Steve Chalke in the Guardian
31/01/07
Steve Chalke, the founder of Oasis and the CEO of Oasis Community
Learning, is featured as the lead story in today’s Guardian Society. To
read the full article, click here:
http://education.guardian.co.uk/newschools/story/0,,2002155,00.html
We
are grateful to The Guardian for this very positive opportunity to
explain some of the ethos and work of Oasis, and to show the
contribution that Christian faith can make to public service delivery
in the UK. However, Steve would like to clarify three points raised in
the feature:
1. The article states that I distance myself from
the Vardy family. At no time have I done this. Indeed, my standard
response to the question that I’m continually asked by the media about
our relationship to Peter Vardy, and Creationism as taught in the Vardy
academies – and I know the one that I would have used in this interview
– is that I do not know Sir Peter well, and have never talked to him
about his view of 6 day creationism. Indeed, the only evidence that I
have that 6 day creationism is taught in the Vardy schools is from what
I read in the national press. However, I rarely believe what I read in
the papers. Indeed, I cannot square the fact that the Vardy academies
are achieving such good GCSE results in the sciences with this view. I
have the greatest respect for Sir Peter, and, in my view, if every
community had a Peter Vardy who was willing to contribute so generously
to its development, that would be a good thing.
All Oasis Academies will follow the National Curriculum, which does not include the teaching of Creationism in the classroom.
2.
In response to the question about the Genesis Creation account I said
that, in my view – a majority view both within the church, as a whole,
and within evangelicalism – the creation story in Genesis 1 is a piece
of liturgy or a poem, which is, beyond doubt, related to the Babylonian
creation myth, either because it uses it as a source, or because both
stories rely on a mutual source. The Genesis Creation story is about
‘theology’ not ‘cosmology’ – it teaches us that the universe is
personal; that we are made in the image of the One God of the whole
universe etc. It is not about whether it took 6 days, 6 years or 60
million years. I believe that the church is called to take scripture
seriously, which is not always the same thing as taking it literally.
But, whilst I believe that Genesis 1 is a piece of liturgy – I do not,
and know of no one who does – believe this of Genesis as a whole.
3.
The statement that Oasis has “no money” is extremely inaccurate and
misleading. The Oasis Academies are all financially viable and indeed,
Oasis has already made a number of additional financial commitments to
the local communities in which we are working, over and above a
sponsor’s normal financial liability.