Brian:

I cant see much wrong with that post actually.
If the state are funding a school, then religion should not come into the admission policy. Likewise race nor class.
Nor gender come to think of it.

Seems many people think I , and Roz , post to often.
Sorry if that upsets people but I would be surprised ( say in last 12 months ) if was the most frequent poster. By far the biggest blog has been on the Pool , which I have had very few posts .
In answer to one comment I have not had any alcohol since 25th Jan , perhaps that is the problem.
Anyway very best wishes to all.

Brian, you don't need to apologise for posting and I'm sorry if certain individuals make you feel that way. We don't often agree ourselves but se23.com would be a duller place without you.

The comments about what happened in ROI having no applicability in the UK are interesting following the revelation today of young girls being forcibly drugged in C of E Childrens Homes in Kent and allegations of yet another cover up by a mighty institution. Many of these young women- at least one of whom was drugged over 1000 times, went on to have children with birth defects. Please do not therefore try and tell me that religious institutions and their associated homes and schools in the UK are free from sordidness. I suspect there will be more to come.

I'm sorry if I come across as prejudiced against organised child abuse and other crimes against humanity such as obstructing progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS in developing countries. 40 lashes for me then!

So are you saying that the Catholic Church in Ireland and the Church of England (non-Catholic) are in it together and it is not safe to send children to Catholic schools as a result of the actions of the C of E at a childrens' home in Kent?

You don't come across as prejudiced against child abuse but prejudiced against all forms of organised religion.

Why not take the obvious next step and accuse any parent sending their child to a Catholic school, or taking them to attend a church of being part of this organised child abuse.

Roz
First thanks for your very kind comments.

I agree other religions are not immune from such things however I do agree that most people involved with religion of all varieties are good people.

My argument against faith schools is not because of the posibility of such occurences or otherwise , rather that they mean that children can grow up only mixing with very similar children rather than society as a whole.I believe this is potentially divisive in our society.

I'm saying, as I've said before that man-made religious institutions, have a long and chequered history, like many organisations and ' clubs' appear to exist to serve themselves, and are not above reprimand or criticism.

Yes I am 'prejudiced' or whatever against organised religion particularly the substantial Anglican/Catholic institutions who effectively are two sides of the same coin in historical terms. I am as repelled by them as I am currently by our parliamentarians. They are hypocritical and do more damage than do good. They are extremely wealthy organisations with considerable land holdings and investments worth millions. Many own huge tracts of valuable land in the strangest of places which they continue to sit on. All of this money goes into preserving the status quo and visibility of their priests/clergy. If they really want to demonstrate Christian spirit why not sell it up and give to those who need it most.

I respect sects like the Quakers and the Salvation Army who quietly and passionately do a lot of good work in the community without needing to accumulate great wealth and dominate. I respect the people who do lots of excellent community work at the Normanton Street Church ,and the vicar and committed people of the church on the corner of Brockley Rise and Wickham Road (can't remember the name of the Church ) who do a lot of work for homeless people locally. That to me is the acceptable face of organised religion as opposed to huge faceless organisations who seem to exist to perpetuate and serve themselves.

Finally I would expect people of faith to be banging down the doors of the relevant institutions in the news this week, demanding justice, due compensation, and support for the people affected by these various crimes- not sitting on the sidelines being defensive. The rot within has been exposed, time to get on and deal with it.

......... if only we each had the resources to go banging down the doors of the relevant institutions in the news, or even not in the news, demanding justice, due compensation, and support for the people affected by various crimes.

Mmm if only indeed.

I think that 'man-made institutions' is rather begging the question, Roz, given that Christians believe that the Church was founded by Jesus Christ, i.e. by God. That's not to say of course that individual Church members aren't capable of very wicked actions, as in the cases currently in the news, or indeed that particular Church organizations may not be subject to various kinds of 'systemic' malfunction, often very serious ones. I agree with you that Christians should be doing what they can to get these put right.

There are Christians of all denominations, not just Quakers and the Salvation Army, who 'quietly and passionately do a lot of good work in the community without needing to accumulate great wealth and dominate.' I've met some of them!