (University of Kent) joins Dave Rubin to discuss political ideologies, Trump, Brexit, and more. This is part of our collaboration with Learn Liberty featuring interviews with classical liberals.

‪"All Must Have Prizes" - Melanie Phillips‬

Wimpering Students Need to Grow Up Or Get Out of University

THE TELEGRAPH: Political correctness was admirable. Now it has gone too far on campus. Far too far. It is time to fight back

A university should be a “safe space” – for free speech, for challenging dogmas and assumptions, for putting forward innovative ideas, for robust debate, for discovery, for intellectual courage. It should not be a safe space for preserving the timidities and assurances of pre-university childhood and adolescence.

Yet that is what university students on many American campuses now demand. They want to be warned in advance if course material contains references to subjects that could distress them. They want to be exempted from reading texts that touch on such matters as sexual abuse, divorce and suicide – which immediately puts Thomas Hardy, F Scott Fitzgerald and Virginia Woolf off the syllabus. It has even happened that professors have been driven from their jobs by students accusing them of being insufficiently “politically correct”.

On some campuses, students have set aside “safe spaces” with cuddly toys and puppy videos where those stressed by uncomfortable topics can avoid them. The atmosphere of hypersensitive inability to handle challenging ideas invites caricature: today’s American students, it seems, want mollycoddling and reassurance, not education; they want security, not intellectual and personal growth. And what happens in America is too soon copied elsewhere – including in Britain. Read on and comment » | AC Grayling, Master of New College of the Humanities in London | Friday, December 4, 2015

London Calling the Middle Ages? The City Schools That Teach Sharia

NEW AMERICAN: The British long ago established Western-style institutions of learning in colonized Muslim lands. But now it appears the educational worm has turned, menacingly, with a recent discovery that pupils at seven London schools are being instilled with Islamic propaganda.

Surprise inspections by Ofsted — the Office for Standards in Education — found that these schools taught a narrow curriculum, ignoring Western culture and refusing to inculcate British values. Most shockingly, some students at these institutions told inspectors that they didn’t know if they should follow English law or Sharia law — or which was more important. » | Selwyn Duke | Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Let Muslim Primary School Teachers Wear Full-face Veil in Class – Rowan Williams

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Former Archbishop of Canterbury says ‘panic’ about the niqab is 'largely misplaced' even if young children cannot see their teacher’s face

There is no need to “panic” about Muslim primary school teachers wearing the full-face veil in class, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Williams, has insisted.

He said concerns that young children would struggle to learn from a woman whose face was covered were “largely misplaced” and that there are other ways to "read” what people are saying.

The former Archbishop’s remarks, in an interview for the Christian think-tank Theos, reopen the debate about the place of the niqab in British public life.

It follows a political storm last year after the then Home Office minster Jeremy Browne called for a national discussion about restrictions in some settings such as schools to prevent young women from having the veil “imposed” on them.

David Cameron rejected the idea of a ban but said he would “back up” schools and courts that ask women to remove veils. » | John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor | Monday, November 10, 2014

Christians Lie and Wives Must Have Sex or Go to Hell, Trojan Horse Pupils Told

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Inquiry commissioned by Birmingham City Council reveals details of religious extremism in 13 schools

Children were taught that all Christians are liars and attempts were made to introduce Sharia law in classrooms as part of an alleged 'Trojan Horse' takeover plot of Birmingham schools, an inquiry has found.

The inquiry commissioned by Birmingham City Council found evidence of religious extremism in 13 schools as school governors and teachers tried to promote and enforce radical Islamic values.

Schools put up posters warning children that if they didn't pray they would "go to hell", Christmas was cancelled and girls were taught that women who refused to have sex with their husbands would be "punished" by angels "from dusk to dawn".

The report found that the extremism went unchecked because the council "disastrously" prioritised community cohesion over "doing what is right".

It concluded that there was a "determined effort" by "manipulative" governors to introduce "unacceptable" practices, "undermine" head teachers and deny students a broad and balanced education. » | Steven Swinford, Senior Political Correspondent | Friday, July 18, 2014

Trojan Horse Ofsted Report: Live

Ofsted report into alleged Trojan Horse plot at Birmingham schools finds "culture of fear and intimidation has developed" in schools after David Cameron wades in over Michael Gove and Theresa May row

Click here to read further and comment
My comment:

My God, these parliamentarians tie themselves up in knots trying not to criticise Islam. They keep splitting hairs about the distinction between Islam and Islamism. They argue about these things as though they were arguing about how many fairies can dance on the head of a pin.



Why the hell don't these cowards find their gonads and do something drastic about this problem? For indeed only drastic action will solve this problem. If this sort of thing is not STAMPED OUT NOW, ONCE AND FOR ALL, this country will be unrecognisable in just a few short years.



 The so-called political élite in this country have behaved in a treasonous manner vis-à-vis the indigenous population: They have given our country away to foreigners who have no intention of integrating into our way of life, and without the consent of the people.



No amount of money will solve this problem. This is not a matter of courses and guidance. The fact of the matter is that Muslims do not wish under any circumstances to integrate into our way of life. They see our way of life as being inferior to the Islamic way. They don't call us infidels for nothing!

The distinction that these idiotic and cowardly politicians try to make between Islam and Islamism is a phoney distinction. An Islamist is a devout Muslim – a person who follows his 'religion' to the letter. Nothing and no-one will change this fact.

Muslims will never properly integrate into our society. Being guided by their prophet, the Koran, and the Sunnah, it's not even an option for them. So wake up, parliament! – © Mark

This comment appears here too.

Radical Islam in Secular Schools: Now the Shocking Truth Emerges

Schools should not become madrassas

TELEGRAPH BLOGS – DAMIAN THOMPSON: "Students' understanding of the arts, different cultures and other beliefs are limited." That's one of the complaints about Birmingham schools made by Ofsted in their leaked report. It sounds like a relatively mild criticism.

Not so. What the Trojan Horse scandal has revealed is that leaders of the Muslim community in Birmingham have been creating a Wahhabi-inspired counterculture in secular, not faith, schools.

Put simply, the interpretation of Islam that's sweeping through the Muslim world, thanks to Saudi money, seeks to deprive children of any exposure to the arts, which it condemns as idolatrous. Even listening to music is haram, forbidden. The underlying teaching is that the arts, by seeking to create beauty, blaspheme by detracting attention from the only source of true beauty, Allah, which can be appreciated only in the natural world he created. » | Damian Thompson | Saturday, June 07, 2014

Michael Gove Accused of Using ‘Trojan Horse’ Row to Push Anti-Islam Agenda

THE INDEPENDENT: Michael Gove has been accused of cynically using the “Trojan Horse” schools row to push an ideological anti-Islamic agenda within the Government.

Whitehall sources revealed that behind the scenes the Education Secretary has been pressing David Cameron for months to widen the Government’s definition of Muslim “extremism”.

And they suggested that he has used allegations of a plot to “take over” a number of schools in Birmingham to press the Prime Minister to agree tough new measures to secularise schools in Muslim areas.

One said: “Michael Gove’s views are so incredibly black and white. It’s either his way or no way. He seems to think that anybody who strictly follows Islam is not really integrated.

“And he thinks anybody who holds conservative Muslim views is a bit of an extremist. He has been using Birmingham to pursue an ideological agenda that he’s had for many years.”

Mr Gove’s stance is understood to have caused unease among cabinet colleagues including the Home Secretary Theresa May and the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles. » | Richard Garner and Oliver Wright | Wednesday, June 04, 2014

Cameron Steps Into Extremism Row

BBC: David Cameron has asked for a full account of the row between the home secretary and education secretary over allegations of extremism in schools.

Theresa May has accused Michael Gove of not dealing with the alleged Islamist plot targeting Birmingham schools.

It is understood Mr Gove believes the Home Office does not react strongly enough to extremism generally.

Earlier, the pair issued a joint statement insisting they were "working together" on the issue.

The BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, said the row amounted to "an old-fashioned Whitehall turf war", with two senior ministers differing over how to combat Islamic extremism. » | Wednesday, June 04, 2014

New Dark Age Alert! Damning Reports Will Show State Schools in Birmingham Are Imposing Islamic Practices

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, will claim next week that
children in Birmingham are being denied a "rounded education"
to prepare them for life as British citizens

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The head of Ofsted is expected to reveal six schools have been placed in special measures following worrying evidence of religious interference in the classroom

Teachers are to be sent on training programmes to help them stop extremism entering the classroom, as damning reports show that some state schools have been imposing Islamic practices and attitudes.

The reports are due to be published by the education watchdog Ofsted next week, after inspectors carried out emergency checks in 21 schools in Birmingham following complaints of homophobia, the segregation of boys and girls in some lessons, refusal to teach sex education, bullying and invitations to extremists to speak at assemblies.

It is understood six schools, including Park View Academy, have been placed in special measures after inspectors found worrying evidence of religious interference in the classroom.

According to The Sunday Times [£], Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, will claim next week that children in Birmingham are being denied a “rounded education” to prepare them for life as British citizens. » | Nicola Fifield | Sunday, June 01, 2014

BBC Whitewash? Trojan Horse: 25 Schools Probed Over Alleged Takeover Plot

BBC: An investigation into an alleged hard-line Islamist takeover plot of Birmingham schools has widened, with 25 schools now under the spotlight.

Birmingham City Council said it had received more than 200 reports in relation to its inquiry.

It has appointed former head teacher Ian Kershaw as its chief advisor.

Anonymous claims hard-line Muslims were trying to take over the running of some city schools were made in a letter sent to local authorities last year.

The 25 schools now being looked at include primaries, secondaries and academies.

The 200-plus reports to the council include emails and calls from staff, parents and governors. (+ BBC video) » | Monday, April 14, 2014