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23
Jan 2024
Council’s religious education advisor criticised for ‘offensive’ comments about Christianity
A leading humanist from Harrogate who advises North Yorkshire Council on religious education has been criticised for using “offensive” language to describe Christianity and creationism.
The council’s Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) meets every few months to advise on matters related to worship and religious education in schools.
The committee includes councillors as well as representatives from all the major religions.
Professor John Adams, who is a regular at the meetings on behalf of Humanism, delivered a presentation about the faith at a meeting on September 19.
But his comments have caused a row after he described creation stories that are believed in Judaism, Christianity and Islam as “absurd” and said a passage in the Bible where God creates light a couple of days before making the sun was “a very neat trick”.
Cllr George Jabbour (Conservative, Helmsley & Sinnington), who was chairing the meeting as a substitute, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he was “horrified” by Prof Adams’ remarks which he called “offensive”.
During the same meeting, Cllr Robert Heseltine (Conservatives & Independents, Skipton South & East) had to leave early for unrelated reasons and said “God bless” before Prof Adams asked “which one?”.
Cllr Jabbour told Prof Adams that his remark to Cllr Heseltine was not respectful and requested that the exchange was noted in the minutes.
The National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education says committee members “should be committed to education and to respecting the views of others” as they have a responsibility to support children’s learning in religious education.
Cllr Jabbour added:
A spokesperson for Humanists UK said:
The LDRS understands that no formal complaint has been made to North Yorkshire Council regarding Prof Adams' comments at this stage.
The council sent a statement from Cllr Alyson Baker (Conservatives, Hillside & Raskelf) who is the usual chair of the SACRE meetings but was not present on September 19.
Cllr Baker said:
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