Liberty GB supporter Tim Burton has sent the following letter to Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire.
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@GWilliamsonMP My response to – Branding our children as RACIST if they do not attend Islam workshops in UK – 24 November 2013
For the attention of Gavin Williamson, MP
This missive has been prompted by the article in the Daily Mail, subsequently picked up by many blogs and news websites around the world, concerning the activities of Lynn Small, the Headmistress at Littleton Green Community School in Huntington, Staffordshire. (Link here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2511841/School-wrote-parents-telling-year-olds-attend-workshop-Islam--branded-RACIST-permanent-record.html)
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I am pleased to see that there was an enormous groundswell of outrage from concerned local parents on this issue, and I am even more pleased to see that you as the local MP have chosen to become involved, but I would like to highlight and to comment on the broader issues involved.
Here's the thing. Most people understand that it is important to teach our children about different cultures, traditions and world religions, in order to teach the importance of tolerance to our children and to emphasise that people in different parts of the world with different cultures and traditions should be treated equitably, but in recent years we have seen undue preferential treatment being given to the promotion of the ideology of Islam in the public sphere in every way, in addition to the increasing marginalisation of Judeo-Christian traditions and values in the public sphere.
In particular there has been a general whitewashing of the bellicose nature and intolerance inherent within the Qu'ran and Sunnah (the primary Islamic texts) that underpin that ideology, both in our primary and secondary schools and in other centres of learning, organisations which should be leading the way in the unbiased dissemination of facts rather than the promotion of the ideology of Islam over all others. Muslims themselves may understand from the Islamic texts that it is their solemn duty to spread Islam throughout the world whenever and wherever possible, but that does not mean that we as non-Muslims have to accept their narrative of Islam as a peaceful, tolerant and benign religion, and indeed there are many reasons why we should not, the bellicose nature of, and intolerance inherent within the Qu'ran and Sunnah being just two of those reasons.
There may be an increasing number of Muslim children in our schools, but that does NOT mean that we should let our Judeo-Christian traditions and values take second place. These traditions and values have been responsible for providing a framework which arguably represents the best hope for the future development of mankind, and future generations will look unkindly on us if we continue to pander to the discredited notion of multiculturalism in this respect, promoting Islam over our own traditions and values. Muslims – and especially Muslim parents – MUST accept that their belief system is considered by the majority of us in this country as undeserving of the preferential treatment that they evidently wish us to provide them with in our educational system.
Now we come to the most serious part of this matter – to encourage our young children to discover, and to be intelligently informed of, other cultures and traditions is one thing, but to enforce this by the sinister-sounding Racial Discrimination Notes in the event of non-compliance is quite another – it not only indicates a high-handed, arrogant, bullying and intimidating attitude, but is also an unforgivable abuse of power. Such notes could not only affect the child for their entire school career, but also possibly in later life when they wish to get a job, particularly in the public sector – we know already, through many egregious examples, that there are some educational authorities and councils who are on the lookout for thought-crime amongst their employees – and who knows what the political and social landscape will look like in 10-15 years time if we do not put a stop NOW to the insidiousness of this political correctness and the associated multicultural insanity?
This is not to mention the fact that these Racial Discrimination Notes might have been issued, not because of any fault in the behaviour of the child, but due to the parents not wanting their children to be exposed to that particular belief system or ideology at this point in their education. Quite apart from the fact that Islam is NOT a race, nor primarily a religion, but a totalitarian political ideology, how many Muslim parents would be happy with their child being exposed to "workshops" which were dedicated to exploring Judaeo-Christian traditions, cultures and values in this way, with the threat of Racial Discrimination Notes being issued in the event of non-compliance? And what about the numerous Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Pagan and Wiccan workshops – or even Atheist workshops – that are no doubt being considered for the National Curriculum as we speak?
As a result of the furore, it has been stated that the headmistress has issued a statement of apology. In fact, what the headmistress has done is to issue a "statement" referring to "inaccuracies" in her previous letter and asking parents to "disregard" her previous comments. THIS IS NOT AN APOLOGY. For such an important issue, most people would consider that in order to avoid an official reprimand, or even the loss of her job, an unconditional apology should be the absolute minimum required action – and an apology issued not only by the headmistress but by all those who may have been involved in creating the politically correct, multicultural policies that led to this situation – the Board of Governors, local education authorities, and anyone higher up – indeed, it would not be unreasonable to ask – EXACTLY HOW FAR up the chain of command does this go?
To summarise – while it should be the goal of any civilised society to promote civilised norms such as the freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and the equality of everyone before the law regardless of race, creed, colour or gender – that does NOT mean that we should allow the pernicious tyranny and dictatorial precepts of political correctness and multiculturalism to ride roughshod over the foundations of our Judaeo-Christian civilisation that made it all possible in the first place. A civilisation such as ours may appear on the surface as a strong and enduring entity, but in reality it is, to use an analogy, a delicate flower that needs constant and watchful protection from the howling winds, the scorching sun, or the freezing snowdrifts. The barbarians are forever present at the gates, and to let down our guard is to run the risk of losing all our freedoms and everything else that our ancestors fought and died for. The lessons of history should teach us that, if they teach us nothing else.
Timothy M. Burton
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(Tim Burton: https://twitter.com/catstrangler101)
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