From: andal@andal.org   
      
   In the United Kingdom various associations are complaining that religious   
   instruction is being neglected. There is a shortage of teachers   
   (recruitment ceased in 2011) and the new Labour government does not seem   
   intent on remedying this. While in Poland, the Church is appealing against   
   the Tusk government's changes aimed at marginalising religious   
   instruction.   
      
   The social-labourists of the United Kingdom and the liberal-socialists of   
   Poland are discriminating against the Catholic religion and attacking the   
   Christian memory of their countries, in the name of a suicidal secularism   
   and an alleged ‘non-discrimination’ that marginalises, penalises and   
   discriminates only against Christian believers and in particular   
   Catholics.   
      
   The new Education Secretary of the British Labour government has been   
   asked in recent days to seriously address the issue of Religious Education   
   (RE) in schools. The National Association of Teachers of Religious   
   Education (NATRE) has warned the government that ‘religious education is   
   the most neglected subject in terms of resources’, despite a growing   
   interest on the part of pupils and an increase in pupils aspiring to   
   obtain the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in Religious   
   Studies (Rs), specific courses to be able to later also teach religion.   
   Earlier this year, Ofsted, the public agency overseeing school education,   
   warned that a number of schools in England would fail to meet the legal   
   requirement to teach religious education in all classes.   
      
   English law requires that the curriculum provides for religious   
   instruction in state-funded schools, while not specifically teaching a   
   religion, must reflect the fact that ‘religious traditions in Britain are   
   primarily Christian’.   
      
   Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Sir Martyn Oliver, had already   
   reminded us last April of the need for a ‘robust religious education   
   curriculum’ for the cultural development of pupils and the future cohesion   
   of the country. The increased interest of families and pupils in religious   
   instruction, and the Labour government's corresponding silence in hiring   
   new religious education teachers, prompted various associations to launch   
   an appeal to ask the executive for a National Plan that would enhance   
   religious instruction and teachers in this subject. Bridget Phillipson,   
   Education Secretary, pledged last July to recruit 6,500 new teachers by   
   2024, but made no mention of increasing the number of religious education   
   teachers, whose recruitment has been at a standstill since 2011. The   
   Labour government's plans are well outlined in the election programme:   
   ‘Increased access to sports and arts education, along with a strong   
   literacy and numeracy core, plus the introduction of a new focus on   
   digital skills, speaking and listening skills’.   
      
   Religious instruction, so necessary if it emphasised the country's   
   Christian roots, appears, however, neither tolerated by the new social-   
   liberal Labourism, nor by that Islamist part of the electorate that   
   allowed Prime Minister Keir Starmer to win with a large majority.   
      
   Donald Tusk's Poland is striding along the same perilous path, that of   
   writing a new page in the country's history, cutting off its religious   
   roots and traditions in the name of an abused freedom, secularism and non-   
   discrimination of others.   
      
   In the Polish educational system, religious instruction usually consists   
   of teaching the Catholic catechism, with teachers and programmes chosen by   
   the Church, but the lessons are hosted and financed by State schools, and   
   are widely attended even if they remain optional. On 22 March, the   
   Minister of Education, Barbara Nowacka, had removed the marks obtained in   
   religion lessons from pupils' final grades. According to the Tusk   
   government's August amendments, when fewer than seven pupils express a   
   wish to receive religious instruction, schools would be authorised to   
   reduce religion classes by merging them with pupils from different year   
   groups, with the danger of marginalising religious instruction and   
   reducing the number of teachers.   
      
   In mid-August, the Catholic Church and the Polish Ecumenical Council,   
   which represents minority Christian denominations, had asked the President   
   of the Supreme Court, Małgorzata Manowska, to submit a motion to the   
   Constitutional Tribunal to verify the constitutionality of the changes. On   
   30 August, the constitutional judges issued an interim order suspending   
   the government's planned changes to the organisation of religious   
   instruction in schools. In recent days, the President of the Republic,   
   Andrzej Duda, has warned the governing liberal-socialist coalition that   
   removing the teaching of religion from school education ‘would remove an   
   inalienable part of being Polish’ and of the nation's historical and   
   popular traditions, which cannot be renounced.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)