Letters extra: Way-out religious cult

29th June 2001, 1:00am

Share

Letters extra: Way-out religious cult

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/letters-extra-way-out-religious-cult

On reading that David Hart had deemed it “highly undesirable” that one of the current batch of Boomerang Media Postcards should be distributed to schools, we did wonder what the offending postcard was promoting. The British National Party? Blood Sports? Recreational Drug Use? Or some way-out religious cult like.. Christianity!

We too were shocked and surprised, but for very different reasons to the people quoted in your article. Firstly, we were under the impression that Britain was (nominally at least) a Christian country rather than a secular state. Surely, living in a multi-faith society means that one should be tolerant of all religions, and receptive to the messages they give? And what is so offensive about telling our test-weary and stressed out pupils that someone or something loves them and that failing exams is not the end of the world? It certainly doesn’t seem to be a message which they are getting from anyone else at the moment.

Secondly, any school which subscribes to Boomerang’s school cards has complete power of veto over them. If a teacher feels the message is inappropriate or in poor taste he or she simply does not display them on the rack. In such circumstances, asking the Secretary of State for Education to ban them does seem to be rather out of proportion, as perhaps was the TES’s coverage of the story complete with the posed photo of “shocked” pupils.

Keith Wood, from the Secular Society, who felt the postcards were “shocking and deeply disturbing”, should perhaps get out into the real world more often. He might find that there are far more sinister influences at work on our young people today than those of Christianity

Pat and Joanna Duncan

Want to keep reading for free?

Register with Tes and you can read two free articles every month plus you'll have access to our range of award-winning newsletters.

Keep reading for just £1 per month

You've reached your limit of free articles this month. Subscribe for £1 per month for three months and get:

  • Unlimited access to all Tes magazine content
  • Exclusive subscriber-only stories
  • Award-winning email newsletters
Recent
Most read
Most shared