Jonathan Winch
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but no one is entitled to their own facts" - Patrick Moynahan
Jonathan Winch, Principal of Emmanuel College is definitely a hardline creationist. The short article by Matthew Taylor of the Guardian, Tuesday January 10, 2006, sums his position up:
And something else that is likely to stir the pot again and kick- start an old row is an article in the latest addition of Christian magazine
Cross Way by the headteacher at the Emmanuel College in Gateshead, which has long denied accusations that it teaches creationism to its pupils. Jonathan Winch wrote:
"Only with reference to a Creator can absolute truth, absolute values and absolute beauty be understood - and without these, education is ultimately absolutely pointless." Just in case anyone missed the point, he continued:
"the ferment in which education finds itself ... has risen slowly and terribly as the consequence of atheism which has only relatively recently been given intellectual credibility with the establishment of humanistic Darwinism as the prevailing paradigm."
Indeed, Winch’s position is even more extreme than this. The New Statesman (13th June 2005) has quoted him as saying that "Headteachers are responsible to God and the standards of the Bible. Nothing in the school should contradict the teachings of the Bible." (Meaning Winch’s personal interpretation of the bible and his religious opinions.)
It also adds the following quotes from him (BCSE comments afterwards):
"I don't have to respect everyone's opinion. I don't respect the opinion of people who believe it's fine to live with a partner." (But he gets paid to teach their children from their taxes.)
"Headteachers are responsible to God and the standards of the Bible. Nothing in the school should contradict the teachings of the Bible." (Read: All headteachers must apply Christian fundamentalist opinions.)
"Absolute Truth must stand outside of the human condition; it must be Truth and not merely opinion, it must be found by man rather than created by him." (Read: All truth is based on fundamentalist opinions.)
"At Emmanuel we teach that a safe and wholesome society demands an awe of God." (Let’s frighten the children with fundamentalist religion.)
