Are we born bad and need to learn to be good?

Katharine Birbalsingh is a renowned British educator and headmistress of a school she founded: she is reckoned to be among the 20 most influential individuals in British education, and was recently appointed chairwoman of the Social Mobility Commission.

There was a storm of protest, and others who served on the Social Mobility Commission rejected Ms Birbalsingh’s viewpoint”

But she caused ripples of shock and criticism when she launched a defence of original sin last week, concurring with a statement that “we are all born bad”. This was, said Ms Birbalsingh, part of “Original sin. Children need to be taught right from wrong and then habituated into choosing good over evil. That requires love and constant correction from all the adults in their lives over years. Moral formation is a good thing.”

There was a storm of protest, and others who served on the Social Mobility Commission (a government organisation to enhance social mobility) rejected Ms Birbalsingh’s viewpoint. One of her critics from her own organisation, Jessica Oghenegweke, strongly dissented from the view that children are born with the capacity for being bad. “I wouldn’t agree with those comments…I’ve always viewed young people in the best light and any negativity comes from the fact that they haven’t been nurtured or aren’t in the position to get the support they need.”

Moral formation

This is the core of the debate: are we born bad and moral formation needs to erase or diminish the wickedness within us? Or are we born essentially good, and it is just the world, or circumstances, that can corrupt the child, and then the person?

It was the influential Frenchman Jean-Jacques Rousseau who introduced the theory that human beings are born good – it is society which makes them do bad things. While Christian education had held that human beings are flawed, and must be taught morality.

The Rousseau-esque view – all children are basically good – has prevailed among liberal influencers and the teaching profession for some time now. Katharine Birbalsingh shocked her peers by flagging up such a traditional concept as original sin.

Yet it seems to me that most of us, including children, obviously have the capacity for sinfulness and devilry. I know that I have that capacity. But most of us also have the potential for good if we are given the right guidance – and correction, too. Christians would also add the grace of God, although Ms Birbalsingh was not speaking from a religious point of view.

True, surely, although not every teacher has the gift of imparting her authority positively”

Katharine Birbalsingh is 48, and her heritage is Indo-Guyanese. She has a reputation for insisting on high standards of behaviour from her own pupils, and says that “the teacher must be the adult in the classroom” and should exercise authority. True, surely, although not every teacher has the gift of imparting her authority positively.

Crossing the Tiber

When members of the Anglican Communion – particularly clergy – become Catholics, it’s known among ecclesiastics as ‘crossing the Tiber’. (Sometimes the colloquial verb ‘to Pope’ is also used, half-jokily.)

It’s reported that thirteen Anglican Bishops have ‘crossed the Tiber’ since 1990 – three this year alone. The most recent is the former Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, who was ordained as a Catholic priest at the weekend by Cardinal Vincent Nichols. Fr Michael, as he is now known, was once tipped to be a future Archbishop of Canterbury.

Cradle Catholics are told they should not be ‘triumphalist’ about the Tiber-crossings – and I think few are. From what I hear, Catholic-Anglican relations remain harmonious, and there is respect for those who follow their conscience.

Pope Benedict made the ordinariate possible, for Anglicans joining Rome – five former Anglican bishops are now in the ordinariate. The Portal magazine (available on-line) is an excellent source of news and information about this increasingly significant aspect of the Catholic family.

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The Central Catholic Library in Dublin’s Merrion Square has been a wonderful archive source for me, and Dr Teresa Whitington has been its librarian and custodian for some years. Very sadly, Teresa died suddenly last week. She was an erudite and knowledgeable person, kind, helpful and self-effacing. A single woman, she seemed to dedicate herself to serving the concerns of others, and took everything to heart, including the responsibilities of the library. Her brother, Paul Whitington, is the film critic of the Irish Independent, and all my condolences to him and to the rest of her family. Ar dhéis Dé go raibh a hanam.