World News and Trends: Christian education on the wane in Britain

Aug 1, 2010
2 minutes read time

A lead editorial in The Sunday Telegraph summed up the sad state of Christian education in the United Kingdom today.

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A lead editorial in The Sunday Telegraph summed up the sad state of Christian education in the United Kingdom today, betraying a rich historic legacy: "The Christian religion is the foundation of most of Britain's culture and traditions. The history of our nation is incomprehensible without some knowledge of it. And yet . . . the rudiments of Christianity are frequently poorly taught—if, indeed, they are taught at all. A report by Ofsted [the education watchdog] has found that, although nominally required by the national curriculum, in many schools instruction is 'superficial,' and is treated less seriously than the study of other religions" ("the Foundation of Our Culture," June 6, 2010, emphasis added throughout). This is particularly true in secondary schools. In the same issue of The Sunday Telegraph, education correspondent Julie Henry wrote in a separate feature article, "In non-faith state schools, Christian assemblies are being dropped in favour of multi-faith worship, despite a legal requirement for Christian collective worship, and children are no longer taught the Lord's Prayer" ("Schools Failing to Teach Children the Core Beliefs of Christianity, Says Ofsted" June 6, 2010). She rightly advises that "getting to grips with the key teachings of Jesus Christ and other core elements of Christianity are building blocks that will help our young people analyse and interpret the society they are growing up in." The lead editorial previously quoted also said: "There is, as Ofsted euphemistically puts it, 'uncertainty' about what the teachings of Christianity should involve." This is the crux of the problem. Even traditional Christianity has missed out on truly understanding the basic teachings of Christ given in the four Gospel accounts and fleshed out in the rest of the New Testament, all solidly based on the fundamentals of the Old Testament (see 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21). The largely unrecognized apostasy from the true faith is explained in our free booklet The Church Jesus Built, which you can request or download from our Web site. (Source: The Telegraph [London].)
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Jerold Aust

Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.  

Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978).  Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps.  Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!

John Ross Schroeder

John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.

Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.

John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.

In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.

John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.