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.

Aah the old, "what did she expect dressed like that" approach. Nice.

What did he expect if he showed an image to a students who are citizens of a secular country who had chosen to study RE in a secular school in the 21st century?

Perhaps he expected a rational discussion.

And if he was among a tolerant well balanced inciteful group of people he could have. But he was in an area with known religious tensions among the high proportion muslim population.

The teacher deliberately tried to offend Muslims. If he showed up in "blackface" would people be saying the school should not apologise? That's a separate issue from his life now being under threat from religious lunatics.

Quite!

As I said, I avoided that discussion...

In S3/Y10, when the kid had to give a talk in class, he chose to discuss the film The Passion of the Christ.

Thinking about it, another boy chose to give a talk on the importance of Islam in his life. He explained about arranged marriages and not being allowed to go out on dates, etc.

At the end, when he answered questions from the floor, one lad worriedly put up his hand and said, "Aye...but if a lassie kisses you is that aa right?"

Schools have to teach RE. But some children did not choose that lesson and their parents had the right to withdraw them.

For some reason people on this thread are keen to deny that freedom to Muslims.

According to the report on the matter, that is most certainly not what happened.

Certainly, when I was still in my permanent post I'd sometimes be asked to supervise one or two children who'd been withdrawn from RE lessons - usually because the parents were Jehovah's Witnesses. (This was in Scotland.)

I've seen the opposite on here - people stating that parents have the right to withdraw their children from R.E.

If parents want to withdraw children from RE, yes they can, regardless of what religion, if any, they follow. How absurd to suggest that Muslim parents weren't allowed to because they were Muslim.

There is also the right to home school if unhappy with the curriculum. That might have been an option to consider before launching into death threats, bullying and social unrest.

It's starting to smack of the Trojan Horse scandal with the allegations of religious leaders and other community members getting involved in other schools in Batley.

I'm not sure there wasn't a degree of 'taunting' the local community with his actions. Would you as a teacher of eg 60/40% split in favour of muslim pupils, at a time when there were ongoing issues with the local muslim population, chose to show the image in question.

As your obviously Scottish, it would be like showing pictures of William of Orange in an East End Glasgow school called 'St' something on the Friday before an old firm game.

As I recall that incident happened around the same time as the teacher issue.

I'm stunned by those who think the showing of an image based on imagination can be blamed for bad behaviour in another person.
No one should be above the rule of the land.
If Sharia law says otherwise and suits better, then there are plenty of countries following it to choose between.

I have another suggestion.
Those who see them as important can be as nice as they wish. And those who don't can talk about them as they wish as well.

It is ridiculous to expect non-followers of a religion to follow it's rules and limitations.

In an ideal world that would be the case. All religion would have no place in education. We would all live by the belief system of human rights within the UK. Sadly we don't. We have to weigh up cause and effect of what we say when in positions of power like teaching.

Why do you say that the teacher "deliberately tried to offend Muslims"?

He gave a lesson that had been signed off by the leadership team and taught for two years by at least two other teachers.

It was rumours like the one you have just spread that contributed to this man and his family having to go into hiding.

And that is where location and freedom of speech get mixed up. I could give you certain sectarian statements to shout out in different pubs in Glasgow. In some they will will buy you a drink, in others stamp on your head.

We can all believe what we like, but to vocalise it we must be careful of the audience.

Edit - missed quote, will repost

I'm not sure that is the case. Another teacher had used the material yes. It was from a very controversial article in a French magazine a few years earlier. I'd be doubtful the education authority had suggested it's use, especially in an area with muslim tensions.

Have you ever heard about appeasement and how well it worked before?

The teacher didn't break any law/education decree/lesson plan when showing the pictures. The children need to know that this is legal in the UK, even if they parents doesn't tell them themselves.

Did he show an image depicting the prophet Mohammed by accident? How does the fact that it was used by others change anything?

In an ideal world you are entirely correct. They should be hunted down and prosecuted. Reality is the police and everyone else like hospitals etc need to weigh up the fall out of that action.

If there was a riot going on due to this decisive police action and ended up with- peoples homes burnt out, cars destroyed, serious assaults, murders. At the same time an ambulance can't get to your parent who has suffered a heart attack the other side of town. You would be screaming about all the resources 'wasted' there.