Calling all Christians – join us to make your voice heard!

A recent petition calling for retention of the parental right to withdraw a child from Relationships and Sex Education has attracted over 100,000 signatures.  Provoked by the very real fear that such teachings will be used to promote damaging and hazardous lifestyles and behaviours expressly prohibited by all the major religions, parents are up in arms that their children are being subjected to abusive and coercive indoctrination – that treats religious belief with contempt.

We would remind Her Majesty’s Government that under the Equality Act 2010, religion or belief is listed equally as a protected characteristic, alongside such things as race, sex, gender reassignment etc.  However, under the banner of ‘inclusivity and diversity’, it would appear the Department of Education – together with its lap dog enforcer, Ofsted – has chosen to disregard this, and is prioritising LGBT values over those of religion.

Thus, under the banner of inclusivity and diversity, children as young as 4 are already being taught that all relationships, whether between a man and woman, or same sex, are equally valid – this despite the fact marriage in the Bible is set down as the exclusive commitment, before God, of one man and one woman for life, for their mutual support, and for the nurture of any children that might result from their union.   Similarly, older children are being encouraged to experiment with their gender and sexuality, before deciding what works for them (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/church-of-england-schools-let-children-explore-gender-identity-transgender-gender-fluid-a8051406.html).

Perhaps providing some reassurance, children also have the message drummed into them that they must at all times be responsible and take precautions – but, under this new cultural regime, the fact remains that sexually transmitted infection diagnoses amongst young people in the UK are terrifyingly high.  In fact,  they are now so bad, that they are classified by doctors as at epidemic level  (See: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sexually-transmitted-infections-stis-annual-data-tables).

It is more of this teaching that, in their wisdom, the mandarins have now decided children must have.  And it is so important, they say, that the parental opt-out must go!

We disagree.   It is parents who are charged by God to look after and teach their children – and schools stand in loco parentis.  To put it another way, parents are the primary educators, and they entrust their children to schools, on the strict the understanding that they will be taught in line with the beliefs and values of which their parents approve, and which will keep them safe.

Far cry from what is increasingly becoming the reality today.

On Monday 25^thFebruary, in response to the petition, Parliament will debate whether or not parents should retain the right to withdraw their child from sex education.  It is vital that we make our voices heard.

Please, if you can, join us to pray outside Parliament on Wednesday, 25^thFebruary at 4.30 pm!