It is entirely sensible that ministers have ruled out a ban on teachers being members of the BNP
George Pitcher over at the Telegraph shares his thoughts on the news that Ministers have ruled out banning teachers who are members of he BNP.
The BNP are predictably eminently jubilant with this news and have said:
The Maurice Smith review ruling that teachers may be members of the British National Party means that democracy has “just survived another leftist totalitarian onslaught on our basic freedoms,” said Nick Griffin MEP.
“This is a commonsense decision, as classrooms should be places of learning and not far left indoctrination centres,” Mr Griffin said.
George Pitcher also takes a positive stance on this news:
It is entirely sensible that ministers have ruled out a ban on teachers being members of the BNP. I’ve always been embarrassed that the Church of England’s Synod voted to prevent its clergy joining Nick Griffin’s party. There is, apparently, one retired clergyman somewhere who’s a member and the action seemed out of all proportion. Let the BNP argue its case and we can see how ridiculous it is. And, like it or not, it’s a legally constituted political party.
I concur.
No matter what your view on the BNP, they are, whether we like it or not, a legal political entity in the UK and for ministers to have prescribed a ban on teachers being members of the BNP, would have been a profoundly dangerous move and an overt assault on our democracy and liberties.
Notice George Pitcher also mentions this:
I’ve always been embarrassed that the Church of England’s Synod voted to prevent its clergy joining Nick Griffin’s party.
Again, I concur. It is fruitless and counter-productive to simply impose “bans” on folks joining a specific political party and allows parties such as the BNP to portray themselves as persecuted at the hands of powerful and ruthless aggressors.
Leaders in the church have to learn to articulate a persuasive and factual case as to why they believe Christian folk should not align themselves with the BNP.
I have often posted on the BNP in order to counter their claims to represent British Christianity, and you can find my recent post on this below:
Why there’s Nothing British about the BNP’s (British National Party) “Christian values”
The Spitoon have just posted on this one and make some salient points:
March 12th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
The relevant authorities who have allowed school teachers to vote for a political party such as the BNP are a contrast, indeed, to The Church Of England which has banned its clergy from being members of the same. right wing party
We are supposed to be living in a democracy and not a dictatorship!Freedom of choice, freedom of expression and freedom to vote, are all factors which Britain once fought for, and largely led the world in.
Very sadly, such privileges are being stealthily taken from us both via this present secular government, and a state church swayed by and largely supportive of the same secularist regime!
It was a wise person who uttered words similar to these: ‘I may not agree in any way with your views and policies but – by Jeeves! – I’ll fight to high heaven for your right to express them!’
‘Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones’; and those politicians in the three ‘major’ parties who delight in making swipes at ‘numerically’ lesser ones, need to be more than mindful of this.