Why Christians Should Support the Birmingham Muslims
by David Robertson, theweeflea:
[…] There is an intriguing on going drama being played out at the moment. Parkfield Community school in Birmingham has been the focus of national media attention because of the protests that have taken place concerning the teaching of homosexuality. A teacher Andrew Moffat who is himself in a gay relationship had introduced a programme called ‘No Outsiders’. Mr Moffat who is in line for an award for ‘the worlds best teacher’ (I wonder why?), had already resigned from another school, because of a similar clash between him and Muslim and Christian parents.
Media Narratives
What is almost as interesting is the way that this story is being covered in the media. There is no balance, no attempt to understand and no desire to look at the deeper issues involved. It is taken as a given that teaching primary school children about same sex marriage is a good thing. It is also assumed that the Muslims are at best culturally ignorant or at worst a bunch of ignorant religious fundamentalists in conflict with tolerant modern British liberals. There has been no attempt in the media to attempt to understand what the concerns are or to question seriously what Ofsted and the school headmaster is trying to do. In listening to all the media and politicians it appears that they regard as extremists those who do not want their primary school children to be fed the diet of books such as Mommy, Mama and Me, and King and King.
I must admit that I too bought a little into ‘the Muslims are narrow religious bigots’ narrative and wondered why Christians were also not taking a stand on this issue (it turns out that many are but this is not being reported – largely because of the liberal bias of many of the mainstream established churches). But having read and listened to the Muslim spokespeople I have to say that I have generally been very impressed. For example listen to this interview broadcast on BBC Radio 4 today.
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