UNCRC Ignores Children As It Promotes Adult Agendas
The Latest Consultation should be a warning for us all
Last night I met with some Mums to discuss the Scottish Government consultation “Schools - Religious Observance and religious and moral education”. I wrote about it previously here. Misleadingly, it seems like a straightforward ask. Yay to children’s voices being heard! Who wouldn’t want that?
It might lead you to think it’s not a big deal.
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For the purpose of this consultation I am focusing on the biblically/theologically wrong aspects of it, as it is specifically addressed at religious education and the interface between the state and parents.
My initial thought was “this is a direct assault on families”! I am not wrong about that. Even Pope Benedict (previous Pope to Francis) wrote a Papal Encyclical saying essentially the same thing.
"The Holy See, in conformity with the dispositions of Article 51, accedes to the Convention on the Rights of the Child with the following reservations: ....(b) that it interprets the Articles of the Convention in a way that safeguards the primary and inalienable rights of parents, in particular insofar as these rights concern education (Articles 13 and 28) religion (Article 14) association with others (Article 15) and privacy (Article 16)."
The adoption of these rights in Scotland is a dramatic sea change in how ‘rights’ are thought about…. and enforced. In the words of Catholic lawyer Charles Francis on this change: “Most Americans do not believe that individual rights originate with the government, but rather that they are inalienable rights coming from their Creator, and may not be impaired without due process of law.”
Whilst he speaks from an American position, the standpoint remains the same.
I do not know how Catholic schools can continue to call themselves ‘Catholic’ in the adoption of these principles. In my opinion it undermines the very ground source of Catholic faith and education.
The new UNCRC state mechanism will seek to mediate every element of our children’s lives into commodifiable and measurable bits. And not just any bits, but bits *THEY THE STATE* determine. This is worrying in and of itself. But what occurred to me last night is how much the UNCRC - ironically - ignores children. I am not speaking of the more egregious things the UNCRC addresses such as child trafficking and exploitation (for example, although I would be curious how effective REALLY this treaty is even in that context) but about the mind numbing bureaucracy that is coming for our children that actually seems counter to good care of children.
And again from a Catholic standpoint this is wrong. The Bible makes no bones about the parent’s responsibility to care for their children. In that way it doesn’t equalise them. Parents are there to care for and nurture children in the same way a gardener tends tiny shoots to grow into strong trees. ‘Honour thy father and mother’ was no incidental, off the cuff add on to the commandments. This is also not so a parent can do what *they* will to any end, but in order to establish the mechanism within which children will grow and thrive. Because just as children are taught to honour their parents, parents are also given guidance on what raising children means.
Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged. -Colossians 3:21
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it- Proverbs 22:6,
Then you have the Biblical story of The Prodigal Son which speaks to the frame of good fathers. And the story of Joseph whom I have written about before.
The Bible and Catholic teachings are quite clear that children are…. children.
Yet, from where I am sitting I see no mechanism, no indication, no awareness from the writers of said consultation that they have actually ever met a child.
FOR EXAMPLE:
Last week I got a text from my son’s school notifying us that they were going to move the after school rugby club to the adjoining school as no child had put themselves forward to participate. It was the first time I had heard such a thing was being offered. (and you KNOW how I bang on the drum about more activities needed for kids). I was confused why he didn’t get the letter through because it is *precisely* the kind of thing my son would enjoy.
But here’s what happens in Scottish schools these days:
Teacher stands in front of classroom of 20 primary school children holding a letter up in demonstration.
Teacher: Who would like to sign up for the rugby club?
Children look furtively about, no one dares to say anything. Maybe wee Jimmy says something like….
Jimmy: I hate rugby!
(Jimmy’s older brother is a tank and plays on the rugby at his secondary school, Jimmy associates rugby with getting tackled by said brother)
Or the teacher presents it with no enthusiasm, or even a bit of dislike, or s/he having a bad day so is almost incidental in presentation.
As a result no child raises his/her hand. A mix of ‘peer pressure’ plus lack of adult guidance (as that would be going against child voice BIGOT) means no child steps forward. No child gets opportunity for said sport/science/art and parents (often) are none the wiser. (I have heard of similar situations in regards to Stem workshops, Art, Drama and Running workshops to name a few)
But that’s kids isn’t it? When my son comes home I ask him why he didn’t sign up and he shrugs. You see sometimes my son - being a child - needs some ‘parental encouragement’ to try new things. Lots (most) kids are like that.
So we talked and now he’s doing the rugby club. And he likes it. And even if he didn’t, he can try it for four weeks and say he gave it a go. THIS is the problem with all these child voice agendas. Some kids would eat jelly babies all the day long if we gave them ‘a choice’ with their food. Good parenting means keeping an eye out on the longer game, the bigger picture. That’s our job.
But this UNCRC crap (and it absolutely is) doesn’t seem to acknowledge that childhood even exists. Taking this consultation as an example it makes the assumption (by its existence) that parents are doing a bad job - in the management, guidance and nurturement of their children - as children.
And through this assumption (that somehow children are being ‘forced’ to ‘do religion’ ‘against their will’) it introduces mechanisms that are counter to child development and child health. It gives the state priority in establishing the bandwidth of allowability in our children’s lives.
I cannot help but think this project (not unlike RSHP) is a very adult approach to what children need and how they grow. What if a child doesn’t want to reveal to the UNCRC agent how they feel about said ‘issue’, what if they want to maintain their own privacy? What if they don’t want their data recorded? How is data being collected and managed? Do children have a right of refusal? What if they haven’t developed (understandably) any deep or concrete thought on said issues? What happens if there are dominant voices in the classroom (as with the rugby club) that drown out any alternative possibilities? What if the teacher leading said ‘consultation’ exercise has a pre-existing bias?
As
commented (in response to my podcast with Ewan Morrison) “The revealing factor in 'choice' under consumer-communism is that the range of possible choices is pre-ordained. Can I have free money from the government to become a scuba diver in the Maldives? No. Can I have the exact same amount of money to make a film that no-one will watch, imparting correct moral attitudes regarding non-binary polyamorous kilt-weavers? Yes, if I have the correct protected characteristics. This turbo-charged with the National Lottery putting prole money to use under the watchful eye of arts commissars.”It’s not really choice because - as the consultation indicates the game is rigged, the choices are curated and all roads lead to exactly where the state wants you to go.
And in that vein ‘religion’ is presented superficially - like a jacket one chooses to wear. Like food nutrition, good moral nutrition sets children up for life- and that (more often than not) comes from the family and often that includes religion. It’s not up to the state to mediate this.
Please take time to respond to the consulation- deadline is this Sunday 26 January 2025. I find the questions themselves leading, as they make the assumption you have accepted this invasive data mine of our children. You could evade the questions themselves and just send your comments to the email indicated: ROandRME@gov.scot
Even if you just state, this is surplus to requirement, children’s needs are met by families already, there is no need for bureaucratic mechanism it is enough. This interrogation of our children’s lives will not stop here.
IN OTHER NEWS…
Whilst we have been corralled into conversations about Elon was it/wasn’t it a nazi salute the veritable sh** it going down. I was mentioning to a friend that I think it’s important to interrogate the new policies coming into the fore in the states regardless of where you sit politically but the sheer LUNACY of focus leads me to arrive at the conclusion (and I am only partly joking) that a significant amount of the population has been hypnotised. Is it that mass psychosis that
raised during the covid years?In ANY case- I am going to write more at length on these things shortly but for a HEADS UP…
The Assisted Suicide Bill is currently being ‘debated’ (I use that term SO loosely) in UK parliament. Not one disability organisation, elder abuse charity, domestic abuse charity or the British Geriatrics society is represented in the witness list. Nor from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. They put forth a motion to sit without public scrutiny. The game is rigged. A bad day for Britain. I have written about this here. As a reminder Canada started with far more protections than we are even suggesting now. And within six months it was expanded- now CHILDREN (if deemed sufficiently mature, and remember we have the consent principle and the mediation of UNCRC in our children’s lives) can sign up for medically assisted suicide. This is NOT a door we want to open. Please write to you MP and tell them this is not acceptable.
Southport stabbing perpetrator Axel Rudakubana was sentenced to custody for life with a minimum term of 52 years less time on remand after he was convicted of 16 offences including the murder of three young girls, the attempted murder of 10 other people including 8 children, as well as the production of ricin and possession of an Al-Qaeda training manual. In response to the brutal murder does the UK government look at the failings of the state system? Between 2019-2022 Rudakubana was referred to numerous mental health agencies for ‘challenging behaviour’, he was also referred by officers to the Vulnerable Child Referrals to the MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub), he was caught with a knife in school, he physically assaulted a child with a hockey stick, he was referred to Prevent THREE times. There were plenty of warnings so WHY did the state invention NOT work? That’s what I want to know. But what is our PM Keir Starmer focusing on? His amazon purchase of the blade used on the day of the attack. To that end he is putting forth more legislation to mediate our online activity. Call me a conspiracy theorist but this seems a blatant ploy to further control and monitor the populace as we march towards digital id and social credit systems.
Crazy crazy times. My advice? Write to your MP and then (in the words of a good friend) ‘touch grass’. In the context of life’s and the world’s challenges this *is* a blip. Remember what grows.
Thanks to my current subscribers. January output been a bit slow as I get my ducks in a row for increased output in coming months. That said I have been very busy on the ground with various shenanigans taking place in Scotland… more on that later… Any contributions welcome!
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Thanks for the quote :-) It is the position of queer theory that childhood is a social construct, as is the family, with both in need of disruption, they say.
There are a LOT of questions to be answered about the Southport stabbing and no sign of anyone in power asking them -- which makes me wonder if they're actively hiding things from us (again). The ruling elite seems to have given up ruling and is just engaged in permanent damage limitation. I wrote some more about this here https://danielgsaunders.substack.com/p/notes-from-last-week