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Pupils 'banned from watching solar eclipse' for cultural and religious reasons
ITV (UK) ^ | 20th March 2015 | Simon Harris

Posted on 03/20/2015 3:38:31 PM PDT by naturalman1975

A headmaster has admitted primary school children were banned from watching the eclipse for 'cultural and religious' reasons.

Council officials demanded an explanation from the head of the school in a multi-cultural suburb of west London.

Phil Belman, the father of a seven-year-old girl at North Primary School in Southall, rang the headteacher to express his anger.

(Excerpt) Read more at itv.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
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No explanation, of course, of which religion and culture might have objected.
1 posted on 03/20/2015 3:38:31 PM PDT by naturalman1975
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To: naturalman1975

Isn’t it dangerous to stare at the sun?


2 posted on 03/20/2015 3:43:07 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: naturalman1975
However, the overcast conditions in West London today meant they would not have been able to see it live in any case.

So that means it was global warming's fault anyway.

3 posted on 03/20/2015 3:43:14 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Darth Obama on 529 plans: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.)
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To: nickcarraway

It is, but there are ways you can safely observe. The article mentions the girl had made a ‘pinhole camera’ at school which is one of the safe ways.


4 posted on 03/20/2015 3:44:45 PM PDT by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: KarlInOhio

No doubt a Muzzie thing!


5 posted on 03/20/2015 3:45:08 PM PDT by Elpasser
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To: nickcarraway
Isn’t it dangerous to stare at the sun?

Do British student often just stare at the sun?

You can still look at it with welding glass, special eclipse glasses or a pinhole camera. Or even just look at the funny shadows leaves form during an eclipse.

The last time a 90% eclipse hit here it was great fun to watch it with the welder's helmet on.

6 posted on 03/20/2015 3:45:58 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Darth Obama on 529 plans: I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.)
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To: naturalman1975

druid worship not allowed at school


7 posted on 03/20/2015 3:47:26 PM PDT by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: Elpasser

I think it may actually be a Hindu thing - but isn’t that part of the problem? When people are so scared of mentioning which religion a particular issue is caused by for fear of causing offence, it’s really easy for people to come to the wrong conclusion and blame the wrong one.

That’s why complete honesty about these things is important.


8 posted on 03/20/2015 3:48:09 PM PDT by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: naturalman1975

What religion or culture objects to its members seeing a relatively common natural phenomenon? My natural guess is Islam but why?


9 posted on 03/20/2015 3:50:07 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: naturalman1975

It’s culturally inappropriate to look at Muslims.


10 posted on 03/20/2015 3:51:16 PM PDT by pallis
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To: JimSEA

I believe it’s some form of Hinduism in this case - some of their scriptures say that eclipses cut off the presence of the gods at the same time as they cut off the sunlight, and that a person who is exposed to an eclipse becomes ritually impure until they can perform certain cleansing rites.

And if that’s true, I have no problem with Hindu parents telling the school they don’t want their child to go outside and watch the eclipse. I’ll respect their beliefs. But banning every kid at the school is entirely different.


11 posted on 03/20/2015 3:52:48 PM PDT by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: naturalman1975; Cronos

“Pupils ‘banned from watching solar eclipse’ for cultural and religious reasons”

hmm, wonder what the Muslims (practicing ones at least) think of watching a lunar eclipse, or how they religiously interpret it.

“I think it may actually be a Hindu thing”

Interesting.. didn’t know that.


12 posted on 03/20/2015 3:55:59 PM PDT by odds
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To: nickcarraway

“There’s a mighty host in the sun”


13 posted on 03/20/2015 3:58:30 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: naturalman1975

Thanks. I guess the school doesn’t want the Hindu kids to feel bad or left out. Kind of like the ACLU position on prayer in the schools when the schools said they would not force children to participate in the day’s prayer. We all know how that turned out.


14 posted on 03/20/2015 4:00:49 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: KarlInOhio

Another way to view the sun effectively is to use binoculars. Hold them reversed, eyepiece towards the sun, and aim/focus onto a sheet of white paper. With the magnification, easy to make out the crescent of the eclipse. Makes it easy for a bunch of folks to view it with one pair of binocs, crowding around the paper. Bonus, you get two images.


15 posted on 03/20/2015 4:17:00 PM PDT by C210N (When people fear government there is tyranny; when government fears people there is liberty)
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To: naturalman1975
By the same logic, we can't eat bacon because Muslims can't.

Sorry, chief. They're just going to have to feel left out.

16 posted on 03/20/2015 4:19:31 PM PDT by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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To: pallis
It’s culturally inappropriate to look at Muslims.

Oh. That must be why they bag up their women...

17 posted on 03/20/2015 4:22:17 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: BenLurkin

Classy!


18 posted on 03/20/2015 4:26:14 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: nickcarraway

But Mama, that’s where the fun is!


19 posted on 03/20/2015 4:27:32 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: Teacher317

“By the same logic, we can’t eat bacon because Muslims can’t.”

Of course they can. Just stuff in their mouths and tell ‘em to chew! Are Muslims stupid or what?


20 posted on 03/20/2015 4:29:51 PM PDT by beelzepug (You can't fix a broken washing machine by washing more expensive clothes in it.)
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