Atheist Mum

I've always had a bee in my bonnet about religion and the assumption that if you're British and your religion isn't obvious then the default position is Christian. Until the recent upsurge in the debate over creationism and evolutionary biology, however, I really didn't think that literal interpretation of the bible was something I was ever going to have to get exercised about. It seems, though, that since ever greater numbers of Americans have started shouting about how some guy in the sky created the earth in six days a few thousand years ago and then sat back to survey at his handiwork, British nutjobs with the same beliefs have felt emboldened enough to start shouting about them here.

Thanks to New Labour's woeful education reforms, all it takes is £2million to build your very own city academy — the government will stump up the rest of the cash — and when you've built it, you can dictate what is taught there. So far four — rich — evangelical Christians have jumped at the chance, and there are now four schools in Britain where creationism is taught alongside evolutionary biology and given equal credence. What is it they say about America sneezing and Britain catching cold?

Then there are the individual faith schools — C of E, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, etc., — where, although they have recently been instructed by the government to let a few infidels in along with children from other faiths, the history of the earth is doubtless being taught with a slant peculiar to whichever faith is in the driving seat.

All this, of course, will come as no surprise for anyone with more than a passing interest in the issues involved. It certainly hasn't surprised me. What has surprised me lately, however, is my eight-year-old daughter coming home from her non-denominational primary school and telling me that they have been having Christian assemblies where Old Testament tales are being taught as truth. So far they have had Noah's Ark and Adam and Eve. And if I was alarmed by that news, I was astonished by the the response my daughter got to the question she asked after one of the assemblies had finished.

'Why did god forbid Adam and Eve from eating the apple?'

'Oh, I don't know. It's like when your mum or dad tells you not to do something, and you don't know why you'renot to do it, but you know that you shouldn't because if you do they'll get cross.'

Lame or what? Okay, so I can undestand the woman not wanting to get into the whole original sin thing with an eight-year-old, but she started it! Of course, having done a little research on the subject I find that her answer was probably quite consistent with the belief that god did it simply to test Adam and Eve's (blind) obedience, but why so coy about just saying it was a test of obedience?

My first instinct was to have my daughter exempted from these ridiculous assemblies, but having taught both my children that when faced with something that seems incredible, you should check it out, do it again, look for the simplest expanation, etc., as per the rules of science, I decided to hang fire on that. Instead, I have written to the head teacher, asking for an explanation.

I don't object to my children being exposed to information about all sorts of different religions and creeds — within the context of religious education lessons — or even to them being taught that the basic principles of christianity (love thy neighbour, etc.) form a good, basic moral framework for life. What upsets me is when Christianity, or being religious in general, is presented as the only moral framework for life, the implication being that unless you are religious, you cannot be a good person and lead a moral life.

Bearing in mind the fact that if I was asking for my faith to be represented he would be bending over backwards to accommodate me, I've asked him to let me know what arrangements he has made to tell the children in the school about living a good life with a secular worldview. I've even volunteered to find a speaker.

That was over a week ago and so far, I've had no reply. Watch this space.