To judge parents who do not even tell their children Easter is a religious festival

My daughter had strongly Christian staff in pre school although the school itself wasn't specifically religious.

She came home that Easter repeating cheerfully "Jesus do be DEAD in the CAVE". (I couldn't convince her that the important part of the story was the resurrection part..)

It's a tricky story to explain to children without context.

I'm sorry you had such an awful time at home, and it's great that school was an escape and a mind-broadening experience for you. However, there are certainly conversations to be had about what schools should and shouldn't be allowed to teach, or responsible for teaching to children.

Could be in France. They have 'laïcité' the separation of the state and religion by law. That's why headscarves are banned in schools. So is the wearing of crosses or any other religious symbols, ablnd they are not taught RS. When we recently had the French Exchange group staying, the kids were astonished that even though we are a state, non-religious school, we have a prayer room.

School is the only reason that I learned it was OK to be smart, that there was more in the world than getting a job at the Gas Board at 16, that music existed beyond whatever was played on Radio 2 - and that it wasn't normal to live in a filthy house full of junk or to be hit, screamed at, told that you shouldn't have existed or have a hot iron held up to your face. Oh, and that it wasn't OK to be racist and measurements based upon decimal systems existed despite the parental hatred of anything that wasn't founded in the glorious civilising influence of colonialism.

So I absolutely disagree that schools shouldn't teach things that parents might disagree with. Stuff about the beliefs that have shaped the world and people's actions was as essential as everything else I learned at school.

What have passports to do with religion?
I live in a multicultural Ireland, where there are people of lots of different faiths, & none.
Many people brought up Catholic have looked at the scientific evidence and decided it is not for them, it doesn’t make them less Irish!
The biggest lesson Christianity, and some other faiths, fail to teach to their followers, is respect for those who do not believe as they do.
Teaching about all belief systems from a historical standpoint is fine - indoctrination should be confined to the home and places of worship.
Faith should be voluntary, not forced!

I'm not sure where that idea came from ?

The Bible lists several people who where raised from the dead/brought back to life.
After Elisha the prophet died, he was buried in a cave or tomb. Moabite raiders attacked Israel every spring, one time interrupting a funeral. Fearing for their own lives, the burial party quickly threw the body into the first convenient place, Elisha's tomb. As soon as the body touched Elisha's bones, the dead man came to life and stood up on his feet. The men who tossed the body in Elisha’s tomb observed the man raised from the dead and spread the story far and wide.

The Shummite woman's son - restored to life by Elisha the prophet.

The widows son at Zarapath - brought back to life by Elijah the prophet

Lazarus had been in his tomb for 4 days before he was raised by Jesus.

Our Lord had been in his tomb for 3 days prior to his Resurrection.

Tabitha - restored to life by the Apostle Peter.

Eutychus - fell out of an upstairs window and was pronounced dead. He was restored to life by the Apostle Paul.

If people want to believe that someone came to life after a month they are free to do so, but it isn't physiologically possible as putrefaction would be well-advanced by then.

Presumably the Christians among them do know

I do, although I wouldn't, I loved RE at school, I found it fascinating learning about different religions, despite not believing any of them myself. I briefly considered removing her from collective worship, because I think that is different to RE, but ultimately I decided that what she believes is up to her, if something in RE appeals to her then she can explore it further when she's old enough if she wishes. We are an atheist household, but atheism to us is basically a lack of any belief, so there is nothing to teach, god isn't spoken about in our house. I don't love that she has to pray at school, and that certain things are taught as factual, because personally I believe it is indoctrination when children are so young, however I love every other aspect of her school.

Then you have the option to withdraw her from RE I suppose?

Why would I home educate because I don't like one aspect of school? Aside from the fact that my husband and I both have full time jobs, I don't want to home educate. I also don't have the option of travelling miles out of my way to a different school, that's if she even got a place with us being so far out of catchment.

OK.

That explains the 'separation of church and state'.

International school in the uk - French curriculum

Was that in USA ?

I have never heard of RE being 'banned' in UK

I meant what I said!

DT’s were lucky enough to attend a school where religious education was banned. Separation of church and state.

@Parker231" so my daughter attends a Christian school because we have limited other options "

If your atheism is important to your family why not home-school, so you can have control of what is taught?

Or look for a "Community" school which are generally secular and inclusive, they may be referred to as non-religious or even secular schools.

@WalkDontWalk "To more directly address your point though, I think it's a good thing for schools to teach stuff that parents might disagree with. It's part of learning to think."

I'm not sure I agree with that.

Most children don't develop critical reasoning skills until about 10/11, so education up to that stage must be careful not to implant unhelpful information which may not be age-appropriate.
I would certainly not be happy for any child of mine to be taught for example that there are 72 genders.
It is not the place of the state or public schools to teach children about matters that are at odds with the religious beliefs of their families or communities.

This too!

I judge parents who teach their children that the virgin birth and the resurrection happened

My family are atheist, why would I teach my children about the meaning of Easter? Unfortunately, truly secular education doesn't seem to exist, so my daughter attends a Christian school because we have limited other options, and aside from that it is a lovely school. She has learned about it there, but I find it baffling that you'd judge me as a parent for not teaching it to her? Maybe I should be judging you for thinking it's okay to teach children such a barbaric story about a man being nailed to a cross?! Seeing as we're judging!

Yeah, I think you're right. I reported it and Mumsnet replied that they were "looking into it". So I reported it again, and suggested that if it was referring to (many of) "the English", or (many of) "the Blacks", or (many of) "the Jews" , the offensiveness might be clearer.

For everyone else, if you're talking about "the Irish", you're off to a bad start, and you might want to double check you're not being a racist twat.

I don’t think you’re misunderstanding @Donttellhim at all. Anti-Irish bigotry is rife on here and is frequently ignored by MNHQ.

How do you know that very specific statistic? Was your nine year old able to tell you? Meaning they actually paid attention to how many didn’t know and counted them? Odd.

I would expect 9 years olds to understand that the Bible and Christian religion is flawed and therefore most sensible well educated 9 year olds would understand that evidence shows that it incorrect and false. Even 9 year olds know the difference from fact and fiction

20 children in the class?? That’s more of a shock for me!