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.

This is one of the most arrogant posts I’ve read here. Did you seriously type that with a straight face?

🙏🎊🎉🪅

I said they could withdraw from the lesson not the entire subject. Plenty of other lessons to learn about other religions (or atheism/agnosticism) in the other lessons.

Thanks for the insult about being ignorant about religion, it did make me laugh.

Maybe I should get @StandingSideBySide to give me a crash course 😂

Why would the teacher question the lesson that had been used for some time previously without issue?

Are all our teachers meant to be experts in religion? Is no-one granted a margin for error either?

Let's face it, Christianity gets bashed on a daily basis and that's just accepted?

So you don't want Muslim children to learn about what could be offensive to other religions?
Why? When you seem very concerned about Muslim children not being offended by people from other religions/no religion.

There doesn't seem to be much equality here. Which I also thought from your previous posts was something that concerned you?

Why not get the crash course? Learning is always a good thing! It promotes understanding and empathy to learn a out other cultures, traditions and histories.

If a RE teacher doesn’t understand the sensitivities around the blasphemous pictures then they need more education / training. That’s the fault of the school.

Where did I say any of that? Please point it out because I can’t see it!

I doubt anyone on this thread is qualified to teach anyone about ‘understanding and empathy to learn an out other cultures, traditions and histories.’

In short, thanks but no thanks! I’ll stick to books and documentaries.

Yes
Because you didn’t seem to know anything about images in Christianity
I really couldn’t tell and neither could other MNs

Nothing arrogant, weird word to use because if you know all this already ( hence the use of the word arrogant ) why say you don’t. I could have avoided explaining it.

Hope that’s all cleared up anyway
Pope in tutu blasphemous
Pope just as he is not blasphemous

Was he an RE teacher by training? I don't remember.

The school isn't taking the fall here though. The teacher is. And all he did was teach what those before him had taught. How is that fair? His life has been ruined!

I'd sooner take something I believed in being blasphemed (though I don't believe in a lot that I'd be that concerned about) than some poor young sod being threatened with death and shut away from his friends and community.

Sorry but get the F over it!

More than happy to Dimpliy 😁
Ill even throw in a bit if history too….

You say muslim parents should have been able to take their children out of the lesson on blasphemy. By doing so they wouldn't learn about what blasphemy means in other religions. That indicates to me that you don't think it's important for Muslim children to learn this. But, as you make very clear all the way through this thread, the teacher should not have shown the cartoon to Muslim children because this was offensive as in Islam images of Muhammed are blasphemous. You appear to suggest the teacher should have known better, ie that even as a non Muslim he should understand blasphemy in Islam and what he would suffer for showing the cartoon

You yourself did not know what constituened blasphemy in Catholicism but when another poster explained you called them arrogant. Showing a complete lack of understanding or interest in blasphemy in Catholicism but expecting others who aren't Muslim to understand what is blasphemous in Isalm and treat it with the same reverence even though it's not their religion.

Can you see the contradiction there?

If you live in the UK (you may not but your interest in Batley would suggest so) you should really know about the Reformation. It still influences life in the UK today. Freedom of worship, politics, satire, liberalism, the Church of England all originate from it. So, the fact that Muslims can worship freely, refuse to go to RE class if they wish, and we can all openly criticise all aspects of life freely in the UK is because of it. You don't have to of course, but appreciating what went before and what could come again if we lose these rights is worth understanding. If you do know it all already you've obviously been trolling us. Whatever, good luck to you and goodnight.

Thank goodness my server went down @ItoldyouIwassick you said that better than I could have.

I said blasphemous image
I didn’t say image

They are two completely different things in Christianity which if you went to a Catholic school you will know

I’m backtracking on old posts here.
The original news piece by OP clearly stated the locals surrounded the teachers house for several days and sent death threats.
The whole family had to escape to safety

Perhaps the mosques could have more involvement in teaching kids and parents that tolerance of other religions is good and death threats are bad

Unfortunately we are already a very long way down the road of vastly differing standards and rules for different groups of people. It is hard to turn that round. There is no consistancy in the application of the law.

@Dimpliy imagine getting a letter home saying that there will be a lesson on free speech and it will include some offensive images that will be part of the discussion to help the children understand how to think critically and rationally and the parent says "I will not allow my child to be a part of that because I want my child to grow up ignorant and think they should never be offended" lol maybe it would have been better to give parents the choice but maybe the school thought that it would result in some positive discussions instead.

Glad to see the lesson on free speech didn't go over anyones head though and this teacher ended up receiving death threats because that seems rational.

Goodness you just wonder how any one can say islam is a peaceful religion with a straight face dont you? Surely the kids can just accept it’s only a lesson, a theory, nothing to get her up about? This poor teacher I can’t imagine how terrifying this situation is.

Theres a creeping sensitivity extended to Islam that isn’t extended to other religions (and they shouldn’t be, I say this as someone from a minority religious background). Lets be honest it’s because people assume someone will get beheaded or there will be riots. The police think that a few muslims will definitely start behaving like animals (which tbf is precisely what happened). I am not suggesting that it is a majority of muslims but the complete silence from the rest of the community suggest either they endorse it or they are too scared to publicly object to it. Neither is good is it.

“Community cohesion” is a mealy mouthed way of saying that you don’t want anyone to get killed. If this is how people behave there is no community cohesion anyway, Thats it really, it’s fear of the lunatics and the police response has just further emboldened this group of twats.

People should be protected from by our laws but not ideologies. No-one should face prejudice on the basis of their appearance or their perceived religion. But no-one should expect others to behave like an actual member of their religion, you cannot and should not enforce your beliefs onto someone else.

I don’t believe a picture of muhammed is blasphemous because I’m not a muslim. No amount of screaming, crying and threats is going to make me believe it is blasphemous or give a shit really whether it is or it isn’t. I just don’t care if someones religious sentiments are offended, thats their business, go home and have a moan about it to your friends. It becomes societies business when people try to use said threats and screaming to enforce behaviour change on others.

In this case the feelings of one group of people was deemed to more important than the actual safety of another person. Reminds me of the hysterical trans activist lot, claiming victimhood while simultaneously threatening violence against anyone that disagrees with them.

The police are routinely letting themselves down in these cases. I think we may need clear legislation about the illegality of harassing people on behalf of your religion. We have laws about harassment, threats, stalking but they don’t see, to be being used. Perhaps the police need a clear law and clear instructions about using it.

This was a lesson about blasphemy and appropriate reactions to it. The children need to learn that such things are legal in the UK and can appear from time to time.

The image was used as an example together with other examples from other religions.

@Ponoka7 , if someone cannot tolerate freedom of speech they are the offensive fuckwit in my opinion. The opinion I am entitled to according to the freedoms I possess as a citizen of a democracy. Those who oppose my freedoms might like to consider if they would be happier elsewhere.

That's really interesting. I assume that's why the crescent moon is an Islamic symbol? So, I've learnt something nice from this thread. And about Muhammad actually does appear in Islamic art (I think I knew that) and is not offensive to all Muslims.

That is genius! 😀
Well done Mormons. That really does read like a 'religion of peace'.

There were terrorists on both sides in NI. Or paramilitaries as they are sometimes called. Murder was committed on all sides. British security forces actually colluded with Loyalist (Protestant) paramilitary groups. The Glennane group comes to mind.

They were responsible for the bombings in Dublin and Monaghan. Another group ‘The Shankill Butchers’ were part of Ulster Volunteer Force.

The NI troubles were not about religion per se. It was about politics/tribal sectarianism. Power and disenfranchisement. John Hume, a politician, was largely credited with the Good Friday Agreement. He was tireless in lobbying and pushing for a peaceful solution. Certainly he lobbied US politicians, which had a great influence on getting people to negotiate a peace.

Hopefully that is being normalised now. I have read that many of those involved in terrorist paramilitary groups are now diversifying into the drugs ‘business’. Lovely people, I’m sure.

Catholics send their dcs to faith schools. Muslims can also send their dcs to faith schools. The only problem being that Islamic schools are mainly self financing, and people of course would prefer free education. If thats the case, that comes under 'suck it up'.