Students and teachers at a primary school in England were forced to dress up as Muslims to celebrate a belated Muslim festival although most were Christians.
All 257 students and 41 teachers at Rufford primary school in Lye, England, were ordered to wear traditional Muslim dress in an effort to promote multi-culturalism, reported the U.K.-based Daily Mail newspaper on Wednesday.
It is said that in the entire school only two staffs were Muslims – a part-time teacher and an assistant teacher.
“Staff have got to go along with it – or let’s face it, they would be branded racist,” reportedly said a relative of one of the staff, according to British tabloid The Sun.
“Who would put their job on the line?” the relative added. “They have been told they have to embrace the day to show their diversity. But they are not all happy.”
The Muslim dress up was in observance of Eid, the end of Ramadan. The school held a morning assembly to mark the event and an afternoon party only for women – in adherence with the Muslim tradition of wives not mixing with other men.
Father Jonathan Morris, an analyst for Fox News pointed out that the story will probably not receive much attention in the United States because of the “can-do-no-wrong” thinking linked to diversity, pluralism, and multi-culturalism among mainstream media. Instead, they would agree that promoting tolerance in any way is good.
“And I would agree,” said Morris in a Fox News column. “But I would add that there is nothing tolerant about imposing a minority group’s traditions and beliefs on the majority. There is nothing tolerant about glorifying all expressions of culture except one’s own.
“There is nothing tolerant about cowing Christians into acting like Muslims, intimidating Jews into acting like Christians, scaring Muslims into acting like Westerners, or even worse, suggesting that we should all be nothing,” said Morris.
“This, I would say, is a sign of a dictatorship of cultural relativism. Such absurdity has nothing to do with tolerance.”
The Roman Catholic priest warned that if the United States continues “to buy” the ideology of cultural relativism then “America as we know it will cease to exist.”
Morris advised the United States promote and celebrate its cultural and religious heritage, while also respecting minority “in as much as they promote the common good for society.”
RSS
It's all pretty much the cultural equivalent of buying that candy bar at the checkout counter for the 5-year old who is having a screaming, kicking tantrum on the market floor ... just after you said "No candy" for the 100th time.
If wearing Muslim garb were required, I think I would find a way to wear it upside down, and if they had a problem with it, I would say that's my preference....and they would have to eat their "tolerance."
Yet another example of a post-Christian world view. Don't offend any other religion and don't do anything Christian.
The problem for Christians in the United States is not tolerance, its unity.
United we stand, divided we fall. If we haven't learned how to stand firm in our own Christian faith, then others will believe they can roll right over us.
Call it tolerance, racism, or even fear.
In the end, our Great Accuser knows how to get in the door.
Secularism starts to look better and better once "the judeo-christian majority" sees that the alternative isn't necessarily their dominance, but dominance by groups they don't like.
So what about the Jewish, Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist festivals? Are the students going to be forced to dress up for these also? Or do extremists from these groups have to launch their own jihads in order to start getting respected?
The only word to describe this is appalling. If this had been my grandchildren's grammar school I'd have encouraged my daughter to keep them home and I'd have picketed. This isn't tolerance, it's political correctness gone wild. I only hope that if that had been tried in the US, the ACLU would have made themselves useful for once and sued to stop it. Maybe it's time that people stopped worrying about consequences, and what the truth looks like to "the world", and just doing what's right.
I have a hard time understanding why the United States and England are engaged in trying to bring democracy to other countries when we have forgotten what it is all about in our own. To impose another belief, evidently by threat, is the exact thing that we are supposed to be fighting against. It's just beyond me to understand what these people were thinking. I'm sorry, they weren't!
SORRY aidansway, I went to hit view all and clicked Flag by mistake. Does anyone know how to undo a flag??????
Sooooo at Christmas perhaps the Muslim staffmembers could partake of the traditional ham with all the trimmings? Just as absurd as asking Christians to don the Muslin manner of dress and celebrate Eid. You are welcome to come to our country but ADAPT but don't IMPOSE your post Chrisitian heretical belief system on a Judeo-Christian majority. No one should be forced to participate in something contrary to their own religious beliefs.