To think you should put your child in the required school

[Catvsworld]

Today at my little ones nursery they were getting the children ready for Easter and all the children were invited to make Easter bonnets for a parade they were having

Standing in reception waiting for the door to open one of the children was really crying my daugter asked why she was crying I replied I am not sure

The mum then said she wants a hat were jw and don't do Easter I was like oh right and just kept my self to my self

She then proceeded to give the staff a leftlet and ask that her child not be involved in any Easter activitys

Bit sad really all the tables were Easter bunnie themed

I think it's really sad and if your not happy with Easter, Christmas or birthdays, Dewli , can you not just find a religious school or your donomation for your child

It's just a bloody hat with a a few bunnies on and some bunnie themed activities ffs I am not Muslim but can see the good in allowing my little one get involved in eid activitys

By finding out more about a religion your not committing yourself or forsaking your god the way to stop people bombing the metro is to get the young educated in Diffrent ways a cultures surely

I don't view the bible in its entirety as a good moral code though - I'm an atheist.
I just think that broadly speaking that there are some good moral messages contained within.

Don't kill
Don't covet
Love thy neighbour
Don't be an adulterer

etc etc

bunny these messages are not created by or exclusive to christianity and the bible. Take any peaceful human community and you will find the same codes are adhered to. It;s not rocket science to work them out.

The writers of the bible simply took known existing community behaviours which worked and put them into text. Not groundbreaking and to my mind not something that makes the bible a particularly special book.

Interesting that you list "don't kill " at the top of these messages- not one that god seems to rate very highly. He murdered people en mass.

A case of do as I say and not as I do?

Four, I'm afraid you're preaching to the converted as far as I'm concerned - I'm not trying to defend the bible at all, just acknowledging that some bits of it contain decent moral messages.

I've already said I'm an atheist - I always have been.
I was never brought up to believe in anything, never christened etc haven't brought my children up to believe in any form of religion.

I have my own moral code, I don't believe the bible is anything more than a collection of stories.

Seriously laughing at the bible as a historical record..

You know we can't even be sure Jesus existed? There is little to no record of him, even Joesphus mentioning of him is thought to have been faked and added much later.

Fairy tales to guide people with morality much of it, other bits are down right bonkers? Leviticus is mad.

No child should have religion inflicted on them. Every child's education should start with a blank slate ready to be filled with knowledge and information so that they can make their own decision about their beliefs. A child does not have the emotional intelligence or critical thinking skills to decide who they are or what they want.

That being said, it is a difficult thing to manage, and nurseries and schools have my sympathy with this problem.

I moved back to the USA when my dc's were of school age, partially because I couldn't get a public education without religion for them in the UK. In many areas, there aren't many options if you are something other than protestant or catholic. And really no good options if you are an atheist, like me. Ironically, not long after we got to the USA, I ended up sending my dd to a Jewish nursery because it was on my way to work and she promptly "found God" and now at 13 regularly participates in a synagogue.

Across I don't do the Pledge of Allegiance either, because as an atheist I object to God being in it and am waiting for them to take it back out.

Jeremy you may object to religion forced on a child
Many object to secularism forced on a child.

flirty - non sequitur.

Having secularism "forced on a child " is akin to having "non-stamp collecting" forced on a child.

Go figure.

jeremy- I completely agree.

Why would any reasonable adult reject non-secularism? Genuine question.

jeremy the double negatives may have lost me, but are you saying that anyone who rejects non-secularism is not reasonable. Or are you saying that anyone who rejects secularism is not reasonable. Either way, I beg to differ. There are many reasons why people choose religion or atheism and not all of them are invalid or unreasonable. I am an atheist, but my dd chose God and judaism at 4 years old. If you knew my dd, you would understand why it was clear to me even when she was that young, that she was making a rational choice that I would have been remiss in not supporting.

SofiaAmes but that "rational choice" was only because your DD was subjected to the faith.
I would doubt that ant 4 year old has the intellectual and analytical powers to make a balance rational choice of which of the 4000 world religions to join.

You think it a coincidence that you sent your 4 yo to a jewish nursery and she became jewish?
This is why religion should be kept away from kids. Young minds are easy meat.

Actually Fourage, for once you are wrong. It's not a coincidence that my dd was sent to a jewish nursery. It was the second one that she went to and was picked because it was on my way to work and had a space available. She was not "subjected" to anything, but rather "exposed" to something. My ds went to a christian after school program, because it was what was available, but he most certainly didn't find god and was actually quite disgusted with his sister for becoming religious. My dd was exposed to many religions (we went to catholic, hindu, muslim, jewish, christian, baptist and other religious events) and atheism as a young child. She picked judaism. As it happens, the synagogue was reform LGBT and connected with my dd. My ds was exposed to the same array of religions (including christian nursery) and picked atheism. I was exposed to more religions than most as a child and picked atheism. Personally I have chosen to expose my children to as much as possible intellectually from a young age because they are able to take in that type of information. My dd and my ds absolutely had the intellectual and analytical powers at 4 to make rational choices about religion. In fact if you had listened to dinner conversations at that time you would have heard full blown debates about the origin of the earth. My expectation for my children is that I recognize their individual intellectual capabilities and interests and don't limit them to the boundaries of other people's expectations for their children.

"Personally I have chosen to expose my children to as much as possible intellectually"

Except religious indoctrination is not an intellectual experience.
It is perfectly designed to engage with the weak, the young, the vulnerable. No 4 year old- even your amazingly gifted children has the emotional or intellectual capability to choose a faith.
Judaism was the one that worked for your tiny child's mind.

Well at least my children have been taught to have open minds about the thoughts and beliefs of those around them and will have the good manners to be polite and interested when they encounter others who think or act differently than they do and won't sneer at those who are less or more intellectually capable.

There's a Seventh Day Adventist boarding school in Watford, maybe OP is confusing that with JW?

Religion divides more than it unites.

That is all.

Bloody hell, we should be closing faith schools not building more of the things.

Being a non religious person, I find all this religious nonsense quite bizarre.

Let children be children. They probably wouldn't know the significance of Easter at that age, it's just craft stuff as far as they're concerned. No wonder the dd got upset being excluded. We've had lots of conversations with Ds, explaining that some people believe this or that, we haven't really pushed the subject, he's happy to know that being open minded about religion and deciding what he wants to believe in when he is old enough to make a decision, is up to him.

This is not a religious bashing post btw. I find it equally bizarre that people who aren't particularly religious, like myself, find it extremely offensive that their dc have religious studies in school. Why? I really don't understand. I've had many conversations with Ds about this, he's not been brainwashed by it, he's very open minded, like myself.

"They probably wouldn't know the significance of Easter at that age"

That depends entirely on their upbringing and the observances in their family. And I think you are making a sweeping and misplaced generalisation, based on no knowledge of what it is like to be part of a religious family.

"I find it extremely offensive that their dc have religious studies in school. Why."

Indeed - what country are you in? Because in the British system you can opt your DC out.

RE is an increasingly important subject, covering as it does agnosticism and (most) belief systems, whether atheist, unitheist or pantheism (are those the right terms for belief in no god, one God or many gods?). If you live in a diverse area, it is particularly important. Personally, I think it would be a great shame if people opted out, but if their household belief system means that it is anathema to them for their DC to participate, then of course they should opt out.

How silly is it that the UK can't establish schools of no denomination for those who would like this for their children.

We're a non-practicing Muslim/Catholic household. My husband and I are enthusiastic about our children's CofE religious education and its attendant holiday celebrations from a historical/academic perspective but I doubt we'd feel this way if we were devout non-Christians.

I'd be pretty horrified if my child's nursery subjected my children to so much religious teaching that they decided at age four to adopt that religion. So far as I'm concerned, the function of a nursery is to look after my child, amuse them, and give them some teaching in terms of basic behaviour with maybe a little literacy and numeracy thrown in. If they are throwing religion at them to the extent that my child decides to opt for a different faith from mine, I would definitely not be happy with it..

Yanbu. At nursery age Easter is bunnies and chocolate. Last year a c of e school told dd little friend about the crucifixion - he explained to me carefully where all the nails went in Jesus. I was fecking horrified that was foundation class! I would be withholding my children from that no matter what. I think bunnies are different and harmless.

Also if the jw family were so bothered they should have enquirer what the nursery was doing and withheld on that day - letting the child attend but not join in is cruel

Yanbu. At nursery age Easter is bunnies and chocolate.

This is merely your opinion (one I share, by the way) - not everyone feels the same. There should be faith-free schools for this reason.

Apple I agree strongly about secular schools too.