The teacher from Batley is still in hiding

[Nicetrynigel]

Teacher Batley
His life ruined because a bunch of thugs decided they didn't like what he was teaching in his RE lesson.
This and the Labour MP's request for bhalsphey laws against those of the Abrahamic faith have made me concerned.

People should be free to offer an view against another's religion. It's scary that we are being a country where people thing being offended gives them a right to made death threats.

Where did I say the death threats were justified? I’ve been saying the opposite. Do just read what you want to see?

You’re just repeating what I already said pages ago - that he could have pre-warned that images would be shared so parents could ask
their children to be allowed to leave.

That he didn’t do this was misjudged but doesn’t mean he deserved threats.

It was quite clear that I was not referring to a march through the town of Batley, which this article relates to. I was referring to the men who forced the school to close.

Police did attend outside the school. Stop spreading misinformation.

www.itv.com/news/calendar/2024-03-25/teacher-forced-into-hiding-over-prophet-mohammed-cartoon-let-down

What is appropriate in a classroom is initiating discussion, developing open minds, challenging bigotry, encouraging children to realise they have choices.

What is inappropriate is individuals and organisations outside the school putting pressure on head teachers and governing bodies to change National policies to suit narrow bigoted viewpoints that are largely inconsistent with traditionally liberal, wide ranging and inclusive values.

That's a different protest. I don't think those people are the Muslims harassing people outside the school.

He showed a cartoon of Mohammad to a group of people who follow a religion which is offended by even see an image of Mohammad, much less a mocking cartoon. It was entirely predictable that this would be upsetting to his audience, and there are plenty of ways to discuss free speech without deliberately offending and upsetting people. So I think showing the image in that context was pretty dickish.

There are plenty of things which are okay to do in some situations but dickish in others.
Talking excitedly about the arrival of a new baby = fine. Doing it excessively to someone who you know has recently suffered pregnancy loss = dick.
Complaining about having to cut back on foreign holidays to afford the school fee increase = okay; complaining about it to a friend who you know has lost their job and struggling to afford food and rent = dick.
Context is everything.

But to reiterate, everything he did was legal, and should remain so. The people threatening him deserve to be punished in law, and I don't justify their actions.

People on here are not bothered whether the police attended. The fact is that no one was arrested as anyone else would have been if they made those kinds of threats or harassed people and scared children outside a school.

See ITV article about the police outside the school.

They attended and did what? Because no arrests were made:

https://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/sites/default/files/foi/2021-05/april_2021_foi_1932-21_arrests_at_batley_grammar_school.pdf

Attending counts for naff all if they take no action against people
BREAKING THE LAW.

Those who think the teacher was wrong because it was offensive to some pupils:

In Christian teaching Mohammed is considered a false prophet and his teaching is considered offensive to some. Should teachers completely avoid teaching Islam in case it offends some Christians?

Of course not. Teachers say "some people believe" and make sure children are presented with multiple viewpoints.

This teacher did nothing wrong and it is very clear that in an attempt to ease community tensions the authorities made things worse. Because it emboldened those who made the threats and gave racists ammunition.

I think that examining the religions of the world in a Religious Education class is perfectly appropriate. I have never heard any other religion's practitioner running a campaign of terror against anyone else.
As a matter of fact I've never heard a Muslim, even an imam, whip up hatred against Christians.or take offense over trivia.
As is often the case it is the fanatical members of a religion who cause trouble for anyone else.

The article says the police "were called", Dimpliy, not that they attended - which I'm not aware of either way

In any case you mentioned that "arrests were made" and I've not been able to find anything to indicate this is the case either

What was that you were saying about spreading misinformation ... ?

The police can’t arrest anyone unless they’re there.

Demonstrators attended again the following morning, but had dispersed by mid-afternoon.

Sounds like demos cleared up themselves.

My heart goes out to this poor man, who will probably live in fear for his entire life, for him and his family.

But, I do also think he is a highly intelligent man who is responsible for the safety of his pupils. I live in Paris and the Charlie Hebdoe cartoons that it seems he showed to his class were the cause of one of the biggest massacres in modern French history, and it was the production of the images that triggered the reaction that led to 12 people losing their lives. You can argue the drivers of criminal or psychopathic behaviour but these images were clearly a trigger,

For a teacher to use these same images (assuming they were the same, they sound the same) in a lesson my sense is that he was being deliberately provocative. He was expecting a reaction. If he didn't then he was naive. He may not have expected such a great reaction, but if so then I still think that was also naive. We are less than 10 years since people died for this. I think it is grossly irresponsible for him to have done this in a school, without regard for the possible reaction.

So the Muslims should be arrested for making use of free speech? Hilarious 😂

Allah doesn't exist, neither does the Prophet Mohammed. I can't believe that in 2025 this nonsense is still going on.

Why can't we just tell kids that religion is utter nonsense that has been used for several millenniums to control people.

Yes the posters on here that think this is justified as some Muslims were offended are ridiculous. I am a Christian and have been offended many times. The art world has gone out of its way to offend Christians with blasphemous works, the French Olympics offended with their depiction of the last supper. To me the answer is that Islam is not really compatible with the West especially as our leaders are going to pander to it more and more.

They were inciting violence and threatening a teacher as well as obstructing people trying to enter a school. Those are offences.

And not hilarious at all - you must be nuts.

You may not have said implicitly that death threats are justifiable but you seem to apologise for the behaviour that preceeded it.

Muslims were singled out.

How?

The images are a red herring, it’s the assumption that Muslims should just accept being treated differently that causes anger.

How were/are Muslims treated differently? If they are, is anger to be tolerated or submitted to in your opinion?

He seemed to lack the basic knowledge that Muslims don’t share any images of the prophets, even positive ones.

But he wasn't a Muslim himself. So it isn't something taboo for him to do. Again, people can be offended, that's not a criminal offence. Neither is it justification to committ a criminal offence. So why apologise for behaviour that is illegal?

I think part of the problem here is that people don't understand that offence is ok. If you choose to follow a particular religion, that's fine. But you cannot expect others who don't follow it to adhere to it too, just because you want them to. In a secular school, in a secular country you have every right to express your opinion, to discuss and debate to explain why you find something offensive. What you don't have the right to do is stop the debate with threats and bullying. This is where the fault lies in this instance, not with a teacher showing an image.

Please can you give me the link for that? I can't find it. Thank you.

In an ideal world we would let our children make their own decision without interference and only once they have capacity re religion. Sadly we don't, and before we start on one religion. Have a look at our own very recent history with Ireland, and the ongoing hatred that still exists between certain Catholic and Protestants, and they are just different sides of the same bloody coin.

I am an atheist, and I am fed up with all religions. There is far more scientific evidence for the proposition that trans women are women than exists for the claims that are made by Christianity, Islam or any other religion.

Not sure what relevance your personal views have to anything in this discussion - you are entitled to think what you like.

This article says the police were there . Previous link was incorrect.

A school in West Yorkshire have called for a criminal investigation into the behaviour of a teacher who was suspended for allegedly showing satirical images of the Prophet Mohammed in class. Crowds of people were seen outside the closed Batley Grammar School this morning, with police officers also at the scene. .