SHOULD we be teaching religion in schools?

[JustSleepAlready]

In light of recent events. I don’t think teaching about different religions is a negative thing per say- it promotes knowledge, understanding, and CHOICE. I’m not sure if I agree with specific schools for specific religions tho, perhaps this is mind blocking kids to other possibilities /beliefs in life?? Like I say, I’m not sure. I’m not religious, have never practiced religion. I have nothing against anyone because of their religion. I guess I would have something against you if you mean harm to me or my family ( despite your religion. Although if it’s BECAUSE of your religion I guess in a way I am against it?). What do others think? I’m in no way skating or referring to any single religion. As a ND person, just wondering what others think?

In my opinion, religion is a personal choice and has no place in schools.

@greycloudysky

In my opinion, religion is a personal choice and has no place in schools.

But how will people learn about it? And without learning you wouldn’t understand the problems and wars about Israel, the reason why Talibans are not representative of all Muslims, why there are such issues with Sunnits and Shiites. Basically why we have so many world problems nowadays.

How do you explain Easter and Christmas?

It doesn’t matter if you are religious or not or which religion you may belong to.
Living religion is a private matter, I agree. But children need to be taught about religion if we want them to understand the world and the culture we live in.

@tangerinelollipop

Is religion always a positive for society?

I sometimes think about the old Roman Empire. We would be horrified today of what they would have considered to be 'ethical' and 'moral' (I'm not even sure if those were even concepts back then)

A lot of work has been done by religions over the centuries to achieve the 'morality' we have as a society today. It has permeated much of what we currently consider to be 'good' and 'bad'.

That's why I don't believe religion is as useless as some want to make it out to be

The Roman empire was religious.

Religion and repression have always gone hand in hand.

bgxqt I was talking about modern mainstream religions and how they have contributed to shaping current ideas around ethics and morality.

You got the wrong end of the stick there

@tangerinelollipop

bgxqt I was talking about modern mainstream religions and how they have contributed to shaping current ideas around ethics and morality.

You got the wrong end of the stick there

My apologies for not realising that by religion, you only meant some religions.

Anyway, it was probably better to be gay in the Roman empire than in one of the 'mainstream modern' religions.

@tangerinelollipop

bgxqt I was talking about modern mainstream religions and how they have contributed to shaping current ideas around ethics and morality.

You got the wrong end of the stick there

I’d put that the other way round - cultural ideas about ethics and morality shape religions. This is what we argue about with religions time and time again. In religious thinking an idea that was current - and convenient for some - 2000 years ago, say, is written down and then cast in stone, stopping the natural cultural evolution of ideas.

I’m of the school of thought that thinks religions should be taught about, in the context of philosophy, ethics, and different cultural customs. Schools should not be funded by religious bodies. We should tax them (CofE is still one of England’s richest organisations and biggest landowners) and build secular schools instead.

I’d put that the other way round - cultural ideas about ethics and morality shape religions.

Or in other words - man makes God in his own image.

Well put, especially with the emphasis on man.

cultural ideas about ethics and morality shape religions

But Christianity emerged and came to challenge what was customary in the Roman Empire at the time, for instance.

It did, both in good and bad ways, the latter of which have been largely glossed over for centuries. It was the populism of its time, in the middle of the fermenting ideas pot that was a newly swollen unplanned empire of huge social tensions. Then Rome rather cleverly managed to take it over and turn it into a method of upholding its otherwise unjustifiably illegitimate inequalities, and thus it has been used ever since. Some use it to inspire them into genuine humanism, some into holy crusades of brutality. The interplay of cultural ideas and justifications is never simple .

As I said, if we take ancient cultures where it was considered ethical to perform human sacrifices, what would have made them stop? You shall not kill is part of the Ten Commandments for instance.

I think we cannot assume that humans (or any culture), left to their own devices would somehow discover a concurrent and common global path to ascertain what is an isn't ethical. Mainstream religion has had a significant role to play in this. We cannot deny that, I think

The interplay of cultural ideas and justifications is never simple

True

No. I think it should be replaced by Ethics and/ or sociology.
There can then be a topic for cultural studies where religion can be objectively discussed as part of learning about different countries/ societies around the world. A lot of what our society is today is actually built on religious beliefs.

@tangerinelollipop

As I said, if we take ancient cultures where it was considered ethical to perform human sacrifices, what would have made them stop? You shall not kill is part of the Ten Commandments for instance.

I think we cannot assume that humans (or any culture), left to their own devices would somehow discover a concurrent and common global path to ascertain what is an isn't ethical. Mainstream religion has had a significant role to play in this. We cannot deny that, I think

Wasn't human sacrifice banned in Rome before Christianity?

Wasn't human sacrifice banned in Rome before Christianity

I was thinking of Mayan culture (it's just an example that comes to my mind now). Not making a value judgement, as I said before

I think we cannot assume that humans (or any culture), left to their own devices would somehow discover a concurrent and common global path to ascertain what is an isn't ethical. Mainstream religion has had a significant role to play in this. We cannot deny that, I think

If you look up cultures that practised human sacrifice (since this appears to be the moral hill lollipop wants to die on), there are not that many^.

Human sacrifice in ancient culture appears to be an outlier rather than the norm. On the other hand there are a lot of cultures - off the top of my head the Maori, Aboriginals, Yanomami but there are more - do not and never have practised human sacrifice. There is also strong archaeological evidence that in Western Europe, the practice was dying out long before Christianity came along. The link just isn't there.

On the other hand the influence of mainstream Christianity in the context of colonisation is well documented and not at all benign.

And lollipop - what you said above is the old 'you need religion to have morals' argument, dressed up in a different outfit. It's still bollocks.

Isn’t it religious studies in secular schools and religious education in religious schools?

Yes you should be teaching about other faiths.

To what extent did the medieval burning of Christians, and other persecutions, who had slightly different ideas than the version of Christianity mandated in different states, resemble human sacrifice to gods? Discuss. It just occurred to me to wonder on this spring day. Certainly ‘Thou shalt not kill’ - despite being a reasonable rule for large numbers of people to follow who might otherwise struggle living together to form an economy - can be broken by the state to protect itself or attack others ( fourth crusade anyone)? Christianity could live next to Roman slavery, and also to later medieval restraint in that area, to Victorian imperialism and pits, the post world war transformations, and now comes back at the same time as those social transformations are undone. Someone mentioned Christmas and Easter, both drawn from north European seasonal celebrations.

Religion should just be taught as a belief that some people have.
I'm not a fan of church schools either. So many families feel the need to force themselves to church in order to secure a place for their children because they generally get great results. The trouble is, they often get great results due to the hot house techniques that they deploy.
This is merely my opinion and I'm prepared to be flamed.

Well, I think the hijacking or twisting of ideas to justify accumulation of power is a problem inherent to people (not the basic principles largely common to most religions).

And it will unfortunately continue to happen, if not with religion, it will happen with ideologies.

So people do shape religions, and are the originators of the ideas then.
At least when they’re not being justified by faith and belief they can be held up for discussion and examination. And rejected, or openly imposed by force / social pressure alone.

So people do shape religions, and are the originators of the ideas then

No, I don't think it always works like that. But we can agree to disagree

@1Morewineplease should it also be taught that it’s often based on the family you are born into?

[quote Jipterjames]@1Morewineplease should it also be taught that it’s often based on the family you are born into?[/quote]
Sorry?