Christianity
is more than a Religion it is the main cultural force, which makes us what
we are.
The
following article by Susan Elkin who has taught English for over 30
years appeared in the Daily Mail, on Tuesday, April 15th, 2003
during Holy Week of that year.
The
cutting had been kept because of the message, which it so clearly outlined of
our Christian Heritage and with the forthcoming Festival of Christmas only a
few months away it is as well that we should all acknowledge ‘that Christianity is more than
a religion’.
Understanding Easter
For centuries, Christians have used this week [April 15,
2003] Holy Week to commemorate the last few days in the life of Christ.
It
starts on Palm Sunday when Christ is said to have entered Jerusalem for the
last time, riding a borrowed donkey.
And it ends with the near-despair of Easter Eve on Saturday after the
crucifixion, but before the bright hope of new life, which comes with the
resurrection on Easter Sunday.
General
knowledge? It
certainly should be. But how many
children know what Holy Week stands for, why it is so called and why it
matters?
Alarmingly
few.
It is not an insult to other great world religions to
remind ourselves that culturally Britain is a Christian country and has been
for 14 centuries.
Our
way-of-life, law and attitudes are deeply rooted in it.
It doesn’t matter what any individual may or may not
believe (and I, for the record, am not a Christian believer).
However,
much as we work at human and liberal understanding, especially during a war,
this country is not predominately Moslem, Buddhist or Hindu. It is Christianity
that underpins European thought, and children being educated as young
British citizens have a right to understand that.
Christianity
has the ‘advantage’ of being a potentially pretty tale and an excuse for a
sentimental wallow.
But there is nothing remotely nice about the events of
Holy Week. So although children are accustomed on a daily basis to TV screens
full of graphic and horrifying violence, schools seem to shy away from the
crucifixion story.
What
do they do instead?
Like
the rest of our shallow, secularised and anything but spiritual society, they
look anywhere other than to the Bible for the naff and romantic version of
Easter.
The
result?
For
most children, Easter is just a spring festival and a holiday, one reduced to a
season of boot fairs and chocolate guzzling.
School halls are full of pre-Christian fertility symbols, although few
recognise them as that. Rabbits, chicks
and eggs are everywhere. There is hardly a cross in sight.
One
school recently got publicity for forbidding the consumption of hot cross buns
in case the crosses upset Moslem pupils.
It
is scandalous that children are passing through our schools without being
taught in depth and in detail about the stories and the thinking, which gave
rise to Christianity. And that doesn’t
mean just the pretty or easy bits.
Of
course, because we have children of many cultures in our schools-and it is
vital to promote tolerance-it makes sense to celebrate major non –Christian
festivals as well.
But
it is Christianity, which should have primacy because of where we are. Young Britons of all backgrounds should
learn how Christianity came to our country.
They should know, too, about the later buildings of that
astonishing heritage – the great cathedrals- and be taken to visit one. What better time than Easter for this? The national Curriculum for Religious
Education is taught according to syllabuses agreed and approved locally rather
than set nationally.
The
need to provide every child with his or her spiritual entitlement is at the
heart of every syllabus. How can you do
that properly without providing information and ideas?
The
conflict between good and evil and the need to come to terms with the mysteries
of life and death are central to spiritual thinking across all faiths.
Children
need to explore the differences between right and wrong too. What better peg than the Holy Week story for
discussing morality.
Children
in schools should study the four gospel versions of the main stories, learning
that the details differ considerably and why, a basic ‘media studies’ lesson
about reporting of events and how to read accounts critically.
What
a great opportunity to keep alive the King James Bible, too. With its powerful
poetic simplicity, it is the most important work of literature published in
English.
For
hundreds of years much of our high art and music has drawn its inspiration from
Christian mythology. How can a child
appreciate Michelangelo’s Pieta or the profoundly spiritual ‘He was Despised’
from Handel’s Messiah if they don’t know the story of Holy Week?
Wishy-washy,
politically correct teachers and syllabus compilers have no right to deny young
people informed access to some of the greatest of all works of art.
Christianity is more than a religion. In Britain it is the main cultural force,
which has made us what we are. So it is
time schools recognised that it is too important to be reduced to a furry toy
or a bit of chocolate confectionary.
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