Basket cases

This week I went to my youngest son's school assembly. We had a letter sent to us from the school saying that the assembly was about ancient Egypt, the history topic for this half-term. It's been a fun time at home with Nick explaining irrigation to me and demonstrating his model of a shedoof in the bath. So I was all set for a what I thought would be an enlightening assembly. After all, it's a fine school that scored excellents across the board in its recent inspection. Really, I admire the headteacher and his staff enormously. They've done wonders with both of my boys.

So it was something of a surprise when the assembly began with an interesting presentation of social hierarchy in Egypt, and then the other 80% of the assembly was devoted to the tale of Moses. My heart sank. Yet another fine educational opportunity hijacked by religion. Leaving aside the dubious veracity of the biblical story, the entire relgious heritage of the Egyptians was simply ignored, after weeks of hard work on this subject in the classroom. The assembly ended with a rousing rendition of 'Jesus is the water of life'. Excuse me, but the link to irrigation is pretty tenuous there.

I am getting quite sick of the religious elements bleating that religion is somehow being suppressed in society. No doubt, the same elements who inisist on burkas at school and who protest outside theatres showing Jerry Springer the Opera. How the hell would my local church feel if a bunch of atheists picketed outside and protested that this offended against their beliefs? Then again, perhaps that's exactly what the athesists should do. Just to ensure balance you understand...