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Copyright 1995 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
Daily Mail
June 6, 1995
Sect bans its schoolchildren from 'satanic' computers
by Paul Riddell
PARENTS belonging to a religious sect have banned their children from using
computers at school because they believe they are cursed by the devil. They
believe new technology is somehow linked to the figures 666 - the so- called
devil's number - and have outlawed televisions, videos and even calculators for
maths classes.
The move, by the secretive presbyterian sect known as the Exclusive
Brethren, has emerged along a strip of Scotland's north-east coast dubbed the
Bible Belt.
Peterhead Academy and Oldmachar Academy in Aberdeen have both received
requests from parents not to let their children use hi-tech equipment. The
fanatics believe traditional forms of learning, such as book reading and direct
tuition, should be promoted more to keep computers at bay. But the request is
causing concern among teachers.
'When the families made the request to us we pointed out the effects this
might have on the children,' said George Milne, headmaster at Peterhead. 'The
pupils involved do not seem to have suffered as two of them have won prizes at
the school. They are very capable students. But I do believe the vast majority
of children would be disadvantaged were they to withdraw themselves from this
type of technology.'
Joseph Leiper, headmaster at Oldmachar Academy, said the sect's demands made
it difficult to teach the Scottish Curriculum. 'It does cause difficulties
because the new curriculum is so heavily oriented towards new technology,' he
said. 'But we just have to try to accommodate these peoples' views and work for
a sensible compromise.' According to Jim Towers, Grampian Regional Council's
deputy education chairman and councillor for the rural area around Peterhead,
the Brethren's objections stem from the Bible's book of Revelations, in which
the digits 666 are regarded as being associated with the devil. They have
somehow found a correlation between this and new technology. 'Now in these
people's minds, all computers and televisions, for some reason, are stamped with
these figures,' he said.
'We live in a democracy and it is very important to tolerate different
religious and political beliefs. But on the other side of the coin, it seems to
me wrong that children should be deprived of what is, in this day and age, an
extremely important aspect of their education.'
A spokesman for computer suppliers Escom said: 'All computers and chips have
codes, but they don't have those figures in them. The whole idea is a total
fantasy.'
The issue will be debated at a Grampian Regional Council education meeting
today.
Copyright 1995 Associated Newspapers Ltd.
Daily Mail
June 10, 1995 Pg. 11
All's fair in love and law;
THORNS FROM THE THISTLE
by Allan Massie
THE age of chivalry is indeed dead. It is not so long, after all, since it
was the done thing for the husband to appear the 'guilty party' in a divorce.
Now even the last bastions have crumbled. One might have thought that at least
the 450 year old Faculty of Advocates would stand for chivalry. Alas no. This
week, Keith Henderson, an advocate for more than 20 years, was acquitted on a
charge of growing cannabis. 'It wisna me, it was the wife,' was his defence. 'O
tempora! O Mores!' as another more distinguished lawyer, Cicero, remarked 2,000
years ago.
Beastly things
THOSE of us who have always been suspicious of computers and their workings
have received support this week. The extreme Presbyterian sect, the Exclusive
Brethren, have decided the machines are the devil's work. Apparently, they
believe all computers are stamped with the number 666, which, according to the
Book of Revelation of St John the Divine, is the marke of the Beast (ie the
Devil). Exclusive Brethren parents (if you see what I mean) have therefore asked
the headmasters of Peterhead and Oldmeldrum Academies not to let their children
use hi-tech equipment, for fear of corruption. Will the same excuse work for the
rest of us?
THE most famous 20th century Beast was the diabolist Aleister Crowley,
sometime Laird of Boleskin in Inverness-shire. His motto was: 'Do what thou
wilt shall be the whole of the Law.' He began all his letters thus. 'Do you mean
to say,' a friend once asked, 'that if you are writing to your bank manager, you
say, 'Dear Barclay's Bank, Do what thou wilt, etc . . ''
'Yes,' replied Crowley simply. There are many who believe that banks have
been acting on his advice ever since. No doubt this, too, is the Devil's work,
especially since they installed computers.
IF reports are true, the film Braveheart, the story of William Wallace,
cinema's newest contribution to Scottish culture, seems to take Hollywood's
traditional liberties with history a step further. Apparently it has Wallace
seducing Isabella, wife of Edward, Prince of Wales, who then gives birth to a
half-Scottish son, to the chagrin of the old Hammer of the Scots, Edward I. This
is remarkably clever of Wallace since Isabella didn't marry her husband till
1308, three years after Wallace's execution, and her son wasn't born till 1312,
surely a record period of gestation.
TALKING of periods of gestation reminds me of the man who resigned from the
BBC on the grounds that working for the Corporation was like having sexual
relations with an elephant. He gave three reasons: there was a danger of being
overlaid, there was no possible pleasure involved, and it took 21 months to see
any result. Friends employed at Queen Margaret Drive assure me nothing has
changed.
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