DS's RS teacher "polygamy not that bad"

[IfyouseeRitaMoreno]

and when asked why women weren't allowed multiple husbands he said that this wouldn't work as you wouldn't know who the father is.

DS was annoyed bless him but didn't challenge. I felt a bit rageful because really he should his evo-psych opinions to himself and it's not exactly great for his female pupils to hear.

But then maybe that is life and he's just describing it like it is. Genuinely not sure IBU.

Exactly Pengggwn
We don't educate by closing off topics and saying 'you can't discuss that'. To do so suggests we are scared of the content. What's going to happen if we inform kids about religion? They'll catch the 'God belief'?
Church attendance is falling. If learning about other religions was the key to evangelism churches would be full.

I remember discussing conflict and the Taliban came up when it was front page news.
Option 1 = say nothing and shut it down because religion has no place in the classroom
Option 2 = give the 'correct line that they are awful' and close it down.
Option 3 = explain life in Afghanistan before the taliban, explain what the talibam believe, what life is like, how most Muslims don't subscribe to those views and allow students to discuss extremism, why someone might hold those views and why someone might gain those views.
We did option 3. The students gained so much more from it and also an appreciation of how someone could be sucked into any radical views, not just radical Islam.
That's a much better outcome for them in life than 'The taliban are awful and who really cares about a God that probaby isn't real. Moving on'.

I used to look at polygamy in my A level lessons. I may have said something like this to prompt debate. I will probably have said that one of the reasons that polyandry has never been as popular is because of parentage issues.

Were they actually even talking about religiously motivated polygyny, or about polygamy in general?

Islam based polygamy. But the teacher isn't Muslim so I suspect eco-psych.

But really can you separate religious based polygyny from polygamy in general? As one comes as a rationale for the other?

Now you mention it Tw1nsetAndPearls, I can think of loads of occasions where I've said things in class just to play devil's advocate or stir up debate.

Like when we've looked at war poetry I have started arguing that war propaganda was right and thay sying in the trenches was noble and glorious. It's great for getting students into a debate.

The subject is about educating students in the detail of what other people (and also, sometimes, people in their own faith) believe is right and wrong, not what is 'actually' right and wrong.

It's a bit unrealistic though to expect students not to have an opinion on it though.

Like when we've looked at war poetry I have started arguing that war propaganda was right and thay sying in the trenches was noble and glorious. It's great for getting students into a debate.

Do you let them know that you don't actually think that afterwards? I may be quite gullible but I used to take my teachers' opinions quite seriously.

Although obviously it's great to start a debate.

Pengggwn I was going by your posts that RS is for passing on information about beliefs rather than encouraging discussion about them.

But to answer your question DS is regularly complaining that they are not encouraged to discuss things in RS. I've pressed him for empirical evidence but he's not forthcoming!

With regards to your last post Polygamy preceded religion in historical terms. It was practised in the pre-Islamic tribal societies of many regions, and found its way into the Islamic faith that way. They are entirely separable.

Surely that means they are not separable because Islamic edicts (as is the case in other religions) have endorsed and set in stone what was a cultural practice at that time. So to discuss Islam or any religion without reference to the culture that existed at the time it was created is giving only half the picture.

If Jesus / Mohammed arrived now, would their preachings be the same? A derailment I know!

If you want religion taught in schools then that is what your going to get. If you want morality taught in schools then we need to make schools secular.

Whose morality ?

Polygamy was around long before Islam which is rather young in terms of world religions. Polygamy can make practical sense in a society when women rely on men for financial and practical support and protection but there are not enough men to go around because of warfare. War also often means that women need extra protection from rape which has long been a weapon. So even fewer men and an even greater need for protection.

I often say something deliberately controversial and will then say "I don't necessarily think this is true or correct but I want you to think from a new perspective."

However for RS teachers controversy is there bread and butter, we deal with it constantly and as a human rather than a robot I may forget to do the disclaimer.

userwhocouldntthinkofagoodname you just literally outlined the Religious Studies Gcse course

Polygamy is very bad for women in societies where it is traditionally practiced. The most recent wife has a much higher risk of domestic violence, and her children are at much higher risk of child abuse than other wives or children.

And watch the reality programmes of living on an island and getting your own food. It is never the macho men that do well. Humans do well because they cooperate and use their brains.

in BC Canada we have a polygamous community called Bountiful.
lots of sad stories about the young men not chosen or deemed able to marry. they leave the sect with little formal education and really struggle without family support. they have been referred to as "lost boys" .

I will concur with brasty, I read a paper a while back that explained that competition to mate/obtain favors in polygyny affect negatively child rearing. Am trying to find the research paper but that was a while back.

I am not defending polygamy at all. I am just saying why it may appear to make sense

To the last 4 PPS, yes that's all I'm asking for, that alternative viewpoints wrt polygamy and its worthiness as a system are presented to children because it is.

I always wondered that as a kid. Where are the surplus men? I was told they were killed off in war but it didn't make sense for societies that weren't in war but still practised it. Because in those societies you're going to have this hierarchical competition where men get left behind during the race to the top.

Apart from the fact that it goes against women's interests.

I am sure that there is an interesting documentary on you tube or possibly Netflix about the men that are surplus to requirements in the Mormon communities that still practice polygamy

lots under the heading of "lost boys"

No it does not make sense. There is no reason in that scenario that women could not gather in tribes and defend themselves against the few men, only letting in a nice man to join them.

It is easy to look at those in queer community who are in polygamous relationships,and think it is harmless. But where it is traditionally practised it has terrible outcomes for the less popular wives and their children. There is a lot of research to demonstrate this.

There is no reason in that scenario that women could not gather in tribes and defend themselves against the few men, only letting in a nice man to join them.

In an ideal world of course that would be the better option but in a world where women are treated as second class citizens and rape becomes a tool of warfare it can appear as if polygamy makes sense.