The Scotsman reports (7 September) that South
Lanarkshire Council has peremptorily ended a chaplaincy of the American based
Church of Christ, and the voluntary roles of members of the Church in schools in
the area, partly because of their espousal of religious doctrines that reject
the idea of evolution.
It would seem that this Church would
have a strong claim of discrimination on grounds of religion and belief under
the Equality Act of 2010 against South Lanarkshire Council, since, like all
local authorities in Scotland, it allows representatives of other denominations to
preach their unscientific beliefs in the divinity and resurrection of Jesus
Christ and of the virginity of his mother as part of the school curriculum.
Why is one sect singled out for
opprobrium and exclusion and others granted privileged access to influence
pupils in our state funded schools?
The only fair policy towards
religious observance is to exclude it from publicly funded schooling and leave
parents and children free to practice religion if they wish in their time out
of school. Any other policy involves the government or education authorities
dictating which churches and sects should be granted access to pupils in
schools to spread their unscientific views.
