"We have to be sensitive if we want to be multi-cultural. It was felt it would be more responsible not to use the three little pigs. We feared that some Muslim children wouldn't sing along to the words about pigs. "We didn't want to take that risk. If changing a few words avoids offence then we will do so."
Unfortunately the school didn't do its homework. As Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra from the Muslim Council of Britain explained in an article in the Evening Standard, Muslims aren't offended in any way by the mere mention of pigs...
"The vast majority of Muslims have no problem whatsoever with the Three Little Pigs. It's always been the traditional way of telling the story and I don't see why that should be changed. There's an issue about the eating of pork, which is forbidden, but there is no prohibition about reading stories about pigs. This is an unnecessary step."
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23389123-details/Church+school+renames+Three+Little+Pigs+to+avoid+offending+Muslims/article.do
Changing a 150 year old story in this way to try to be politically correct is an outrage. Doing so without even bothering to check to see if someone is offended first is just stupid.
Update:
BBC News is reporting this morning that this production has been changed back to "The Three Little Pigs". A council education spokesman by the name of Jim Dodds told the BBC that the decision changing the name had been overturned, saying....
"There is something barmy going on here and it has happened on my watch. I can tell you now that the three little pigs will be back into the school musical festival."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bradford/6456961.stm
According to the Encarta World English Dictionary, "barmy" means:
1. slightly irrational: unconventional or slightly irrational in behavior
2. nonsensical: completely lacking in good sense or reason.
Or, as noted above, outrageous and stupid.
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