Bridge of Reason

  Many will be aware of the protests of parents outside a grammar school in Yorkshire. It is over an image shown in a classroom setting in which racism and blasphemy were being addressed. Feelings have been so strong, voices so strident and demanding, that a teacher has had to go into hiding, fearing for their safety. Students of the school have now signed an online petition asking for the teacher to be reinstated, insisting he is not racist. Clearly, the sacred is important to people of faith, important enough for the voices of the faithful to be raised when they believe what they regard as sacred is being desecrated. As Christians we honour what is sacred to us and understand when people of other faiths might raise their voices in protest when what is sacred to them appears to have been abused. People may wonder then why Christians don't normally react in such strident and intimidating ways when the name of Jesus is traduced, mocked, and used as a blasphemy. We are jealous...