'Gay lessons' in maths, geography and science
Children are to be taught about homosexuality in maths, geography and science lessons as part of a Government-backed drive to ‘celebrate the gay community’. Lesson plans have been drawn up for pupils as young as four, in a scheme funded with a £35,000 grant from an education quango, the Training and Development Agency for Schools. The initiative will be officially launched next month at the start of ‘LGBT History Month’, an initiative to encourage teaching about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual issues. The lesson plans, spread across the curriculum, will be offered to all schools, which can choose whether or not to make use of them. Craig Whittaker, Conservative MP for Calder Valley and a member of the Education Select Committee, criticised the scheme as a distraction from teaching 'core' subjects and a poor use of public money.
Pray: for schools to consider carefully how the minority nature of such material is out of proportion to the LGB community. (Jas.4:7)
Proposal for an English Baccalaureate and RE
Senior religious-education (RE) professionals are warning that their subject could disappear from the curriculum in community schools if the subject is not included among the humanities that qualify for the planned English Baccalaureate. The new qualification, which is to be introduced to ensure that pupils receive a more rounded education requires good passes in English, maths, science, a foreign language, and either history or geography. Religious studies (RS), currently a popular examination choice, is not included as a humanities option. Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, which represents secondaryschool heads, says that his members believe that the proposed Baccalaureate is too narrow: ‘Religious studies, in particular, is glaringly absent. In the light of the global political situation, surely the objective study of religious issues should be encouraged,’ he said. A recent poll among 18 to 25-year-olds revealed that RE lessons were remembered as valuable for several years after leaving school.
Pray: that Christian teaching remains as a required element of schools’ curricula. (Ro.16:17)
Russia: Airport bombing
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church addressed growing ethnic tensions in Russia after a suicide bomber killed 35 people and injured over 150 at Moscow’s busiest Airport. He denounced the attack as ‘the horrifying scowl of sin’ adding ‘actions once condemned even in war are today becoming a form of protest.’ No one has claimed responsibility but previous terrorist attacks in Russia originated from separatist movements in the troubled Northern Caucasus region. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, backed by the Kremlin, has been accused of human rights abuses and crushing Islamic militants, while supporting his own form of Islamic fundamentalism. Ethnic tensions have grown in Moscow recently, including anger over plans to build a new mosque in a south-eastern district of the city. Muslim migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia have emigrated to the Russian capital, fleeing wars in their home regions since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Pray: for the turmoil in Russia to usher in a timely Christian revival. (Is.14:26-27)
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/russian-patriarch-denounc_n_814025.html
Russia: Airport bombing
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church addressed growing ethnic tensions in Russia after a suicide bomber killed 35 people and injured over 150 at Moscow’s busiest Airport. He denounced the attack as ‘the horrifying scowl of sin’ adding ‘actions once condemned even in war are today becoming a form of protest.’ No one has claimed responsibility but previous terrorist attacks in Russia originated from separatist movements in the troubled Northern Caucasus region. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, backed by the Kremlin, has been accused of human rights abuses and crushing Islamic militants, while supporting his own form of Islamic fundamentalism. Ethnic tensions have grown in Moscow recently, including anger over plans to build a new mosque in a south-eastern district of the city. Muslim migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia have emigrated to the Russian capital, fleeing wars in their home regions since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Pray: for the turmoil in Russia to usher in a timely Christian revival. (Is.14:26-27)
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/russian-patriarch-denounc_n_814025.html
