The Guardian - I grew up in a Christian school – and the religious discrimination bill must be scrapped to protect our children

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I grew up in a Christian school – and the religious discrimination bill must be scrapped to protect our children | Anthony Castle

Link [2022-02-10 11:53:15]

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An image hangs before a classroom of children. Stitched from primary colours, the mural depicts animals, two-by-two, leaving a wooden structure beneath the arc of a rainbow. It is a mural of the Biblical flood narrative, when judgment threatened creation but the holy few found safety within the ark. It is one of my earliest memories of school.

I have remembered this image recently, as my own son starts school. Growing up attending a Christian school, I came to see the ark as a metaphor for what religious environments can offer. Each school day, children lined up before wooden classrooms, one girl alongside one boy, and entered an environment where we felt included, and protected from the harm outside. I felt safe.