To be angry that parents won't allow their children to go on school visit to local mosque?

(DC beinga rmed in Sikhism is only a required of Khalsa- Orthodox initiated- members- 5 k's and all that)

You can be a Sikh and not have a dagger, bracelet etc

Tho my boys would agree about the weapon being cool i think! Not sure how they'd react to the shorts though

Ladymuck LOL my kids'd have thought it was a MOntessori

'We are NOT racist (my bil is from Pakistan and my best-friend is Muslim) but none of my kids are ever going to a Mosque again. dd1 (9) went on a school trip to one at the beginning of the year and witnesed someone pulling a knife out on someone - very scary for her. A random incident, I hear you all say - okay and I would agree - but, if that's the case, why do they have metal detectors all around the mosque??'

Yhree points:

*no metal detectores at alst mosqure I went to

*at age 9 Is aw a fellow pupil pull a knife on my teacher, should I have been stopped from going to school? (and I do think visitng religious sites is essnetial education)

*Only violence I have ever witnessed at our local Mosques (2 of them), was when some nasty twats burned one down, and put dead pig in the other.

Ds1 created a stir at Sunday school when he realised that when it was time to pray they all sat down on a mat. From this, and his reception class RE lessons, he deduced that he was a muslim, and so announced this to the class. I took quite a bit of stick from the Sunday school teachers for that one.

If woman aren;t allowed in Mosques I wonder if the team showing mea round Cardiff thought I wa male? Given I ahd pink hair and a skirt (hadnt relaised where we were off) Is eriosuly doubt it

there are separate rooms in the Mosque for genders, separated by kinda trellis so they can share the worship

Muslim kids on my degree ahve no problems visiting churches, Buddhist communes, Jain / Hindu temples, Synagogues etc

Doodle did you go to my school?

very indeed

agree with twigs- constantly venting at school at how come they amnage Church weekly but refuse to mentin other beliefs?

Message withdrawn

you are not being unreasonable. How do these parents expect their children to learn religious tolerance if they don't understand and experience other religions. We did several different types of church, synagogue, mosque and I think a temple as well as the interfaith centre at school its a great experience.

If my children were offered a school trip to a mosque, I'd be happy for them to go. However, I would also respect the views of any parent who didn't want their child to go.
But if the school were to invite a Muslim cleric to go into school and speak to the children, any parents objecting would have the right to remove their child, but not stop event going ahead for the other children.

OP you said "nearly cancelled". Is it/has happened?

you are not being unreasonable. How do these parents expect their children to learn religious tolerance if they don't understand and experience other religions. We did several different types of church, synagogue, mosque and I think a temple as well as the interfaith centre at school its a great experience.

Is there a mosque in Frindsbury?

Do you mean Finsbury? (IE Finsbury Park)

speedymama - faith schools have to still teach the NC, which means they have to cover all types of religion in the curriculum, not just their own faith.

I would have no problems with DD visiting a mosque, or any other type of religious building. Think it would be interesting for them.

Other parents being prejudiced, definitely

DH once arranged a trip to a mosque for primary school children and one child told him he couldn't go because his mother said he had to have a passport to go there.

There is to much arguing about religion and politics i think that everything is getting out of hand. I will never understand terrorism its about time we all learnt to respect each other and muddle along together

Mrsrecycle - it's sikhs who carry knives (ornamental).
Maybe the metal detectors are there to prevent attacks on Muslims? Given the number of attacks on Muslims and Asian people...

Airports are full of metal detectors...do you avoid those?

I haven't been to a mosque or a synagogue myself (been to both a Jewish and a Muslim wedding though) so I'd be interested to go from an educational standpoint myself. I visited a Buddhist Temple/retreat in Scotland earlier this year - after dropping in at the Rosslyn Chapel a few days earlier!

Message withdrawn

You can't imagine a busload of any children being welcomed

surely a mosque run by fanatics wouldn't be too keen on a busload of non muslim children turning up anyway!

I can follow the logic of avoiding a Mosque run by fanatics, but if it's not physically dangerous, I'm not entirely 100% sure that that the kids should be kept away.

In my experience, kids can spot these people as unhinged very quickly, and having seen various forms of extremist propaganda uncensored, it tends to undermine their cause far more than hiding it from kids.

I agree, this is a point to make a stand. I wouldn't complain if my kids never went to a Mosque, but I object to the idea of them being stopped from going.
If I was the teacher, I'd retaliate by getting in an Imam from the local Mosque, and up the ante by bringing in representatives of Rastifari, Sikhism, Hindhuism and a black charismatic Christian sect. The more coloured, the cleric the better.

Must say that my DSs were deeply impressed by the Sikh wedding we went to at Cliveden. We came down the sweeping drive with a band that included drums, and the groom was on a horse wearing a sword.
Must better than the furtive hanging about by the blokes before a Christian wedding.

A religion where being armed is a requirement would be their choice every time.

Shame on them. Anyone who says "I'm not racist but..." usually is racist...How's that going to help our children to grow up in a more tolerant and accepting society? Haven't they ever noticed that children don't look at skin colour or other differences when they choose their friends? It's only when their parents start telling them why they shouldn't play with certain people that they start to become racist themselves. Those poor kids will grow up thinking Mosques and everything connected to them are the enemy. Playing right into the hands of the evil minority who want to say we're all anti-Muslim. I'm surprised the school hasn't made a stand on this.

Some mosques are run by fanatics though and it sounds as if this is what MrsRecycle has encountered. I would avoid that particular Mosque in that case.