To object to a religious song at a baby class?

[SecondTimer2019]

I take my baby (6mo) to a baby sensory class and this week the theme was 'rainbows'. At the end one of the songs played was 'Who put the colours in the rainbow?', which I remember from my childhood.

It asks who created all the amazing things in the world and ends by saying things like 'It can't be chance' and 'God made all of these'.

I'm not religious and think this environment should be secular. Obviously my baby can't understand the lyrics yet but I still feel it is inappropriate.

I'm thinking of contacting the organisers to let them know my feelings.

AIBU?

These environments should not be used for God botherers to spread their nonsense.
Who were the god botherets at the OP's play session KidLorneRoll?

@Piglet89 my dd went to a Catholic primary because we couldn't get into the nondenominational one nearer us. She now goes to a non-denominational secondary despite being a shoe-in for a Catholic secondary because, surprise, surprise, she has her own mind and preferred it. Weirdly you don't lose your kids when they go to a faith school, they can work shit out for themselves and, even more surprise, talk to you.

@bellinisurge Being Catholic, I wouldn’t view it as “losing him” to send my son to a faith school.

yomommasmoma

Don't worry about it. I find the cultural aspects of the various branches of Christianity interesting (the same would be true of other religions but I know less about them). They influence your world view even when, like me, you are a born and raised atheist because your society has a particular religious 'flavour'.

I think communist regimes made it difficult for religions like Russia

A secular society is one where religion has no place in public life. It says nothing about what people do in their private lives

I wouldn't describe communism as secular though. It is an ideology, albeit a political one. Communist regimes have more in common with theocracies than secular democracies in my view.

I don't find it as offensive as the children's hymn "He gave me lips so I could speak and say what's in my mind. Without my lips I could not speak a single world or line".
My 20 year old son wasn't given the gift of speech and has never been able to say what's on his mind having never spoken a word in his life.
I walked out of the church when that was was sung!

Cheers for the giggle

Communism is secular though.

Communism is not secular- it’s atheist.

What a boring world this would be if people couldn’t share stories/songs/ideas from their faith or culture.

Absolutely. But that's not what happened here. When a hymn is just presented without comment in the same way as any other song in a non religious group, it makes an assumption that everyone present is Christian and happy to join in. It can very easily make those of other religions and none uncomfortable.

This wasn't a sharing of different experiences, or singing of songs from lots of different religions. It was assuming everyone was happy to sing a Christian song with no acknowledgement of the other faiths in the room.

Honestly, the organiser probably googled 'songs about rainbows' and didn't put anywhere near as much thought into it as you did.

secular
/ˈsɛkjʊlə/
adjective
not connected with religious or spiritual matter
Communism is secular according to the definition. How are you defining Atheism?

And Secular?

I think Arnold may be defining 'secular' as 'non-ideological' rather than 'non-religious', which isn't accurate because 'secular' simply means 'of the world' (as opposed to 'of the church').

So yes, while communism may share a number of features of ideologies based in religion, it's still a secular ideology (but I take your point that aggressive atheism imposed like a religion doesn't look 'secular' in the sense we generally use the word)

Comparing this to celebrating Christmas is ridiculous. The Church appropriated pagan festivals and randomly chose December 25 as the day of Jesus' birth. It is perfectly appropriate to celebrate midwinter anyway you choose.
Presenting creationism as fact is not on. I agree that if it is a church group then you haven't got grounds for complaint. If it is not, and you are paying for it, you have every right to say something. Children pick up song lyrics easily and accept things as fact. It is wrong to just go along with it.

“ Honestly, the organiser probably googled 'songs about rainbows' and didn't put anywhere near as much thought into it as you did.”

Yes, they probably did- and didn’t. That’s the point- they should have done.

I’m an Atheist. This would probably have me rolling my eyes and mumbling the God part but I don’t think I’d feel quite so dismayed. Your six month old won’t be indoctrinated and I promise baby sensory isn’t a cult. It is, however, a ginormous waste of money.

Ffs OP get a grip. Your attitude is typical of the type of bullshit you read on MN that really pissed me off. I'm not religious btw.

Obviously it’s not a big deal. But lots of small things add up. Christianity becomes the “norm”, rather than an individual choice.

Oh dear 😂get used to it. My son now attends an academy high school and religion forms part of 1 assembly each week In primary it was several times a week. Complain if you like but it's not going to make a difference.

YABVU and bigoted. Why should people.pandwr to your religious views? It's no more reasonable for atheists to demand zero mention of God than it would be for religious people to actively demand it. Learn a bit of tolerance and humility ans when your child is older just teach them that different people have different beliefs and that's okay.

I hope you're not gonna celebrate Christmas or Easter with your baby this year!!