The life-size creature, which children can explore inside, has been beached on the same spot in the past as part of a pirate-themed attraction for children. Actors were being lined up to play Jonah and other characters as part of an ambitious drive by the Bible Society to help reintroduce a new generation of children to once familiar stories. It follows research showing that children are increasingly unable to identify Bible stories such as Noah’s Ark or Moses which were once a basic childhood staple.
The aim, the society insists, is not to promote any religious teaching but introduce children to some of the most dramatic stories previous generations would have known. But the plans were left in disarray earlier this week when the chief executive of the Potters Fields Park Management Trust, which runs the site, turned down the request explaining: “I am afraid that under the terms of our lease we are not allowed to have any events of a religious nature.”
James Catford, chief executive of the Bible Society, said: “We’re not here to tell children what to believe. We simply want to give them a really fun experience they will always remember. We thought that giving children the chance to sit in a large inflatable whale and have the story of Jonah read to them was a good place to start.” The society is looking for a new spot on which to beach the whale.
4 comments:
Well, they can do a Douglas Adams story instead. I'd have thought getting the whale in the first place was the hard bit, what you do with it afterwards should be easy!
They could also say they are reenacting Pinocchio.
Of course, no matter what they say, these people WERE planning using the whale to proselytize and to tell the kids a Bible story. They're being disingenuous when they claim that their intention is just to pass along an old story (or, as you say, they could read the story of Pinocchio.)
Now I am sure they have got it all wrong. Was it not Allah (kiss the ground 7 times a day to show me I am real) that rode a whale in that movie ?
I teach my kids The Hitchhikers Guide in place of a bible or a koran, it is far more believable.
Rest in peace, Douglas, and thanks for all the fish and the great stories.
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