Oxford Junior Dictionary -- the decline continues

David Meredith (Free Church of Scotland, Smithton/Culloden) sent me the following:

The new edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary has caused some raised eyebrows in educational circles. Several supposedly old-fashioned words have been removed. A report in the Daily Telegraph shows that many of the words removed have a Christian or church theme - words such as abbey, aisle, altar, bishop, chapel, disciple, minister, psalm, pulpit, saint, sin and devil. Such words have been replaced by terms from the ICT generation, such as blog, broadband, MP3 player, voicemail and chatroom. Also worrying is the removal of words associated with the countryside - presumably because most British children no longer get to see rural areas or understand them. Countryside terms removed include acorn, ash, blackberry (the fruit rather than the phone), bluebell, chestnut, heather, radish, turnip and willow.

Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College, said that he grieved the loss of these words. "I think as well as being descriptive, the Oxford Junior Dictionary, has to be prescriptive too, suggesting not just words that are used but words that should be used." Adam brought sin into the world, but Oxford University Press has removed it. The removal of words associated with Britain's Christian heritage is shameful. This is not simply dumbing down - this is representative of the country's move away from biblical standards and influence.