‘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."  

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."  

Here’s a post to extol the virtues of traditional crafts and craftsmanship. Last Sunday, there was an event held in our local small town of Varsseveld. Billed as an “Old-timers’ day” (you can understand why I felt right at home), it was a combination of a market, an exhibition of vintage cars and tractors, and folk dancing.

It was charming in its simple way, but I do want to draw your attention to the fact that Varsseveld is the home of the Dutch Clogmaker Champion. Jurjen Jolink has won the title for the last two years running.

While the painted clogs are sold as souvenirs, the everyday clogs are still worn by a lot of folks around here when they’re out working in their fields or gardens.

“We were carried here on the backs of the millions of gays and lesbians that went before us… some of whom paid for the struggle against prejudice with their very lifeblood.”

A few weeks ago, I received a chain email from a distant relative. It was about the James Boulger case. As it happens, the email is one of these zombie emails that constantly circulates throughout the internet refusing to die. While I did not realise that at the time, I did respond to my relative telling her that I did not think that vengeance was a good emotion to exercise, and that I would not be passing the email on, or responding to its exhortations in any way.

I was reminded of that example while reading the coverage of the publication of the report into child abuse within Catholic institutions in Ireland. The two things that leapt out at me were (a) the scale of the abuses against children in care and (b) the fact that the Catholic church cut a deal to limit the scale of the financial penalties against it and to prevent prosecution of the perpetrators of the abuse.

My initial reaction was to think “prosecute the bastards!”, but then I wondered whether I was simply seeking vengeance – something that I said was a bad idea in the Jamie Boulger case. On reflection, I don’t think that the two cases can be compared, and I am, in fact, seeking justice, not vengeance. It seems to me that not to bring the perpetrators to account for their crimes is an evil in itself. As A Thinking Man says in this very excellent post:

…the failure to name the perpetrators and bring them to justice, will do nothing but twist a brutal knife into a very painful wound.

I agree, but I see no recognition from the Catholic church of that fact. Instead they are closing ranks and siding with the perpetrators. Shame on them.