A government consultation due to close on 24 February1, has raised again the possibility of the state monitoring children’s church groups.
The voluntary code of practice proposed by the government, is designed to cover every kind of club a child may attend, including religious groups. Sunday schools are mentioned specifically in the code’s ‘non exhaustive list’ of out of school ‘clubs’.
Hatred
Paragraph 30 of the code of practice states: ‘Staff and volunteers should also be vigilant to ensure that no person in the setting is exposed to extremism or is at risk of radicalisation. This can be expressed in various forms including… stir up hatred’(sic).
Concerns about this paragraph can be addressed at question 10 in the consultation. Paragraph 30 doesn’t imply that the organisation is teaching hatred, but it does raise the question as to who is defining what constitutes ‘hatred’. Is being exposed to biblical teaching that ‘is at odds with mainstream society’ going to be deemed ‘extreme’, as it was by Dame Louise Casey in her review of society in 2015?2. Could teaching John 14.6 be an act of hatred due to its exclusivity?
As clear cut as hatred may appear to the lay person, to the less than benevolent, it could result in religious freedom being curtailed as Christians could not agree that 'all religions are equally valid' and so could be accused of stirring up hatred and fall foul of this voluntary code. Criticism of another religious idea has already seen someone prosecuted in Austria, over criticism of Islamic teaching3.
Although a voluntary code, Question 16 on the consultation asks how the code could be monitored. This leading question could open the door to the code becoming statutory as people ‘ask’ for it to be monitored via this question. If individuals did raise concerns about a child's exposure to ‘hatred’ at a church, then one way to check the validity of the complaint would be to send in Ofsted to the Sunday school. This plan was rejected after an earlier government survey mooted the idea4. But the green paper it spawned sowed the seeds of this current code.
It appears the government has found a way to resurrect the idea, dress it in different clothes and hope that Christians won’t notice.
