When being a Jew is not kosher and telling a Christian story is heresy

"Are you sure?"

I was sure.

"What about that one about the coat?" she asked. She was referring to the Jewish folktale.

"Yes, it is a Jewish folktale, but not one mention of anything Jewish in the entire story." She told me it was the way I moved my hands. And the accent, it was definitely a Jewish accent.

"Well, I am Jewish. Even an African story will come out a bit Jewish" I said in a slight Yiddish accent.

"And The Apple Tree story" she said, not amused. "It had God in it. That's two stories with God."

"You don't want God?" I was beginning to get depressed.

It seems that pagan stories, ancient myths, dreamtime legends, tribal folklore - these are welcome sources for storytelling in public schools. I can beat the drum, ring the Tibetan bell, play the African calimba, but I can't tell a story from my own tradition without being politically incorrect. I can speak of the rainbow serpent, Ishtar, Anansi, Gilgamesh but not of God. There must be no reference to religion and in particular no reference to Judeo-Christianity.

But where does mythology end and religion begin? Why is Aboriginal legend, Buddhist parable, and Greek myth not considered “religion”? When did a hand movement and a Yiddish accent become religion? I do not think for a moment that this is anti-Semitism. It seems that the sensitivity is about Western religion generally.

How far we have come: I remember how the school I attended was “non-denominational” - which meant you could be any kind of Christian you liked. There was no question that Christmas and Easter were an intrinsic part of every student’s life. I was expected to kneel and pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ every morning. As a boarder, I had to go to church.

Is there something insidious about this, or is it my imagination? It seems that we are in exactly the same place as we were 30 years ago, just in reverse. Surely multiculturalism (how tired I am of that word) means freedom of expression and delighting in all traditions, all religions, all cultures. Must I hide what I am? And would the department dare to say to an Indigenous person "You're a bit too Aboriginal, it's the way you move your feet."?

Are we creating a new genre of storytelling - "world story" - in which, like the "world music" equivalent, it will be impossible to identify any one tradition? All the cultures will be woven into one, each represented with equanimity and reverence, until all the colours are mixed into a rather sickening gray.