SARAH VINE: It’s fairly grim when your youngster is banned from bringing house a wonky image of the newborn Jesus to plaster throughout the fridge door
As I write, I am on the early train to Penrith to take part in the Words By The Water book festival in Keswick, in the dazzling heart of the Lake District. It’s a beautiful day, the sky is a pale Wedgwood blue, the air is clean and crisp and yes, I daresay there may be a spring lamb or daffodil or two.
I love going to book festivals. Head down in my grimy corner of west London, I sometimes forget how breathtakingly beautiful the British countryside is, and of course travelling by train one always has the best seat.
The popularity of literary festivals in this country is also a reminder of how fundamentally intellectually omnivorous and generally curious the Brits are as a nation.
For its size, Britain has an extraordinarily high concentration of literary festivals, ranging from the big guns – Hay, Edinburgh, Cheltenham – to smaller, more cottagey ones that bring together local communities. But they all have one thing in common: A love of words, ideas, exploration and freedom of expression.
The latter is at the heart of who and what we are as a nation, which is why, despite the blue skies and the not-entirely-inedible Avanti West Coast breakfast, a shadow crosses my heart when I read that Labour-run councils across the north of England have reissued guidance to schools that runs directly counter to that fundamental notion.
As part of a document called ‘Sharing The Journey’, head teachers have been told that they must restrict what pupils can draw or paint, explaining that ‘figurative imagery of humans is considered idolatrous by some Muslims’.
As I write, I am on the early train to Penrith to take part in the Words By The Water book festival in Keswick, in the dazzling heart of the Lake District, writes Sarah Vine
Head teachers have been told that they must restrict what pupils can draw or paint, explaining that ‘figurative imagery of humans is considered idolatrous by some Muslims’
They must be careful not to allow students to ‘reproduce images of Jesus, Prophet Muhammad or other figures considered to be prophets in Islam’.
Staff are also warned against holding dance classes that ‘needlessly conflict with religious beliefs, for example by expecting students to play parts that may seem to compromise their faith’.
The document adds that Muslim parents ‘may have reservations regarding participation involving physical contact between males and females’ and ‘may object’ if boys and girls take part in mixed sports.
What strikes me first is the utter joylessness of it all. No wonky pictures of baby Jesus on fridges, no dancing, no having the whole class over for a rowdy birthday party so everyone can get to know each other. It’s a pretty grim vision of childhood.
As to the notion that these guidelines might somehow foster tolerance and mutual understanding in multifaith schools, it’s blindingly obvious that they will have precisely the opposite effect and only reinforce the sinister sectarianism that seems to be on the rise in certain communities.
To be fair, it’s not just the sensitivities of Muslims that are mentioned here. I’ve read the whole thing, and there are instructions as to the dietary requirements of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and Rastafarians. There are long explanations about the differences between the various religious calendars, accepted forms of dress and types of religious symbolism permitted in jewellery.
There are protocols for fasting pupils and provisions for alternative exam arrangements during religious festivals. On and on it goes, requirement after requirement. For a document entitled ‘Sharing The Journey’, all it seems to do is emphasise difference.
It’s also madness. No head teacher could possibly fulfil all these requirements without going quite loopy.
Of course, pupils’ religious sensitivities should be respected wherever possible. But all this makes me think is whether it’s time to consider removing religion altogether from state schools, and make them all strictly secular, as they have done in France.
After all, shouldn’t schools be primarily places of learning, where children get to explore a variety of new horizons, not remain trapped and hamstrung by old beliefs and traditions?
The other problem is bias. There is very little mention throughout of the cultural sensitivities of Christian pupils – which after all, still represent the largest religious group in Britain.
Indeed, drawing a picture of Jesus is specifically singled out as potentially ‘idolatrous’, which could make a Christian child feel distinctly uncomfortable, or even expose them to bullying.
But apparently that’s OK. Why? Is that because most Christians are fairly long-suffering when it comes to their faith, whereas by contrast some proponents of Islam (and I stress by no means all) are far more intransigent in this respect?
One of the worst examples of this in recent years is the case of the Batley Grammar School teacher forced into hiding in 2021 after showing a picture of the Prophet Muhammad during class.
Despite being cleared of any malicious intent, the poor man was subjected to violent threats and intimidation, which left him feeling suicidal and suffering from PTSD. He remains in hiding, along with his family.
A subsequent independent report on the case by Dame Sara Khan warned of a wider cultural problem of ‘self-appointed community faith leaders aggressively interfering in teaching’ at some Batley schools. There are echoes of that in this latest document.
Personally, I’m all in favour of respecting the beliefs of others, provided they respect mine and are not harmful. This is why I have such an issue with violent protest movements such as the Free Palestine brigade and the hardline trans lobby: They openly advocate harm to those who don’t share their world view.
But we all slip up. For example, once, many years ago, I found myself at a lunch with a number of rather stern Jewish ladies. The discussion turned to TV, and I raised the issue of Saturday-morning children’s television.
It was only when I saw their eyebrows rise that I remembered that of course Saturday is Shabbat, and observant Jews don’t even turn on the lights, let alone the telly. Mortifying: I might as well have offered them a plate of ham sandwiches.
It was a simple oversight, and we all had a laugh about it afterwards. Lucky I was not taking a religious studies class at Batley Grammar.
If you want a tolerant society, you must treat all groups with equal care and respect. The problem with initiatives such as this is that not only do they antagonise people but they also appear to be part of a pattern of events where the sensibilities of one group are being allowed to slowly but systematically elbow out others.
Another example. I remember at one of my children’s schools the annual Christmas tree was suddenly redesignated as a ‘winter tree’. And yet that same school celebrated Eid with gusto. Why celebrate one set of religious beliefs to the detriment of another? Shouldn’t all faiths be equal in the eyes of the British state?
But what is really sinister is that there may come a day, in the not-too-distant future, where questioning the fairness or wisdom of these cultural dictates, or even engaging in a debate about them, could be considered as a crime.
The Government is at pains to point out that its new ‘anti-Muslim hostility’ guidelines will not harm freedom of expression, but you can easily see how objecting to the imposition of strict Islamic rules of conduct such as the ones listed above in schools might easily be interpreted as such. If you silence legitimate criticism, those concerns don’t simply dissipate. They turn inwards and grow into something far more toxic.
A tolerant society can only exist successfully when everyone is tolerated equally. And yet we are seemingly advancing towards an Orwellian situation in Britain where all cultures are equal – but some are more equal than others.
