Bristol becomes a Bible belt? Evangelical education follows government policy

Fascinating piece by David Modell, from a BBC Dispatches research, about the new "Bible Belt" of  faith schools .  In Bristol, he says
   "It's Tuesday morning and the infants' classroom in Carmel School is filled   with the sound of children's voices reciting a rhyme. "The Lord has not   dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our   iniquities." ....Melony, the teacher, goes on to explain: "Before Jesus came, people who   disobeyed God got turned to a pillar of salt. So thank God for Jesus because   we can say 'Jesus, I'm sorry' and we don't have to fear getting turned into   a pillar of salt, which really happened in the Old Testament."   
One little girl has to do a science test. A classroom assistant kneels next to   her, takes her hand and says: "We pray, Father, that you'll help her   check all her spellings. In Jesus's name, Amen."   This is a British faith school, publicly funded and with a good OFSTED. 

Comments

[Stephan]

What a terrifying abuse of children's credulity. Not to mention public money.

[Stuart Hartill]

You do wonder how it got a good OFSTED, unless priorities have changed.
I always thought learning by rote was the fastest way to get marked down in school inspections.
Look on the bright side though, any small child curious enough to find out what biblical words like 'iniquities' mean will soon move on to more interesting books and leave such 'teaching' far behind.

[alan]

An abuse of every child's right to information without indoctrination.

[Alistair]

Children as young as five being told categorically that you really did tun into a pillar of salt in the good old days if you were a sinner, because it says so in the OT?

And a SCIENCE paper that asks questions about the creation, with a correct answer in one case being that the world is only 6000 - 10000 years old?

A programme full of cranks and crackpots unleashing their bizzare beliefs on society and innocent children - and the Government approves.

This is a national disgrace.

[Derek Woods]

This was a most disturbing programme and it was hard to believe that such indoctrination is taking place in 'faith -based' schools in Bristol.
The teachers should be ashamed of themselves for conditioning the way that their pupils think about religion especially the Old Testament with all of its contradictions and unproven stories.