To think school trip shouldn't be to a creationist zoo?

[SouperSal]

DH and I have issues about animal welfare and creationism.

Class at DD's (non-faith state school) had a trip to a creationist zoo this week and now DDs teacher wants to go. We're not best pleased.

WIBU.

Surely if I'm giving my kids the chance to make their own decisions you should allow yours too?

RTFT will you.

YANBU. we've reused to go there on the past as, even though the creationist nonsense can be avoided, it's there and I disagree with putting money in the pockets of an organisation that pushes such a message, even if they do it softly. It's annoying though, as it's supposed to be really good! I'd be hacked off with a school trip there and very conflicted.

I too am interested in what secular rubbish is thrown at kids these days.

"Surely if I'm giving my kids the chance to make their own decisions you should allow yours too?

Creationism isn't something you "make your own decisions" about. You don't make your own decisions about gravity or whether water is wet.

Well, my first reaction was say no if you really object. But, for example, my son's school have organised trips to various sites/buildings of significance to faiths other than mine. They study Humanism, alongside other religions in school. I don't necessarily agree with the bounds of these faiths, but feel it's good for my sone to see/hear them and they spark family debate and further understanding.

Have you read the thread DRDBP? The point has already been covered several times, that it's NOT like visiting a place of worship. They are presenting creationist nonsense to the kids as scientific fact, sliding in their propaganda under the guise of a fun day out at the zoo which is low cost to the school.

That's why people are objecting. Most Christians don't believe in creationism, either.

Soupersal I think you could do with keeping your own wig on, you said in your original post that you were some sort of friends with the teacher, and you were going to have a word or something to that effect, now this to me sounds like you were determined to have the school forget about going just because you were annoyed. 1 set of parents shouldn't be dictating what a whole class does for 1 day when you have the choice of whether you want to allow your child to go or not. Let the other parents decide for themselves whether THEIR children can go or not. So what, it's a non-faith school big deal, it's only one day.

Why does the Christian creation story seem to have such a special place in the science curriculum? It makes no sense at all given that most Christians don't actually believe it.

We don't teach the story of Persephone and Hades and let children decide on how they believe seasons come about. So why this belief?

I've dictated nothing, 2nds. I'm not friends with the teacher - I said i have a good relationship with her so am comfortable flagging these issues with her. They can do whatever they like now.

In addition to the valid concerns listed upthread I would be worried about the RE message. I know from experience that when atheist primary teachers wash their hands of religion and outsource RE to third parties they can end up giving the children a very skewed view of what is and is not mainstream Christianity. "Christians" don't believe in creationism - the Archbishop of Canterbury doesn't, the Pope doesn't. This is the province in the UK of a very small group of non-mainstream Christians who should not be allowed to hijack the narrative.

Personally I'd either let dd go and I assume you've spoken about how people believe in different things etc or (due to animal welfare) take her out for the day somewhere you approve of.

I'm still waiting to hear what the "secular rubbish" that's thrown at kids is....

To the ppl who asked about secular rubbish, I am a Christian who believes that God created the world. My kids get the opposite message all the time. There's loads of other stuff too - abortion, sex before marriage, the way we coduct ourselves morally and ethically.
To the ppl who said most Christians are not creationists - I don't what Christians you've been hanging out with but pretty much everyone I know believes god created the world. How, is up for discussion but you can't really be a Christian and not believe in that part. Bit fundamental!
However I can see that you wouldn't want to fund this organisation.. I wouldn't want my kids to particularly be funding a trip to go to a pagan /humanist place. So yeah, I'm being a bit hypocritical

Are you one of "those christians" that assumes anybody that isn't (your brand of) christian has no morals, cadenza?

pretty much everyone I know believes god created the world

Clearly you know a limited set of people.
But, apart from that, it's quite different to believe that God created the world in general and it has existed for billions of years (this is what most Christians believe), and that it was only created a few thousands of years ago and exactly as it says in the Bible (which is what Creationism says). Creationism is nonsense and no better than believing some meatballs and spaghetti monster created the world.

Oi. Don't dis the FSM.

Teaching creationism to children makes it impossible to teach them science. Because it simply negates it.

Oi. Don't dis the FSM

I don't see how science and god contradict. I have always been into archaeology and see no reason the two can't be joined.
You can love a Swiss watch, take it apart, analyse it, date it, love the science of it but you still didn't make the watch. That's sort of how I think of it. So when I see an amazing science programme on dna or similar I go 'wow, wasn't god cool for designing us That way'.
I would also argue that there's evidence for God in everything around us largely drawn out of scientific discussion and dont view it as a belief system.
As for the comment of having limited circles I find that offensive. I have a wide circle actually.i was also a staunch aethist until 10yrs ago so I've been both sides of the coin!
Ps and no I don't think evolution should be taught as fact..It's the 'theory.of evolution ' My reason for not.wanting it presented as fact dates from my aethist day studying anthropology and archaeology at uni. I'm not going to write an essay answer here!

I don't have time now but evolution is a theory that hasn't been disproved so far.
Like the theory of gravity.
Or the theory that the Earth goes around the Sun.