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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Religious freedoms are being destroyed | Religious freedoms are being destroyed |
| (5 months later) | |
| Masuma Rahim (Faith should not stop pupils learning about LGBT rights, 5 February) refers to the warning I issued earlier this year that Torah Orthodox Jews would leave the UK if faith schools were forced to teach children about same-sex relationships and gender reassignment. | Masuma Rahim (Faith should not stop pupils learning about LGBT rights, 5 February) refers to the warning I issued earlier this year that Torah Orthodox Jews would leave the UK if faith schools were forced to teach children about same-sex relationships and gender reassignment. |
| Acting on my behalf, on 31 December the law firm Stone King wrote to the education secretary, Damian Hinds, and the school standards minister, Nick Gibb, setting out the basis on which legal action might be commenced in defence of religious freedoms as set out in the European convention on human rights, more especially article 2 of protocol No 1 of that convention, which protects the right of parents to have their children educated in conformity with their religious beliefs and philosophical convictions. | Acting on my behalf, on 31 December the law firm Stone King wrote to the education secretary, Damian Hinds, and the school standards minister, Nick Gibb, setting out the basis on which legal action might be commenced in defence of religious freedoms as set out in the European convention on human rights, more especially article 2 of protocol No 1 of that convention, which protects the right of parents to have their children educated in conformity with their religious beliefs and philosophical convictions. |
| The letter also suggested that in expecting all schools to teach positive respect for alternative lifestyles, and in penalising those that do not, the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) may in fact be acting illegally. | The letter also suggested that in expecting all schools to teach positive respect for alternative lifestyles, and in penalising those that do not, the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) may in fact be acting illegally. |
| My co-religionists and I are of course aware of statements made by a variety of secularist lobbies, more specifically by the National Secular Society and Humanists UK. The NSS has in particular accused me of “weaponised unreasonableness”, while Humanists UK confessed that it found my initiative “worrying”. | My co-religionists and I are of course aware of statements made by a variety of secularist lobbies, more specifically by the National Secular Society and Humanists UK. The NSS has in particular accused me of “weaponised unreasonableness”, while Humanists UK confessed that it found my initiative “worrying”. |
| But what I find worrying is that these lobbies and their collaborators apparently see fit to dismiss basic religious freedoms in this country, and what I find unreasonable is that the rights of parents should be set aside in such a cavalier manner. | But what I find worrying is that these lobbies and their collaborators apparently see fit to dismiss basic religious freedoms in this country, and what I find unreasonable is that the rights of parents should be set aside in such a cavalier manner. |
| Religious liberties have been hard-won. I hope it is clear that my friends and I have no intention of standing idly by while they are cynically destroyed.Shraga SternLondon | Religious liberties have been hard-won. I hope it is clear that my friends and I have no intention of standing idly by while they are cynically destroyed.Shraga SternLondon |
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| Judaism | Judaism |
| LGBT rights | LGBT rights |
| Relationships and sex education | |
| Schools | Schools |
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