I just wrote this letter to the Irish Times in response to three letters on 'Faith teaching in our schools' in their edition of today (Friday, 3rd April):
Madam,
The three letters published on 'Faith teaching in our schools' (Letters, April 3rd) each amply demonstrates the blinkered view of the secularist. None of the letter-writers seems capable of conceiving any positive role for the Church in modern Irish society - it is from this wholly negative stance in relation to the Church that their opposition to faith schools springs.
In fact, according to them, faith should be an entirely private affair. Owen Corrigan looks forward to the day when church influence will be 'removed' from Irish civic life, while, for Séamus McKenna the 'proper place' of religious instruction is 'in the home' (echoes of misogyny are surely unintended!). But if faith is the sort of thing Christians claim it to be - an integral attitude of the whole person, and not merely a set of beliefs - then this privatisation is neither possible nor desirable (and yes, implementing such a privatisation does amount to totalitarianism).
On the more specific point of education, the letter-writers' position is misconceived: the fact that the Catholic Church has historically been quite good at setting up schools in no way interferes with our human rights, nor is it 'irrational and grossly-unfair' (David O'Callaghan). Neither does the fact that the State supports these schools, since the vast majority of (tax-paying) parents are quite content, and even keen, for their children to receive a Catholic education (which, incidentally, involves a lot more than simply religious instruction).
As a teacher at a Catholic school, I see the benefits of such an education - our secularist friends would too, if only they could see through the red mist that clouds their vision.
The three letters published on 'Faith teaching in our schools' (Letters, April 3rd) each amply demonstrates the blinkered view of the secularist. None of the letter-writers seems capable of conceiving any positive role for the Church in modern Irish society - it is from this wholly negative stance in relation to the Church that their opposition to faith schools springs.
In fact, according to them, faith should be an entirely private affair. Owen Corrigan looks forward to the day when church influence will be 'removed' from Irish civic life, while, for Séamus McKenna the 'proper place' of religious instruction is 'in the home' (echoes of misogyny are surely unintended!). But if faith is the sort of thing Christians claim it to be - an integral attitude of the whole person, and not merely a set of beliefs - then this privatisation is neither possible nor desirable (and yes, implementing such a privatisation does amount to totalitarianism).
On the more specific point of education, the letter-writers' position is misconceived: the fact that the Catholic Church has historically been quite good at setting up schools in no way interferes with our human rights, nor is it 'irrational and grossly-unfair' (David O'Callaghan). Neither does the fact that the State supports these schools, since the vast majority of (tax-paying) parents are quite content, and even keen, for their children to receive a Catholic education (which, incidentally, involves a lot more than simply religious instruction).
As a teacher at a Catholic school, I see the benefits of such an education - our secularist friends would too, if only they could see through the red mist that clouds their vision.
1 comments:
Great letter! Even better that it got published.
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