The UK’s venerable children’s charity Barnardo’s is in hot water over a guidance it published online (sorry, this might be behind a paywall) telling parents and others caring for children to teach them about “white privilege.”

A group of conservative MPs has complained to the charity itself as well as to the Charity Commission about this “move into political activism.” Earlier, the Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch had told MPs that teaching children about “white privilege and their inherited racial guilt” could be breaking the law.

A Barnardo’s spokesman denied that the charity is promoting critical race theory and said,

“… we certainly don’t believe Britain is racist or that anyone should feel guilt about being from a particular background. We do know that in our country in 2020 being non-white creates particular and additional needs – indeed the blog itself was written based on what children in our services told us they wanted to convey. To be ‘colour blind’ would be to fundamentally fail in our duty to address the needs of these children.”

So, what to make of this? Here is my take on it:

If you are not promoting a particular theory or political ideology you should not be using its buzzwords.

Apart from being closely associated with critical race theory, the term “white privilege” is misleading and sends the discussion about racial inequality in the wrong direction.

A privilege, as opposed to a right or entitlement, has the connotation of an unearned benefit. If having adequate housing, a job, and generally feeling safe are described as “white privilege,” the implication is that you are not entitled to these things, and that therefore the solution would be to take them away from you in order to create equality.

Other things that are described as aspects of “white privilege”, such as the preponderance of white teachers, white police officers, judges, and jurors, are, in a country like the UK which is still predominantly white, not at all related to being white or black; if you go to, say, Nigeria or Zimbabwe, even as a white person you are unlikely to encounter white teachers, police officers, judges, and jurors. Also, our energy should be turned towards encouraging everyone not to commit crimes in the first place rather than worrying about the ethnicity of the police officers when a crime has been committed.

And when Barnardo’s writes that it is “white privilege” to have a managerial job, it ignores the fact that only a small percentage of all working people, regardless of ethnicity, have managerial jobs.

In reality, equality is fostered when we work to ensure that minorities of every kind enjoy adequate housing, a job with a living wage, and a safe environment — for these are not (or should not be) privileges, but human rights.

I agree with the Barnardo’s spokesman when he says,

“We believe those who nurture the next generation of children should be supported in understanding racial inequality in all its complexity, so that they in turn can find appropriate ways of discussing this with children – much in the same way other big parenting conversations happen already. In a year of so much upheaval and debate about race,  shying away from the subject doesn’t mend division.”

I agree we ought not to shy away from the subject of racial inequality. But rather than appropriating a term so closely linked to a controversial academic and political theory, with all its misleading connotations, it would be far better to frame the discussion in terms of extending the human rights many people enjoy to those who, for whatever reason, are currently denied them.

Ich gebe zu, ich habe bei der letzten Nationalratswahl die ÖVP gewählt, obwohl ich mit der Haltung von (damals ex-)Bundeskanzler Kurz in der Flüchtlingsfrage gar nicht einverstanden bin und ich als fast gebürtiger¹ Christlich-Sozialer insgesamt von der türkisen “Neuen ÖVP” schwer enttäuscht bin. Aber ich habe mir vor der Wahl alle möglichen Koalitions-Konstellationen angesehen, und die türkis-grüne Variante schien mir am wahrscheinlichsten und auch, von meinen Werten her, am wenigsten problematisch. Dies nur, um klar zu machen, daß ich wahrlich kein Kurz-Fan bin.

Was jedoch die Kritik an Kurz’ Aussagen zu von Reise-Rückkehrern eingeschleppten Infektionen angeht, finde ich die Kritik überzogen und unfair. Es ist unsinnig, jede Aussage unter dem Aspekt der Identitätspolitik² zu betrachten, d. h. mit der Frage, welcher unterdrückten oder diskriminierten Minderheit der Seitenhieb wohl gegolten hat. 

Ich habe jetzt keinen Zugriff auf die Statistiken, aber daß Infektionen vor allem von Reise-Rückkehrern eingeschleppt werden, die auf Familien-, Verwandten-, oder auch Freundesbesuch waren, und weniger von solchen, die einfach einen Badeurlaub mit Unterbringung in einem Hotel oder auf einem Campingplatz verbracht haben, ergibt sich aus der Dynamik von Besuchen bei Menschen, die man gut kennt und schätzt und wahrscheinlich schon lange nicht mehr gesehen hat. Man wird einfach viel mehr Zeit mit diesen Menschen verbringen, in weniger distanzierten Verhältnissen, als mit wildfremden Leuten im Hotel oder auf dem Campingplatz. 

Vor dieser Tatsache die Augen zu verschließen, und die Aussagen des Bundeskanzlers auf die Herkunft oder den Migrationshintergrund der angesprochenen Reise-Rückkehrer zu beziehen, ist unlogisch und unsinnig. Politische Korrektheit ist, insgesamt gesehen, ein Irrweg.

Mir ist schon klar, daß die Opposition fast nicht anders kann, als an jeder Aussage von Kurz und anderen Regierungsmitgliedern etwas auszusetzen; vom Koalitionspartner hätte ich mir besseres erwartet, und vor allem von Vizekanzler Kogler, der mir immer sehr vernünftig und pragmatisch erschienen ist. Aber die Grünen sind eine Alternativpartei, mit “Wokeness“³ in ihren Genen, und das zählt scheinbar mehr als Vernunft.

On Ian Paul‘s blog “Psephizo“, Dr Julie Maxwell writes:

You may have seen the recent media coverage of the Judicial review brought by Keira Bell and Susan Evans against the Tavistock and perhaps you wonder what on earth this is all about. This was a landmark judgement that will have world wide repercussions as well as implications for churches and society in general.

Read the full article here.

Dr Maxwell is a part-time Community Paediatrician and who also works for Lovewise, a Christian charity which provides relationships and sex education from a Christian perspective, one day a week. She is married and has three children, and is involved in leading youth work at her local church. Her personal and professional experience led her to became increasingly interested and concerned at the rapid growth in the numbers of children and young people presenting with gender identity issues and the way this was being managed.

Normally, I don’t give a hoot for what goes on at places like Eton College, the venerable English publicA public school in England and Wales is a fee-charging endowed school originally for older boys which was public in the sense of being open to pupils irrespective of locality, denomination or paternal trade or profession. What other countries call a public school is called a state school in England and Wales. (i.e. private) school, but there is currently a controversy involving Eton which to me illustrates how perverse our society has become. (more…)

To many of our worship songs today appeal primarily to our emotions, and while that is not bad, it is not enough: it will not sustain us when our emotions change, as they inevitably will in the course of every day life.

So many songs articulate primarily how we feel about God and what we will do for Him. That’s nice but we need songs that articulate the truths of God’s holiness, our own sinfulness and need, of His love for all of us and His merciful and compassionate provision for our need, and of His might and power and ultimate victory.

Video: Orchester der Gemeinde Gottes, Eppingen  / Orchestra of the Church of God in Eppingen, Germany

German firm Bertelsmann, the world’s largest book publisher (parent company of Penguin Random House), has successfully bid to buy Simon & Schuster publishing house from ViacomCBS. This will make Penguin Random House (PRH) more than twice the size of its nearest competitor, Harper Collins. (more…)

At the beginning of this year’s Advent season here is a classic Advent hymn, performed by musicians from Sovereign Grace Music. Somehow these classic hymns appeal to me more than most contemporary worship choruses.

Zu Beginn dieser Adventzeit gibt es hier ein klassisches Adventlied, aufgeführt von Musikern von Sovereign Grace Music. Irgendwie sprechen mich diese klassischen Kirchenlieder mehr an, als die meisten modernen Worship-Lieder.

Der englische Text ist von Sovereign Grace Music adaptiert, der deutsche Text ist der traditionelle Text, deshalb sind die Strophen leicht unterschiedlich.

The English lyrics have been slightly adapted by Sovereign Grace Music, while the German lyrics are the traditional version. Hence the slight differences.

(more…)