Last week\u00a0I deconstructed the Daily Mail\u2019s sensationalist assertions regarding the teaching of Paganism in British religious education courses<\/a>, specifically in Cornwall. I pointed out that there is no hard-and-fast mandate requiring schools to insert Pagan religions into their curriculum, and that the RE advisory council is exactly that, advisory. This didn\u2019t stop\u00a0conservative Catholic columnist Christina Odone from flying off the rails,\u00a0using the story as a jumping-off point to rail against any who dare place non-Christian faiths on equal ground with Christianity<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cGod, Gaia, whatever: school children are already as familiar with the solstice as with the sacraments. In pockets of Cornwall, children will point out a nun in her habit: \u201cLook, a Druid!\u201d Their parents will merely shrug \u2014 one set of belief is as good as another.\u00a0How long before the end of term is marked by a Black Mass, with only Health and Safety preventing a human sacrifice?<\/strong>\u201c<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n So with the discourse on this non-event having sunk about as low as it could go, it was time for the journalistic grown-ups at the BBC to step in and set things to rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sue Green, director of education, said Cornwall\u2019s heritage was \u201cquite unique\u201d and must be celebrated.\u00a0The director said the syllabus suggested if there was an important religious aspect of beliefs such as Paganism, teachers should \u201cexplore it\u201d.<\/strong> \u201cWe must celebrate the spiritual and religious heritage for our children.\u201d\u00a0Ms Green said: \u201cFor many of our schools there will be children who come from Pagan families and we wouldn\u2019t want those children to feel marginalised.\u201d\u00a0But she added, that \u201cno school is being told to teach about Paganism\u201d<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It should be noted that Sue Green is director of education for the Anglican Diocese of Truro<\/a>, which serves Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, so not exactly a\u00a0shill\u00a0for the powerful (and largely imaginary) Cornwall Pagan lobby. Nor is Green the only prominent Cornish Christian to speak up in defense of the curriculum guidelines, a local paper in Cornwall interviews the Rev Mike Coles<\/a>, pastor of Falmouth Evangelical Church<\/a>, and chairman of Cornwall\u2019s advisory body for religious education, about the council\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems right to develop a distinctively Cornish element that included the early Celtic saints, the influence of John Wesley, and the history of Truro Cathedral, as well as the significance of pre-Christian sites.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Rev. Coles is a conservative Baptist, again, not exactly a \u201crah rah Paganism\u201d kind of guy. That paper also speaks with\u00a0David Hampshire,\u00a0RE adviser for Cornwall, who notes that the \u201coption\u201d (notice the word option and not \u201cmandate\u201d) was developed \u201cin order to develop a \u2018Curriculum Kernewek\u2019 (Cornish curriculum),\u201d<\/a><\/em> and that Paganism would\u00a0\u201cnot be a major feature\u201d<\/em> of the curriculum. Thus, yet another controversy constructed by The Daily Mail is laid to bed, though I\u2019m sure critics will once again lash out at the BBC for being too \u201cPagan friendly\u201d<\/a> for daring to accurately report the news.<\/p>\n In a final note, only one news outlet bothered to get a statement from the local branch of the Pagan Federation, and that was the Huffington Post UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFiona MacDonald, co-ordinator of Cornwall\u2019s Pagan Federation<\/a>, said the group welcomed the decision to include Paganism on the curriculum.\u00a0\u201cWe have been campaigning for schools to introduce it for the past 10 years,\u201d <\/strong>she told The Huffington Post UK. \u201cIt is not a question of teaching children Paganism, rather teaching children\u00a0about Paganism.\u00a0\u201cWe are just normal human beings with different ideas,\u201d <\/strong>she added.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n So here\u2019s to HuffPo UK for actually asking local Pagans what they think about a story that affects their lives. It\u2019s sad that they were the only ones to do so. <\/p>\n So, to wrap up, an advisory RE\u00a0curriculum\u00a0is advisory, not mandatory<\/a>, local Christians and Pagans don\u2019t seem to have a problem with the RE curriculum, children are not being indoctrinated by Pagans, and the Daily Mail is a terrible way to get your journalism and you should really stop reading and linking to it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week\u00a0I deconstructed the Daily Mail\u2019s sensationalist assertions regarding the teaching of Paganism in British religious education courses, specifically in Cornwall. I pointed out that there is no hard-and-fast mandate requiring schools to insert Pagan religions into their curriculum, and that the RE advisory council is exactly that, advisory. This didn\u2019t stop\u00a0conservative Catholic columnist Christina […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[233,495,1206,1724,3640,3301,2352,2537],"class_list":["post-9523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paganism","category-religion","tag-bbc","tag-cornwall","tag-journalism","tag-pagan-federation","tag-paganism","tag-religious-education","tag-the-daily-mail","tag-uk"],"yoast_head":"\n