Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

About Bibles being given out at school.

203 replies

BlingBang · 03/12/2013 22:12

Son has just told me that they have to line up and take a bible and say thank you - seems like some group is coming to the school to distribute them. AIBU to be surprised and think this is strange? My son doesn't believe in God and doesn't particularly want a bible or have to thank someone for it. Is this common practice then?

OP posts:
shil0846 · 04/12/2013 19:50

Redshifter, do teach your son about the Roman and Norse Gods if you have the opportunity. You obviously don't "have to" but there are some great stories and they are frequently referenced in other literature.

Why would you be content to educate your child on "have to" basis, rather than trying to foster curiosity and enrich his knowledge and empathy with other people and cultures. That attitude seems "illogical" to me.

weregoingtothezoo · 04/12/2013 20:02

I was given a Gideon's Bible at around 11/12. I grew up in a very secular home. I read it. I became convinced of its relevance and truth - no one ever really preached about Jesus to me, and the RE we had in school was terrible in terms of understanding what the faith was about - but I read through that Gideon's NT and Psalms and within a few months I had prayed to God asking him to forgive my sins and make me one of his children. Those words, like they claim, were living and active, powerful and life-changing.
Over 20 years ago and my faith remains the most important thing that runs through my life. And my family find it as incomprehensible as they ever did, that a 12 year old would read the books of the New Testament and be converted on that alone.
If it's conversion you fear - there will be many like those above who throw them away but it does have the power to do that.

ohtanmybum · 04/12/2013 20:02

There is no place for any form of religious indoctrination in our education system. I have no problem with children learning about various beliefs and their histories as part of their general education, but handing out any religious text as an evangelical act in an educational establishment is quite wrong. Religious belief is a personal matter. I don't agree with faith schools, in case you hadn't guessed; I was educated in two - now I'm an atheist.

Original poster
BlingBang · 04/12/2013 20:34

Shiloh, I was referring more to you saying that the kids are parroting what they hear their parents say at home and that they their views and beliefs on board. My kids are free to make their own minds up regarding religion.

We do have a children's bible story book but I think that's all. I do leaf through the watch tower now and then when the JW's have been doing their rounds. Wonder what happened to my old Gideon bible.

OP posts:
Misfitless · 04/12/2013 20:43

I haven't read all the replies, but whether you are spiritual or not, we should surely be teaching our DCs to respect diversity and the faith of others, even if those beliefs are different from our own.
We shouldn't be telling them to 'stick it,' surely?

Original poster
BlingBang · 04/12/2013 20:50

Maybe people of faith shouldn't go round trying to evangelise or push their religion - but wait till someone comes to them. And I'd never be rude to people who are religious and have faith (unless they are wankers).

OP posts:
littlewhitechristmasbag · 04/12/2013 21:34

The bible is just a book with words like all other books.

My DD1 (21) is studying theology at uni. She is not a christian or religious in any way but she loves the bible with a passion. She regards it as a literary work in the way people read Dickens or Shakespeare.

Her particular love is the Old testament and she is writing her dissertation on the book of Job and the links with Judaism and the Holocaust.

Believe it or not the bible has a very real part to play in modern history and world affairs. I really wouldn't discount it as part of your child education.

kerala · 04/12/2013 21:35

Write to head and governors to complain. Get other parents support. Find out who is funding the bibles (in our case a fundamentalist evangelical group). School no longer give out bibles quite right too it's a community non faith school. Plus bible had really graphic pictures lots of us not happy about 4 year olds being given gory pictures of the crucifixtion thanks.

YeahButWhatIf · 04/12/2013 21:35

Are we not a Christian country primarily?

BackOnlyBriefly · 04/12/2013 21:38

We don't have separation of church and state yet that is true. But really what does that have to do with not wanting religion pushed onto our kids?

Think for example about a child of Muslim parents taking home a bible.

BackOnlyBriefly · 04/12/2013 21:39

Not that giving them a bible is pushing very hard on it's own, but often it's stage one of a campaign. It depends on the school and the group offering it.

littlewhitechristmasbag · 04/12/2013 21:47

Eh. Muslims believe in God you know?

BackOnlyBriefly · 04/12/2013 21:56

littlewhitechristmasbag well they believe in Allah and might prefer the Koran since they believe the bible is corrupted or distorted.

I don't know if they actually mind having one in the house or not.

Really though the point was that not everyone sees the bible in the way Christians do. I know the baby jesus bits seem pretty, but there's an awful lot of child abuse and murder in it.

soverylucky · 04/12/2013 21:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BackOnlyBriefly · 04/12/2013 22:09

soverylucky exactly! teach them about all the religions impartially.

It hardly ever happens though. Some believers want to restrict it to their own belief and often teaching about religion is not enough and the kids must actually worship their god.

littlewhitechristmasbag · 04/12/2013 22:13

I have a copy of the Q'ran in my house along with several bibles. I don't think most Muslims would object to having a bible in their home. Yes there are a lot of terrible stories in the bible but many fairy stories are equally terrible.

friday16 · 04/12/2013 22:17

Write to head and governors to complain. Get other parents support. Find out who is funding the bibles (in our case a fundamentalist evangelical group).

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-24077924

littlewhitechristmasbag · 04/12/2013 22:31

If someone came into the schools and gave out dictionaries you would be happy for your children to line up, receive book and say thank you. But a bible. Ooh a scary book full of terrifying ideas. Can't say thank you for that, can't let our children read that and formulate their own opinions. Just wait until they are teenagers and see what they come home with and the rhetoric they will spout. Communist manifesto anyone?...

Bunbaker · 04/12/2013 22:34

I wrote to our head after the ripping up the bible incident on the school bus. I also asked who was funding them, and apparently it is Gideons themselves who fund it.

I still don't get the hatred that so many people have about bibles being handed out at school. We don't live in a police state and the children aren't forced to become Christians, nor are they forced to learn great tracts from it.

I also don't understand why Gideons do this as it obviously doesn't foster any interest in Christianity.

soverylucky · 04/12/2013 22:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Bunbaker · 04/12/2013 22:46

"yet people seem to get so het up about kids being brainwashed and indoctrinated"

Exactly. It is if they are scared that something terrible might happen if their children become interested in religion.

uselessinformation · 04/12/2013 23:16

back only briefly: Allah is the arabic word for God. an Egyptian Christian would call God, Allah. The Christian, Jewish and Islamic religions have the same God. Muslims believe that Jesus was a very important prophet but not the son of God. many of the same prophets and important people appear in the old testament and the Quran. On another note, I think it disgusting that a child would throw in the bin or tear up any book.

curlew · 04/12/2013 23:17

I'm not even remotely concerned about conversion or brainwashing. I just don't think school should push any particular belief system.

But I do wonder why the Gideons do it if they aren't hoping for converts...

BackOnlyBriefly · 04/12/2013 23:21

littlewhitechristmasbag I think some fairy stories are bad, but the claim is that the bible stories are true which makes it worse doesn't it.

I don't hate them having access to bibles as such and I think with the Gideons it's just the bible with no follow up.

Of course I question their motives since they could send one to your house instead. The point of going through schools is that you are not there to say "it's ok they are just fairy stories".

Let's not forget the Jesuits boast that if they can get to a kid young enough they can make him theirs.

I think everyone should read the bible starting from the beginning of the OT. We'd have a lot less religious people if they did. But with kids that should be the parent's choice not random strangers and you probably want a responsible adult there to help them understand the violence and hatred in it. The content is worse than some of those books about serial killers and such so you might not want them to start too young.

friday16 · 04/12/2013 23:23

England has the Church of England as official faith. The bible is the official book they use. Therefore they give them out as standard. I thought every school/ hotel/ blah blah had to provide for that reason.

It's hard to know where to start with the errors and misconceptions in that.

The Gideons are private individuals. They have no relationship to the state.

Swipe left for the next trending thread