Civil Liberties Who is the prophet in the battle of Batley Grammar?
by Archbishop Cranmer:
It is a curious headline in the Times. ‘Prophet’ is upper case, so the assumption is that all who see it will know to whom it refers. The word isn’t in inverted commas, so this person’s prophethood is asserted without equivocation. And yet it appears to qualify ‘teacher’, and one wonders whether the ‘Prophet teacher’ is not indeed speaking prophetically into the nation at this time. Why didn’t the headline-writer mention Mohammed? Why not refer to the ‘Mohammed cartoon’ teacher, or simply to ‘Batley RE teacher’? And why rather confusingly juxtapose this headline with a picture of Batley Grammar’s headteacher, who is now being mistaken all over social media for the embattled Batley Grammar schoolteacher?
‘A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house,’ Jesus observed. And Batley Grammar’s RE teacher is certainly without honour in his own school and in his own community, if not in his own country judging by the silence of the teaching unions and most politicians (not to mention bishops of the Church of England). Assuming he is a member of the NEU or the NASUWT, it is curious that they have uttered not a word in his defence, preferring instead to hide behind internal disciplinary process. But their member has been suspended, which is not a neutral act: his professionalism and competence have been called into question, and his Headteacher has defamed him. “In what other circumstances would a teacher’s life be threatened by intolerant zealots and the teaching unions remain silent?” asks trade unionist Paul Embury.
It’s a fair question, isn’t it?
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