To think it is time to secularise all state-funded education?

[fideline]

Just that really.

It's really annoying when people think that 'values' are something that only be taught from a religious perspective.

Kim147- in the Bible, Jesus saved a woman from being stoned. "let he who is without sin throw the first stone".

I think it is better for children of different faiths to be educated together as this will (hopefully) encourage them to understand one another and get along. My concern with secular schools is that the state is deciding what is right and what is wrong.

My concern with secular schools is that the state is deciding what is right and what is wrong.

You mean you are concerned that the people democratically elected to make these decisions are making them instead of your priest?

This is the same state that made every law we have including the one that says "You can't kill people even if you are Christian and they are gay"

My concern with secular schools is that the state is deciding what is right and what is wrong.

Oh. So you don't think that the the state should make laws - perhaps you would prefer Sharia and Church courts? (that's the logical extension of that statement).

Of course children should be taught kindness and tolerance etc. But I can think of a number of things which are legal but some religions say are wrong. I won't go into the thorny subjects but if e.g a secular school serves meat, then unless halal, muslim and jewish children would not be permitted to eat it according to their beliefs. Muslims pray five times a day but how could they do this at a secular school?

It's really annoying when people think that 'values' are something that only be taught from a religious perspective.

So true it needs to be posted twice. The single most irritating thing about some practitioners of Christianity is their idea that it is impossible to be a good, moral human being without believing in a deity. There's just no sense to that statement at all.

The muslim girls at my school were given time out for their prayers.

I am absolutely sick of looking at my sons' timetables and seeing 5+ hours a week devoted to worshiping a fictitious deity when I have to pay for private tuition for my DS because he is struggling to meet the targets due to his dyslexia. He is at school. An educational institution where he is supposed to learn facts, ie, things that are true. Not faith. I am sick of having something that I think is untrue shoved down my children's' throats when they should be learning.
Their school (primary) has about 420 pupils. How many of those do you think are religious? How many of those families are in church every Sunday? Very few.
I had a horrible few early years being scared out of my whits at a Catholic school by teachers who were absolute bastards. Very little evidence of "Christian values" there, hitting little kids was an every day thing. It was frightening, so yes, I am sick to my stomach that we are held over a barrel in such a way. Believe what you want, but don't fill my childrens' heads with it.

gelati3 are you saying that the school shouldn't interfere with the beliefs of the kids? If so then you must be opposed to schools requiring all children to worship the Christian god.

Kim Sorry I just quoted, I didn't think and I really should.

Gel
in the Bible, Jesus saved a woman from being stoned. "let he who is without sin throw the first stone".

Er yes, but only the woman was going to be stoned, the man who had sex with her, and we don't know the circumstances, it could have been rape, was in no danger. In fact he could quite easily have thrown the first stone.

Please don't take your morals from a book that tells you how to care for your slaves, that you have a god given right to own, as long as they are not the same race as you.

Or a book that says homosexuality is an abomination, along with wearing poly cotton and eating prawns.

My concern with secular schools is that the state is deciding what is right and what is wrong

So you would prefer

Homosexuals should be killed along with witches
Divorced people cannot remarry
A woman must cover her head and walk behind a man
Contraception is evil and the biggest threat to world peace
A man can have 4 brides and they can be children as young as nine
Disabled people sinned in a past life/in the womb

To

Do not discriminate against people for being women/men, having a disability, being black, homosexual or illegitimate.

Marriage can only take place between two adults (16 in some cases) who both consent and who are not already married to someone else.
Contraception is a personal choice and the government will pay for it if you want to use it.

I agree, OP. By all means learn about religion in religion and philosophy classes, but absolutely no teaching of it as fact and no dilution of sex education classes. I wouldn't go as a far as France and ban all religious symbols but make reasonable allowances for religious and cultural dress in uniform.

I am concerned about the C of E taking over lots of schools and being allowed to select pupils on grounds of religion.

www.secularism.org.uk/news/2013/07/church-to-take-over-thousands-of-community-schools

I mean they say they won't change admissions policy, but really? Useful way to boost congregations in the area isn't it?

I know it's only the C of E, and not fundy nutters, but still, it's the principle. Also the majority in the country do not regularly (or ever) attend church or other religious venues- where is our choice of school? Even in currently non-denominational schools the education is of a "broadly Christian character." If the C of E take over more schools there will not even be that choice in a lot of areas.

A lot of it I'm ambivalent about - I don't mind Nativity plays and Harvest festivals, I see that as a cultural thing anyway. But it depends what broadly Christian means. Being humble and kind- good. Being opposed to equal marriage - bad.

Before you ban one admissions criterion of faith schools where only a tiny fraction of children are admitted on a religious basis, it would make far more difference to ban private schools which select nearly all their pupils on wealth. That's where the vast majority of discrimination lies.