I’ve never been a fan of Faith Schools. All too often they seem designed to develop intolerance and ignorance of others. That said, if the schools were being funded entirely by their own communities, then I can state my misgivings, but there’s an end to it (unless they break laws, of course).
But now, here in the Netherlands, we have an interesting situation developing. Most of the country’s faith schools are state-funded, in other words, some percentage of my taxes go to support them. And now, the Dutch government’s highest advisory council says state-funded schools should be allowed to exclude teachers for being homosexual. Er, hello?
I suppose I really shouldn’t be surprised that the usual suspects are lining up to state that they think this is a really good idea:
‘Wim Kuiper, director of the association for Christian education, is "forcefully recommending cabinet to follow the advise [sic]". He says orthodox schools should be allowed to refuse to employ people who are gay as well as (straight) couples who live together without being married because their "lifestyle does not square with the bible". But he added that only about a hundred of the 2,200 Christian schools abide by that principle. "The Christian mainstream has employed gay teachers for a long time."
So presumably Mr. Kuiper is now suggesting that not only the "cabinet should follow the advice", but that the other 2,100 Christian schools should abide by the principle and get rid of those pesky gay teachers who are obviously corrupting their charges by their very presence in the classroom. And naturally, we have others from the other side of the religious divide trumpeting their joy:
Yusuf Altuntas, who represents an umbrella organisation for Islamic schools, announced it is "happy there is finally clarity" on the issue. He says gay teachers can draw their own conclusions. "Judaism, Christianity and Islam disapprove of acting gay (…) If that is what you are, apply at a different school. There are plenty of jobs at non-denominational schools."
Yeah, get out of our schools… Happy to, if you stop taking my tax money…
Of course, what this removal will lead to is more of what is seen in areas such as Slotervaart, where the chairman of the borough council is trying to combat anti-gay feelings in his community. The irony is that such polarisation would not occur if children could learn some simple truths about people and society right there in their schools…
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