Parents angry over ‘beheading video’ religion lesson
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
30.03.2015 16:40
Parents of 16-17 year old students have complained to a school in Szczecin that a priest showed them a video of ISIS beheading 21 Coptic Christians as part of a religion class.
Screengrab from ISIS video
“My daughter cannot sleep. She is so upset about this [lesson],” one of the parents told Gazeta Wyborcza. She added that this was “Unimaginable cruelty.”
“What is the purpose of showing this to teenagers?,” the parent asked.
Students from the XIV High School in Szczecin, in north-western Poland, were showed the uncensored film of the ISIS islamist militants who beheaded 21 Coptic Christians in February.
The video was freely available online, but not shown in its entirety by news agencies in Poland.
The topic of the religion lesson was martyrdom, in the final days of Lent, when Christians observe the forty days leading up to Easter.
The school has defended the actions by priest Krzysztof Jeruzalski, who showed the video. Authorities at the school have said that the priest told students that they were about to watch some gory images, and were “free to leave”.
The school also were critical of the parents who took to the internet to voice their disapproval of the lesson.
“It is strange that parents of the teens did not first turn to the tutor or [the school] psychologist. The student would have received support. Is it a good way to discuss this in a public forum in or order to calm a sensitive girl?,” asked Anna Kowalczyk, the director of the school. (rg)
Source: Gazeta Wyborcza, TVN24