.... Dame Louise Casey says: “We need to be much bolder in not just celebrating our history, heritage and culture, but standing up for our democratically decided upon laws of the land… I have become convinced that it is only the upholding of our core British laws, cultures, values and traditions that will offer us the route map through the different and complex challenge of creating a cohesive society.”
By all means, let Muslim teachers and pupils celebrate their holy festivals: that is a necessary liberty and a social good. But let’s not impose an Islamic day of rest upon all citizens from every background because a minority believes that Ishmael was favoured over Isaac.
It is our Christian heritage which is culturally cohesive, and it is Christian laws and traditions which determine and define how we live together. They forged the historic foundations of our common good. A school community must respect that, lest it atomise into a myriad of equal faith demands under a coercive, anti-discriminatory aegis of secularity, with each god in the pantheon competing for dominance in the hierarchy. [Archbishop Cranmer] Read more
