State schools across the North of England have been sent guidance that discourages them from asking children to draw “Jesus” to avoid offending Muslims. The guidance also says prayers should be “as inclusive as possible”.
The guidance on sensitivity around faiths and beliefs was drafted by secondary religious education network Pennine Learning; and distributed to schools via local authorities, including Leeds City Council and Kirklees Council.
It says schools should understand that in Islamic culture, “three-dimensional figurative imagery of humans is considered idolatrous by some Muslims” and they should be “careful not to ask [their] students to reproduce images of Jesus, Prophet Mohammed or other figures considered to be prophets in Islam.”
