Will Michael Gove heal our Collective Amnesia?

NEWS RELEASE FROM BISHOP MICHAEL NAZIR-ALI

25 October 2010

WILL MICHAEL GOVE HEAL OUR COLLECTIVE AMNESIA?

Education Secretary’s proposals must restore the teaching of Christianity as the most significant connecting link in the story of Britain

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali is welcoming action by the Education Secretary to ‘remove Britain’s collective amnesia’ by emphasising traditional subjects. And the bishop is calling on Mr Gove and his advisors to highlight the place of Christianity in British history, and the vital role played by reformers in the struggle for human freedom.

Bishop Michael believes those freedoms that shaped our nation - including freedom of faith - are now under threat.

 The bishop hopes the Education Secretary will ensure that schools teach the true historical perspective that the building blocks of British national life are founded on the Judeo-Christian tradition of the Bible.

‘The struggle against the slave-trade, stemming from the Evangelical Revival in the eighteenth century, was explicitly Bible-based,’ writes Bishop Michael. ‘This struggle went hand-in-hand with the battle to improve the working conditions of men, women and children in the mills, mines and factories of early industrial Britain. 

‘Universal education is the creature of churches and Christians, not of government, and the revival of nursing as a profession was, once again, the result of Christian commitment to the sick and needy.

 ‘It is ironic, indeed, that nurses cannot now pray at work, under threat of dismissal, when their ward duties often began with prayer right up to the middle years of the twentieth century. 

‘So many of the precious freedoms that we value today, the fair treatment of workers and the care of those in need, arise from values given to us by the Judaeo-Christian tradition. 

‘I am glad that the Minister is setting out to remove our collective amnesia—and to enable us to see our history as a connected whole.  This will also have to mean the rediscovery of our spiritual and moral identity.

‘The question now, of course, with parliamentary reform hovering in the wings, is how the Judaeo-Christian tradition can continue to be called on, especially when proposed legislation raises important moral issues for the individual and for society.’

Bishop Michael Nazir Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester, is the President of Oxtrad – the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy and Dialogue. Oxtrad promotes freedom of belief in many parts of the world.

His article: ‘Will Michael Gove heal our collective amnesia?’ appears in the latest edition of Standpoint Magazine, out on October 25. That article can be read here.

For further information, please contact Bishop Michael’s press secretary, Andrew Boyd, on 01903 741184 or 07919 311993