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?

shearwater

That’s interesting. I think it is. Oh well.

It's a good thing to expose your baby to lots of different beliefs so they learn everyones different and that's ok, also so can handle something they dont agree with without getting offended

One can learn about religions without participating

Exactly. Teaching kids that "some people believe X,Y and Z" = fine.

Normalising worshipping God = not fine.

I'm with you on the principle, OP, and I don't know why people are being so rude and insulting.

I'd say if it doesn't happen again, then fine; if it does, I'd probably say something. I only object to it being included if it's the only song they ever use with a religious reference; I think it'd be fine if these classes also included songs from cultures where the religious history/tradition is other than Christian (I don't know, but assume, that there are similar songs in e.g. Islam or Judaism...?)

I I don't think having no secular schools in the UK is a laughing matter, tbh

Agreed. DD had pretty much a secular primary education at private school, as did I at private secondary. One shouldn’t have to pay to receive a secular education!

I'm with the OP and @Shearwater here. It's perfectly reasonable to think that a nationally organised paid for group like this should be secular or it should clearly state that it's not (although 6 months is a bit young to understand the lyrics).

The case is not the same as celebrating religious festivals, singing carols, learning about religions etc because in this case if the class is about rainbows, then the lyrics are being presented as a fact about the world. In other contexts when the OP's child learns about religion, it will not be presented as fact but as the beliefs some people have (and she can avoid cases where they are by withdrawing her child). It is not inevitable that her DC will have to accept religious teaching at school (as she can avoid it).

YANBU to feel uncomfortable if I wasn't aware in advance that it was a religious group / situatoin. I would let it go if it happened once, but mention it if it happened regularly.

It provides an opportunity to teach ypur child about cultural practice and habits. Religion is an anthropological construct. It exists throughout the world. It is good to have knowledge of it as only through knowledge can one develop an open mind.

It's also a nice song. As are All Things Bright and Beautiful, Love Divine and many others. There's nothing wrong with a bit of Bach either.

Do you advocate no Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Guy Fawkes, and Mothering Sunday too? No Christian burials regardless of the deceased's wishes? No Church weddings? No Baptisms? What about Diwali, Chanukah, Ramadan, etc, and your children shouldn't find out about them?

My DD went to church, to a church school, was a chorister, became an atheist at 14, is studying Theology, focussing on Middle Eastern studies and learning Arabic. Broadening her knowledge, honing her thoughts, exploring other cultures. Generally being liberal in all things.

I hope your child is never so ill you feel if nothing else, you can at least pray for them. I have been there when there was no hope. Only then might you understand why some people do not discount belief entirely and accept it as a part of society that may serve an intrinsic human need.

Well you're going to struggle when school starts.

Yes do you know i've been trying to explain to my 1 year old grand daughter the basis of newtonian physics and in particular light diffraction!

I'm actually minded to give her an old Prisim I have around somewhere then perhaps she'll understand that better:)

In the meantime heres a very nice song from a mixtape I've made for her its in a way about how amazing our world can be and in the second instance, just what we humankind can do:)

Enjoy:) Well she seems to like it certianly calms her down and sends her to dreamland!

I agree with the OP, tbh. It's not just the mention of God in a secular context, it's the propagandising stuff about "it can't be chance" and so on. Most of us wouldn't tolerate other kinds of propaganda telling us to vote Conservative or that astrology determines our destiny, so why accept propaganda about God?

I attended a lot of church playgroups with DD, and it used to drive me nuts, but of course you can't say anything in that context because it's what you've signed up for (due to a lack of alternatives, in my case).

Replace 'god' with 'science' and move on

I hope your child is never so ill you feel if nothing else, you can at least pray for them. I have been there when there was no hope. Only then might you understand why some people do not discount belief entirely and accept it as a part of society that may serve an intrinsic human need.

That is a disgusting thing to say.

“ I agree with the OP, tbh. It's not just the mention of God in a secular context”

But then she should have objected to the Diwali stuff too.

@shearwater yes, that's what I was trying to say (a lot less eloquently and clearly) by the song having a 'direct message'. It states, in very simple terms, that God created the earth, presumably worded for children.

And apologies for my wording in an earlier post. Of course, I don't know that all these things were created by chance.

I'm going to step away now, having conceded that I was probably taking my thought process a bit too far!

@00100001 I posted twice. My first post saying I have Baby Sensory class tomorrow and on our agenda it says it's Colour Week, therefore am assuming it's the same class.

Awe!!! I love that song. I think it’s so sweet. My youngest goes to a very heavily religious school. We also attend church. My eldest however. Goes to a very agnostic school. They come to church with me because they like it. However they aren’t christened. (I’m Baptist. So they wouldn’t be). I believe they need to make their own choices.

I do however love that little song. They have lovely gestures that go with it and all the kids smile and clap.

I don’t even think a 6 month old child would even understand the words to it. Heck my 6 yr old only likes it because of how it’s sung. She doesn’t really understand the concept behind the whole thing.

But surely 'God' is subjective to every individual person/religion etc. Most religions refer to whoever they follow/worship as a 'God'.
The late Dave Allan used to acknowledge with the closing line of his show 'May your God go with you'

Just with thanks to @chaotica. I think the debate has clarified for me that it was the creationist assumption in this particular setting that jarred. Thanks for helping me identify that.

I don't think this is worth getting your knickers in a twist about. I still remember lots of songs from school that when I look back I realise were Christian, but it totally went over my head. I just enjoyed the music.

I was brought up in a very Christian, musical family so was probably more exposed to sacred lyrics than most. But as an adult I'm an atheist so I don't think it scarred me! My parents encouraged debate and discussion rather than indoctrination and I think that's the important bit. That's what I will encourage in my DCs.

Behave yourself. Are you also planning on getting offended when your child starts school and they put on a nativity play? 🙄

@OhTheRoses. Just wanted to say. I’ve been there too. At that point when all you do is pray to god your child is going to be ok. Because it’s literally the only thing you CAN do.

Hugs. That was the hardest time of my life.

What about Christmas Carols? I think you'll be hard pushed to shield your child from all those terrible religious songs.

Extraordinary how deeply ingrained Christian privilege is in our society.