Longrider

Leg Iron comments on the case of the Christian parent whose child was rebuked and whose personal emails were used to accuse her of professional misconduct.

Mrs Cain sent a private email to close friends to ask for prayers for her daughter after she was called into the school where she worked in Crediton, Devon, to be reprimanded.

Her daughter Jasmine had been overheard by a teacher discussing heaven and God with a friend and had been pulled to one side and told off.

Mrs Cain contacted 10 close friends from her church by email but the message fell into the hands of Gary Read, the headmaster of Landscore Primary School where she works.

That the treatment of the Cains is pernicious should be obvious to anyone with a modicum of common sense. As a child, I recall Jesus being discussed in much the same way that this child was discussing him. I’m not entirely sure I believed it then, either, but that matters not. It was harmless enough and certainly wasn’t proselytising. What Mrs Cain should be asking herself at this moment is which of her friends is untrustworthy – and unworthy of friendship. Anyone who forwards a private email in this manner is not a friend, they are the type of person who, a couple of generations ago, would have passed similar correspondence onto the Stasi – or before them, the Gestapo. Such people are wicked to the core.

The Headmaster, Gary Read, is worthy of our contempt and derision for not doing the right thing and binning the email as the product of wicked troublemaking. His reasoning for this piece of illiberal behaviour?

The profession’s regulator, the General Teaching Council, has drawn up a new code of practice that states classroom staff must “promote equality and value diversity”.

What utter, utter nonsense. I would expect staff to be tolerant; that would be appropriate professional conduct. To promote is to cross a line that should not be crossed. Certainly the “equality” touted by the righteous is not something to be promoted. We are not all equal. That is an observable fact and the sooner children learn this and become accustomed to the idea, the better it will be for them. As for diversity, I do not value “diversity”. I am tolerant of peoples’ right to believe whatever they want to believe. Indeed, I would defend their right to do so. But I do not value it and nor should I be expected to. Indeed, there are some creeds, such as Islam, for example, where I hold the whole shebang in absolute contempt. How can I “value” a mysoginistic death cult? I cannot. But if someone wants to willingly embrace it, so be it, I wouldn’t dream of standing in their way.

On the same day, we were told the Prince Harry is to be sent on more “diversity” training. That will, no doubt, help out when he has to go out and shoot the enemy. Last night I saw a snippet of television where the gathered righteous shared their shock and horror at a comment that was no more than a tactless gaffe, similar to those uttered by his grandfather. Prince Harry may be none too bright, But Stephen K Amos is an arsehole of the first water. Any decent, reasonable person would have put the comment down to tactlessness and left it at that. No, this shit-head had to blurt it out and share the horror with the nation so that the righteous could indulge in a mass wankfest of righteous indignation.

Anyway, Leg Iron writes the usual thoughtful piece. There is, however, one small point of issue for me:

Atheism, by the way, is now officially a religion with Dawkins as its prophet. Criticism of Prophet Dawkins is not permitted, and Atheism is the One Truth that all must see and embrace. So, since I have no religion, I can no longer be an atheist either. I’m going to have to be an apathist or something.

No, no, no. Atheism is a lack of belief in gods. It is not – despite what the righteous might try to say – a belief system or a religion. It is a lack of belief. Nothing more, nothing less. Let them get away with this, and another word will be lost in the same way that “liberal” became usurped and twisted into its exact opposite. We must not allow them to steal our language. That is how they steal our liberty.