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Children's group threatened with closure over religous songs
Last updated at 23:52pm on 01.12.06A mother and toddlers' group has been threatened with closure unless it stops singing traditional Christian songs, it has been revealed.
Childcare officials have attacked the weekly sessions which feature sing-alongs with youngsters, claiming they are too religious and need to be more 'inclusive'.
The drop-in group has been warned it will lose its £7,000-a-year government grant which is distributed by Labour's Haringey Council in North London, unless it agrees to remain 'non-religious' in future.
It has been told to stop teaching children songs about 'loving Jesus', to consider dropping the word 'Christian' from its title and instead be more welcoming to gay families.
Organiser Gosia Shannon, who is married with a 13-year-old daughter, Ania, yesterday warned that the group could fold if it loses the vital funding.
She claims they are being unfairly penalised for simply wanting to reflect the religious beliefs of the families who turn up.
Mrs Shannon said: "It's ridiculous and it's unacceptable. I don't understand this political correctness.
"They're trying to impose their own policies on a community that has its own values. It's saying 'we can support the community without their values'.
"If we don't have the funds, I would have to stop running the group and people would have nowhere to go. But I am determined not to give up and will fight on."
Earlier this year, Mrs Shannon founded the Polish and Eastern European Christian Family Centre in Wood Green, North London, which runs the drop-in group for parents and children aged under five.
The sessions are so popular that the 250 families who regularly attend must take turns each week as only around 40 fit into the hall.
They allow Polish women who have recently arrived in the community to make friends with other mothers and learn about nurseries and schools in the area.
The children are provided with toys and enjoy 'circle' time when nursery rhymes such as 'Twinkle, twinkle little star' are sung alongside traditional Polish Christian songs including Our Jesus, We Love You.
Families also bring in CDs of Christian songs for the youngsters to sing each week. They are commonly sung in Poland which is predominantly a Roman Catholic country.
The meetings are funded by the government's Sure Start programme which is designed to support pre-school children and their families in deprived areas. The cash is handed out by Haringey Council.
But Debbie Biss, area manager for Haringey Sure Start programme's Noel Park Children's Centre, has written to the group complaining about the Christian songs.
The letter, dated December 1, says: "We expect all our services to be inclusive and without religious content, so I was concerned to learn that Gosia leads the singing of a song about loving Jesus in every session.
"I asked Gosia to leave this song out in future, but Gosia has refused to do so."
She warns that unless the group's committee agrees that activities in future will be 'strictly of a non-religious nature', she will recommend that funding is withdrawn from December 31.
The centre must also also be more inclusive towards gay families and change its constitution to reflect this.
It must agree to provide activities open to children and families and elderly East European people regardless of 'sexual orientation' as well as race, gender, culture, religion and disability.
Miss Biss also points out that the name of the group is problematic as it includes the word 'Christian' and 'implies that your activities are religious in nature' which could also affect future funding.
But Mrs Shannon, 37, who moved to England from Poland 15 years ago, said that families want to continue to sing Christian songs with their children.
She said: "We sing Christian and non-Christian songs.
"We are simply reflecting the culture of the people who attend. We want our children to be brought up in the Christian faith and to go to Catholic schools where they will sing Christian songs every day.
"We have Christian songs at home and families want their children to learn them. This is part of our inheritance and we want to be able to reflect our culture."
A Haringey Council spokesman last night said that the letter has now been withdrawn.
He added: "It was not appropriate for this officer to be writing such a letter linking funding with the issues mentioned in the letter.
"We have contacted this group asking them to disregard the letter and invited them to meet a senior officer to discuss the funding of their group."
Reader views (1)
This is yet again another example of how the present Governmant are wanting to do away with the Christian hertitage of the UK.
In their drive for political correctness, they are choosing a path that throws the baby out with the bath water. In the UK you have a choice as to what religion you want to follow and within those Faith groups the freedom to express and live out your faith. The parents of the children attending the group know what the group is about and have chosen to send their children there knowing full well about the doctrines the group upholds.
It appears Harringay Council are dictating as and when Christianity is allowed and are wanting to promote lifestyles that are contrary to what many others belive.
- Paul Want, Windermere, UK
