Bells may be tolling for religion in the classroom

IN 2005, a man wrote a letter to the Kansas State School Board. The Kansas Board were considering whether to allow the teaching of ‘Intelligent Design’ (the idea that the Universe has a ‘designer’ i.e. God) alongside the teaching of evolution.

Bobby Henderson argued to the board that if they were to teach one idea which competes with evolution — the one favoured by conservative, Bible-belt Christians — then they should teach them all. Henderson maintained that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster, that he was part of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (they have a website, they call themselves Pastafarians), and that his belief should also be taught to school kids. (He also provided an intriguing graph that showed a correlation between the rise of global warming and the demise of pirates; but that’s another story.)

Kansas decided to teach Intelligent Design without endorsing it, a fudge which attempted to keep both Christians and Scientists happy and only served to enrage both. Henderson’s imaginative interjection was ignored, and so too was the serious point behind it: that in a multi-faith society, where what binds people together should be the rule of law and a set of agreed societal ideals, to favour one religious belief over another is wrong. You either teach the creation theories of every religion, or none of them.

Of course proponents of Intelligent Design will argue that it is not a ‘Christian’ idea but a proper theory supported by hoards of leading scienticians.

This is as disingenuous as pretending that the Angelus, played out twice a day by RTE, is not an explicitly Roman Catholic feature of its programming.

Over the years, RTE has tried to make it less Catholic-y. Even when it began in 1950 (at the suggestion John Charles McQuaid), it opted to play just bells rather than the actual prayer, while the pictures that accompany it on television today have been drenched of virtually any religious context.

To the unversed, it looks as if a random selection of people have been startled by the sound of ringing. It could be a low-budget science fiction film (Revenge of the Bell Monsters! They ring, then they kill!). Or an advert for hearing aids.

There’s perhaps a slight sense of embarrassment in Montrose about still playing the bells twice a day, balanced by a reluctance to get involved in yet another controversy. After all, none of the other religions in Ireland seem offended by the practice — most of the complaints seem to come from atheists.

But aren’t atheists citizens as well? And this misses the larger point of asking why the national broadcaster still gives special prominence to one belief system over all the others. Why not broadcast the Muslim call to prayer?

Or some bloke telling you just before the Six One news that there is no god? Or Harry Potter or Spaghetti Monsters? Either all our beliefs are respected equally, or they are not.