Booklet issues warning about 'Christian values'

Booklet issues warning
about 'Christian values'
Also says sex ed should teach
kids 'how to,' not 'whether to'

Education ministers in the United Kingdom evaluating sex education programs have produced a new booklet for school children that warns Christian values should not be taught in schools, and sex education classes should teach only "how to," not "whether to."

Now it's coming under criticism from those who say the material borders on propaganda and is completely inappropriate for schools to provide, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

One such comment came from Norman Wells, the chief of Family and Youth Concern. He told the newspaper the booklet is being used to manipulate impressionable youngsters.

"It's verging on brainwashing," he said. "The forum is committed to promoting the view that there are no rights and wrongs when it comes to sexual relationships.

"The authors of this … are clearly aiming to steer children away from a belief in moral absolutes and encouraging them to think everything is relative," he said. "The only truly safe and healthy choice is to follow a clear moral code that keeps sexual intimacy within the context of a faithful and lifelong marriage."

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Providing such material to children, he said, is a "serious abdication of adult responsibility."

The material includes a class exercise that is supposed to discover children's views. It includes a series of moral statements about marriage, sex and homosexuality and children are supposed to respond with "agree," "disagree" and "unsure."

But while the students are supposed to respond with their own answers, the material includes the "correct" answers so that teachers can tell children they are wrong if they happen to choose a moral, traditional viewpoint.

"These answers should be read aloud to pupils after they have finished the exercise," according to the report.

The statements, and their answers, include:

* Homosexuality can be discussed as part of school lessons. AGREE.
* You don't have to be married to have a strong and supportive relationship. AGREE
* Schools should only teach Christian values. DISAGREE.
* Schools should tell young people not to have sex. DISAGREE.

Students' answers will be fed back to be included in a national review of sex education, officials said.

The documentation also suggests teachers talk to children about homosexuality.

The campaign is being financed by the Department for Children, Schools and Families' teenage pregnancy unit. It was developed by the Sex Education Forum, which includes dozens of different groups and is run by the state-funded National Children's Bureau.

Both sides of the argument appeared on the newspaper's forum:

"If children are taught how to think, they won't need strict moral codes that only serve to make their lives miserable," said Lara, from London.

But Sid, for Cornwall, has a different perspective.

"These children don't need moral values in today's society, do they? After all we can see just how well adjusted young people are these days. It's not as if there are thousands of teenage pregnancies, drug and alcohol problems, senseless violence or teen suicides all over the news. Are there?" he wrote.