Words associated with Christianity and British history taken out of children's dictionary

Julie Henry, Education Correspondent
Last Updated: 8:06AM GMT 08 Dec 2008 (telegraph.co.uk)

Westminster Abbey may be one of Britain's most famous landmarks, but the word abbey has been removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary.


Oxford University Press has removed words like "aisle", "bishop", "chapel", "empire" and "monarch" from its Junior Dictionary and replaced them with words like "blog", "broadband" and "celebrity". Dozens of words related to the countryside have also been culled.

The publisher claims the changes have been made to reflect the fact that Britain is a modern, multicultural, multifaith society.

But academics and head teachers said that the changes to the 10,000 word Junior Dictionary could mean that children lose touch with Britain's heritage.
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