British Catholic school children told 'dress as a Muslim for mosque trip'

[Svanhild]

A Catholic schoolgirl has been branded a 'truant' by her teachers after she refused to dress as a Muslim for a school field trip to a mosque.

Staff had ordered 14-year-old Amy Owen and her classmates to dress in headscarf, wear trousers or leggings and keep her arms covered for the compulsory visit to the mosque after it was arranged to promote 'community cohesion.'

Parents at the 1,100 pupil Ellesmere Port Catholic High School in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire were also told they were each required to make a £3 contribution towards the trip for all Year Nine students.

But when Amy refused to dress in Muslim attire for the visit to Al Rahma Mosque in Toxteth, Liverpool, staff warned her about rules and said refusal would mean non attendance which would then be marked down as an 'unauthorised absence.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ed-truant.html

Sick!

[The Lawspeaker]

And the Islamization is gathering pace as we speak. Truly sickening..

But I wonder why the Church would send children to a Muslim mosque anyways ? Why is the Church bending over backwards to cater the "needs" of the politically correct elite and their doctrine rather then serving the needs of a Catholic youth whose future has been entrusted to them ?

[julie]

There is no way I would have allowed this to happen to one of my children!I'm shocked and sicken at the same time!

[Sally]

Rather than refusing to "dress a Muslim", I think the schoolgirl should've been excused from the trip. Perhaps she could've been asked to write a paper on Islam; I don't know. Studying other faiths is fine (I would encourage it!), but no one should be forced to go to another's place of worship, in my opinion.

In any case, most larger cathedrals in European cities have dresscodes posted, and shorts and bare shoulders are usually frowned upon. Most of these dresscodes aren't heeded, and it's blatantly disrespectful. As far headcoverings go, up until the 1960s ALL Catholic women covered their heads in church, and even most Protestant women wore hats during church services.

[RoyBatty]

I agree with Sally, the girl should have been excused from the trip if she didn't want to conform to the dress code of the particular institution (be it Muslim or whatever).

[Svanhild]

I agree with Sally, the girl should have been excused from the trip if she didn't want to conform to the dress code of the particular institution (be it Muslim or whatever).

If you read the entire article you'll see that this wasn't possible.

He added: 'There are two reasons for these visits. One is that the scheme of work in religious studies REQUIRES children to have knowledge and understanding of other world religions.

'The second is that the school is REQUIRED to promote tolerance respect and understanding. This is known as community cohesion. A failure to do this could result in an unwelcome inspection judgement. None of us would relish that.

'Whilst I may not require you to pay for this I must require your child to participate.'

But Amy's mother Michelle Davies, 34, a home help said: 'It's like they're putting a gun to your head - either you go to a mosque, or you're marked down as an unauthorised absence on your record - that's it no two ways about it.

[Jarl]

One needs to take into account the fact that British Catholicism is very.... specific. Its been influenced by the local Protestant currents (indeed many priests are converts from Anglican Church) and as a consequence it is quite different to the continental RC Churches. Way more liberal and innovative, I would say.

[Sally]

I just read the article, and I'm curious why Catholic school children are expected to visit a mosque in the first place. Several popes would roll over in their graves, I'm sure. :mmmm:

This also puzzles me:

There are some parts of RE lessons that children who are Jehovahs Witnesses don't have to attend because that's part of their religion and the fact is Amy is Catholic and not a Muslim.

I realise that many non-Catholic or non-practicing Catholic parents send their children to Catholic schools because they have a reputation for superior educational standards. But by sending your child to a Catholic institution, I don't think you should get to pick and choose what parts of the curriculum you want. Sorry!

I don't fault Muslims, Islam or Islamisation for this particular situation, though.

[Wölfin]

I went to a Catholic All Girls school. We had in the first year something call the multiculti day or something (can't remember) and we could chose to either go out and discover a community or do one of the various cultural activities at school. I picked origami and staying at school. I do remember however there was the option of visiting a mosque and a hindu temple, in which case there was a dress code. The main difference is that we had the choice of our activity as opposed to being forced in to a place of worship we didn't want to go to.

[RoyBatty]

If you read the entire article you'll see that this wasn't possible.

I did read it and did see it.

In my opinion both the school and the pupil are at fault. The school shouldn't force the pupil to go and the pupil should abide by the customs / regulations of the institution being visited. Idiocy from all sides.