I had a long conversation yesterday with someone I like and trust.....We were talking about the refugee crisis and were both agreed that humanitarian concerns should be uppermost in our minds.
The dreadful stories of capsized boats,the dead child on the beach, the people suffocating to death in a lorry, all these have ensured that people with any sort of Christian ethic felt moved to help to alleviate suffering where ever possible. We applauded all those in our local community who have been concerned enough to send money and practical help to the camp in Calais where many people still wait their opportunity to cross the channel.
We had both offered help of various kinds and deplored those who were supporting the Britain first campaign we see posted every day on Facebook and Twitter.
Towards the end of the conversation we wondered if any of those we were happy to take in would become embedded in our communities when my friend said "Well of course, they will all be Muslms...they will need their own schools. "
This thought stopped us both in our tracks....we gazed at each other...
"We will be outnumbered eventually" she said slowly. The conversation stopped there....we didn't want to take the thought any further!
It has stayed with me though...an unwelcome visitor in my head...
I would be glad to hear other views on this one....please...
Posted with Blogsy
3 comments:
Not all will be Moslem, though most will be. There will also be Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jews as well as those of no faith.
The vast majority will be making this frightening journey because their lives and the lives families of their are at greater risk.
The population of UK is over 60 million, so the population wold have to double for the refugees to outnumber those already here.
Schooling is another issue. Mixing the faiths has, I believe, the great advantage of helping people understand, respect and accept the similarities and differences between the faiths, and to help increase tolerance and reduce prejudice.
I agree completely having spent ten years teaching in a multi race school.. mostly though the various faiths want their children brought up in their own faiths....and that is where some of the problems arise!
I don't believe that they will need Islamic schools, but there might be a high proportion of Muslim pupils in areas where they are settled, evidence for this already exists in some London Schools and elsewhere in the country.
I believe in faith schools, but not segregated ones. Some Church schools in our area take children of all faiths, they have little choice because the demographics and rules prevent discrimination on the basis of faith, although location can be an issue (distance from school). We often read stories in our local media about children not being able to get a place in the same school as their siblings. And sometimes the implication being that migrants (from Europe and further afield) are causing the problem. That might be the case, but there is no entitlement for children to attend the same school as their older sibling, that's a matter of convenience and helping families where possible.
Schools of all types are under pressure here for places. Our local primary (not a church school) has added a further 100 places in the last 2 years, by building a huge extension, all of which were taken up right away. They are a good school, so people want to send their children there, but the cachement area dictates who does and doesn't get a place.
Our local Secondary School converted to an Acadamy several years ago - it too has undergone a huge expansion and now has over 1200 pupils. Our local CofE Secondary is over subscribed but doesn't adhere to CofE rules and takes children of other faiths, because they believe in integration, not discrmination. And it works, because they get good results. This converted from being a State school about 10 years ago to CofE and it's results improved dramatically - so again, a waiting list. Many children in our parish compete or places and are nut successful l due to the numbers.
I don't believe that segregated schools would work and if provided, would further divide communities - we need integration and assimilation to build our communities into what they could be.
Post a Comment