Scotland: bishop defends public funding of Catholic schools
May 18, 2011
The Scottish Legal Action Group has called for an end to Scotland’s system of publicly-funded religious schools on the grounds that such schools foster sectarian violence--prompting a strong reply from Bishop Joseph Devine of Motherwell.
“The blunt truth is that sectarianism fuels the continuous attack on Catholic education in Scotland,” said Bishop Devine. “The real enemy of all religious people is secularism which breeds sectarianism and those who espouse it and propagate it are Christianity’s greatest foes.”
“I challenge these groups to produce the hard evidence to support their irresponsible claims or withdraw them,” he added. “Around 130,000 young people--just over 20% of the school population--are taught in 369 Catholic schools across Scotland. It would appear that the greater the achievements of [our] Catholic schools… the greater the hysteria grows for their abolition.”
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Further information:
- Schools face ‘bigoted’ attack (Scottish Catholic Observer)
- Law Must Counter Sectarianism (Scolag Legal Journal)
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Posted by: Obregon -
May. 19, 2011 12:34 AM ET USA
I don't think public funding of religious schools promote violence and religious sectarianism, yet, I don't believe in it because soon enough a government will be telling Catholic school officials what they can or can't do.
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Posted by: -
May. 18, 2011 2:02 PM ET USA
SLAG's crocodilian concern over "sectarian violence" seems to echo the MSM of the US who almost invariably refer to murderous attacks by Muslims against Christians as "sectarian strife", thereby implying that Christians are really to blame.
