Only Christian kids given a prize

[IDontWantRealism]

Can someone help me see reason with this? My kids are atheist but Jewish by ancestry. They go to a non-denominational school but in a very traditional rural area with lots of Christian students. They ran a competition which involved making a profession of faith over Easter. Obviously my kids didn’t enter but many others did. We were told there would be a prize but today at school all children who entered were given a prize leaving out the few non-Christian children and the few other children who didn’t enter. That’s not ok is it? I need some help navigating this as the school have form. We’ve previously had to moan about them being taught other problematic views.

Don't know the particular details of the competion and the exclusion of children so can't judge.

I can only imagine that the Christian Easter is a particularly difficult story to tell Jewish children. Well you can when you take out the brutality and focus on the positivity only, which is what schools should do.

My children's school in London did not do any religion-themed activity for Easter or any religious festivals. They only gloss over it with Easter eggs and fun for everyone. And Eid means food!

The prize was for all who entered, as you wrote in your post. Why would you expect your children to be given a prize if they did not partake in the contest?

Not just as easy as that if this is a rural school and the next nearest school is 40 miles down a single track road or across a loch.

Jesus didn't bloody hatch from an egg did he 😂 again it's the difference between my kids being told to colour in cute green Ramadan rice cakes versus a Praise Allah message

@Bimbom

I'm talking about there being no secular schools in the UK?

if it’s a poster saying “Jesus lives” or the like you are unreasonable.
if it’s a poster saying “I believe Jesus rose from the dead” or the like you are not unreasonable.

there is a big difference between the two statements

By law, every school in the UK is required to teach religious education. I expect that is what's meant. I believe in the US it's the other way round, which is odd, given that church attendance over there is far higher than here.

Again coming at this from the POV of a multi racial country and not a British POV (Christianity is not the default religion where I am, there is no default religion), but a good way to see how acceptable it is would be to substitute other gods/religions' names in. So "Allah lives" - if you'd be comfortable with that, fine. If you wouldn't be comfortable with that, then it shows hypocrisy

Scotland.

Now what faith is the First Minister?
How many religions have had one of, if not the main event of their faith this month?

Not sure how to address those of no faith at all, but to only talk about Easter when this month there is Passover and Ramadan, does not seem right to me.

@gulz I wouldn't risk it as a teacher though, as Easter eggs are associated with Jesus and if colouring a bit of paper causes issues... I'm well aware that he did not hatch from an btw, even as a Jew

Op non-domanational school basically means Christian but not specifically Church of Scotland.

Roman Catholic means Catholic and they will have ties to the local Chapel with Preist visits.

Non-denomational doesn't mean non-religous.

@Botw1 completely irrelevant but is your username a Zelda reference by any chance?. 😁

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

Not really.

Secular schools can and should teach RE.

Schools in the UK by law have to have an act of daily worship (reflection in Scotland) meaning they are not secular.

They are affiliated with Christianity/religion

@LumpySpaceGoddess

Yes!

Hello fellow Zelda fan! 😂

To those saying 'next year it might be a Passover poster' I can only imagine they have not been in many village schools religious or otherwise
I would bet a significant sum of money there will be no Passover, Eid or Diwali posters being made in this school.
OP I think your legitimate complaint is that this took place in lesson time.
Other than that- if you don't enter a competition clearly you don't get a prize and even little children can learn that.
As for learning about other religions (and even as a humanist I think this is important to do) - clearly you will have to fill in the gaps.

@LumpySpaceGoddess

Hi!

Are you excited for tears of the kingdom?

It sounds like the kids were basically bribed in to saying they believed in Jesus by the local church.

It was a competition. Anyone could enter the competition but your children chose not to because they are not Christian. Everyone who entered won a prize. I don't see the issue with children who didn't enter not getting prizes. I'm slightly concern a normal state school is stage events that aren't inclusive.

When I was at school, decades ago, the legally required collective act of Christian worship took place every morning and the whole school assembled in the hall. We had hymns, prayers and often the head launched into something akin to a sermon. At senior school there would be a reading from the Bible. (It was possible to opt out and we had many Jewish girls who did. We had one Jewish teacher who led an alternative act of worship for them in the library.) None of the schools I attended were officially church schools. I am amazed to learn that in 2023 schools which are also not officially church schools are still pushing Christianity as the Establishment position on religion. I thought they were now allowed to do the act of collective worship in class rather than as an assembly, in England anyway.

Its problematic for schools that this is the case, but a reasonable minister should be more sensitive to different beliefs. DC school has a close link with minister who goes in around the big events. Sadly, I can imagine them being asked to decorate sonething saying "Jesus died for our sins" or similar, (and hopefully not "I believe Jesus died for me"), but it would be more likely to be "Christians believe Jesus died for our sins".

And no way should it be a competition with prizes! They couldve just had a very neutral competition to decorate a boiled egg or whatever.

Absolutely, it looks insane! :D

I agree with you op. I'm Chrisian, I have kids in a non-denomenational school in Scotland. (In Scotland we basically have Roman Catholic schools and everything else schools)

I guess you could see it as just a colouring in competition? But it still doesn't sit right with me.

There were so many possible alternatives here. Colour in an Easter egg and use religious symbols if you like? Even colour in a cross. My kids have come home over the years with artwork from other faiths. That's fine. But the wording of this competition is weird.

Our local minister visits the school a few times a year and tells some moral, possibly vaguely religious, story about being a decent person at assembly. The church has never had any involvement in the classroom and that's how it should be.

Bad judgement on the part of the school. I would let them know.

slowquickstep · Today 16:16
It was Easter and we are a predominately Christian country. We allow other religions to celebrate their festivals ( not something we are afforded in some other countries) Shall the majority ignore their festivals just to suit the minorities ? Your children are atheist, your choice, live with it. If it such a huge problem in your life move the children to a school that has no links with any church, chapel synagogue, mosque etc.

wow! We ‘allow’ other religions to celebrate their festivals?! How very gracious of ‘us’. And ‘we’ are not afforded this in other countries? Who is this ‘we’? It’s not me.

the sooner we get a separation of church and state the better. As for getting a school with no links, OP already said this is a community school - something hard to get in many areas, but the church is an influential local one, with no official role. How was she meant to screen for this on the school selection form?

@LumpySpaceGoddess

I cant wait. I've managed to get ds into it (although he's not as keen on the classics) so we're really excited