On Friday, 9 October, I was invited by Ivan Grech Mintoff to be a guest on his programme Exodus on F-Living. He wanted to discuss the current government’s policy on sexual education. It resulted very clearly that the Ministry of Education is hijacked by a group of individuals, all sharing the same sexual ideology, if not also orientation, and want to impose their own views of sexuality on the rest of the nation.
Amongst other things, this group wants to promote - through a sponsored publication from an abortion lobbyist in the USA – their own values of sexuality, including that of masturbation among young children, and that such teaching should start at kindergarten level. Perhaps, this may appear an exaggerated and far-fetched proposal. However, it is not. Grech Mintoff presented proof, during his programme. The debate rippled amongst teachers and parents, and continued on the Facebook page of the Minister himself. A person posted online and stated that, at a particular kindergarten school abroad, a cake was made in the form of a penis and another in the form of a vagina. This was part of a pedagogical process. Obviously, the young kids were given a piece of these to eat in an educational experiment to teach our young children not to be afraid of sex. It seems that there are individuals within the Education Ministry who fantasize about this sort of pedagogy for our kindergartens. For many of us, this type of penis-cake is more fitting for a bachelor’s or a hen’s party than to a school environment.
Let us stop for a moment and change the scenario. Imagine that instead of a classroom, this penis-shaped cake was baked in a religious orphanage and the cook was a priest or a friar. What would the media’s reaction be? No doubt the priest would be dragged into court accused of being a paedophile. But if the same experiment is carried out by other secular individuals, then the approach changes and the same persons who are pushing forward a campaign against religion in Malta, would start dubbing all this as an indispensable educational project worth supporting and investing in!
This singular approach explains why the liberal arts worldwide have fallen into the trap of relativism. I expect that the same situation will be developing here in Malta where we have been promoting this cult of relativism.
It is not the action that is being condemned but the person behind the action. If the person is a secular, a Liberal or a Leftist, then his or her action is considered right, correct and legitimate. If the same sexual action is done by someone who is religious and Conservative then that action is defined as wrong and condemnable. This sort of approach, full of double standards, is isolating the same liberal persons who are promoting such type of projects. In the case of Malta, this has led the Educational Ministry into the hole, overshadowing a lot of good work that is being done in the vocational sector.
Despite the fact that Grech Mintoff’s programme Exodus is aired at the same time of Malta’s most popular programme Xarabank, it still had an audience and the programme received over 800 sms. Despite his limited resources, Grech Mintoff is succeeding in exerting pressure on the Government and forcing it to change direction. The Minister himself will be on the programme on Friday to discuss and explain his position about these types of sexual projects.
Until recently, it was thought that conservatism in Malta, in the form of organized religion or politics, had fallen into the trap of isolation. The Conservatives within the Nationalist Party started to call themselves Liberals, in an attempt to make themselves relevant in society. Labour too started to see itself as Liberal, abandoning, in the process, its social democratic values. Labour seems to be realizing that it has been following the wrong path distancing it from its own congregation. The situation may be a little bit different in the PN. I don’t think that the PN is really sure which path to take.
After the fall of Communism, most of those who in the West searched for social justice started to give more importance to the spirtual dimension in their lives. This is why the PN needs to start researching the history of its roots, not the ones fabricated, to give a false impression that it is a Liberal Party, but the truth behind the concepts of Religio et Patria.
There is an affinity between Communism and Liberalism. They share a language lacking in moral discourse. Liberalism is repeating the same mistake of Communism where religion and spirituality is concerned. Till now, all efforts to replace the moral discourse of religion with a new dialogue about ethics has abysmally failed. Without the component of spirituality, all moral discourse is destined to collapse like a packet of cards. Certainly, the sexual ethics that one particular lobby is striving to impose in Malta has met with strong resistance from the rank and file of Labour.
Communists and Liberal atheists share one common element and goal; the creed of negation. This Government too started to embrace this philosophy but is starting to realize that politically the creed of negation does not work. People want to have a positive outlook on life. This was Labour’s message before the election. Despite all that is said about established religions, throughout their history, they strived to offer to their followers a positive outlook on life. This explains why they have survived over centuries.
Despite the support that Evarist Bartolo and the Gay Movement received to introduce these types of books from gay activitists and humanists, the stampede on the Ministry was so strong that the Ministry had to go Canossa, and stop the distribution of these books on gay and lesbian sexuality and abandon, temporarily at least, all sorts of bizarre projects. I am sure that even avowedly secular parents have opposed this distribution of such books. Those in Malta, who fancy the introduction of penis-shaped cakes to be eaten in our kindergarten classes, will have to shelve, at least temporarily, their plans.
This goes to prove that, once again, a one-person crusade can bring about a change in Government policies.