School payment to mosque

[mumyes]

DS going on school trip to mosque.

Mosque is a big one, very wealthy. Don't want to be too outing. But think v ornate, v wealthy, wealthy area etc.

Parents being asked to contribute financially to trip, which includes a payment to the mosque.

I have no issue with laying for bus etc, but I do have an issue paying the mosque! Ffs, it's a PR exercise for the mosque after all isn't it?! just do it, why charge and already strapped primary school?

Miserable bastards. Charging a school to show them inside a mosque?!

And I'd say this if it was a church or temple or Godess knows what! Do churches really charge?!

Interesting. You've taught me something new, as this is not something we would do in this diocese.

A member of a world faith has the choice whether to follow that faith. A cult seeks to actively deny that choice

You might want to look into apostasy,

A member of a world faith has the choice whether to follow that faith. A cult seeks to actively deny that choice

Apologies, that was for cantkeepawayforever, and for some reason only part of it posted

It actually said that you might want to look into apostasy, and certainly not just regarding Islam - I think that you may find denying a choice to leave is precisely what some advocate

Thing is cathedrals are ancient buildings with enormous maintenance costs and that, like it or not, are more akin to museums than houses of worship these days.

Mosques on the other hand are generally well frequented by good numbers of congregants, and have staff who are paid a stipend of some kind. Proselytising is also an obligation for Muslims, so yes it’s odd that a mosque would charge entry for a children’s activity that is exposing children to Islam.

School visits to mosque in Gloucester.

gloucestermosquevisit.co.uk/guidance-notes-for-visitors/

School Visits
Preferred visiting times are between 9:30am and 11:00am, Monday to Thursdays.

Special visits at other times can be arranged on request and are subject to availability. Accordingly, and depending on the circumstances of the visit, separate hosting arrangements may be made for larger parties or more formal visits.

Charges
Short, non-educational visits (30 minutes or less) – no charge
Standard, educational visits (1 hour and 30 minutes) – £1.50 per visitor

A School Visits typical last 1 hour and 30 minute

Visiting the mosque
The Mosque runs guided tours for schools and local organisations, as well as individuals or small groups. Previous visitors have found such visits to be very educational and helpful. The Mosque constantly strives to build, maintain and strengthen its relationship with the whole community by welcoming any individual, school or organisation that wishes to visit it.

Visits to the mosque will consist of all or some of the following depending on the nature of visit:
Introduction to Islam or talk on a particular subject.
A guided tour of the mosque building accompanied by a faith guide.
Q&A and/or discussion session.
Activities for school children.
Multi-media presentation about the Islamic faith.

I'm sure you would get very different responses if you were complaining about your child having to attend and pay a donation to visit to a church. MN readers don't seem to treat all religions equally. Incidentally, there were plenty of children in my child's class who didn't attend school trips to churches and synagogues and nobody made a fuss.

So strange that such comments are tolerated against Christians. If that was written about any other religious group it would be considered hate speech.

I'm not sure I agree.

I think I'd be even more shocked if a church charged tbh, because the church is such a key part of uk history.

Also, @Archibaldleach, the CE is very, very wealthy. Huge landowners, massive pension funds. Etc

Many cathedrals in this country are very old and cost a fortune to maintain. So paying for them is expected. Not comparable to a, presumably modern mosque that's cheaper to maintain. But I would expect the school to make a donation to cover any expenses/ people's time and effort to help with the visit.

I’ve worked in schools and have organised various trips to different places of worship (all local) and I have never expected to have to pay. In my experience, the places of worship are usually very obliging to school trips. A lot of places of worships thrive off their community, therefore, people often show the children around aren’t expecting to be paid at the end of it!

Be honest ...

Is it's because it's a mosque that you don't want to pay?

What about if it was, say, a catholic church or cathedral? I might be shit down here but the Catholic church is wealthy. Would you have the same

Oops, posted too soon ....

... would you have the same feelings?

Bad day ... "shot down" not "shit down" 😅

The OP literally called the Muslims running the mosque miserable bastards in the first post. If you didn't realise that, and thus didn't see the point of my post, then you're very much part of the problem.

I work on a school, we go on visits to places of worship, and yes we do pay. Buildings have running costs (even modern ones), resources cost money, time costs money - why should we expect our hosts to give their time and space for free? Even the local church charged £1.50 a head for our visit because its a small church, it cost light/heat to host them, and so on. They all got juice and a biscuit and they gave us some colouring sheets, candles, and various other bits for our classroom display. School funded that trip because the church is close enough to walk to.

can girls go as well as boys???

Of course they can. Why do you ask?

Because women are often not allowed in mosques or have their own part that they are allowed to go to

Women are allowed in mosques, they only pray there if there is a women's room/area but a lot of larger mosques do have that. They also often run youth groups, classes, community programmes, etc which are attended by both men/boys and women/girls.

And @jane1956 's post shows EXACTLY why trips to mosques (and other places of worship) are needed.

Is it actually a case of pay on entry or that the school is expected make a donation to the Mosque?

Either way, I wouldn't have an issue with it. 🤷‍♀️

How much are they asking for out of interest?

That to is a really good point...
Come to think of it, I think some of it might be men only.
🤦‍♀️

I really hope that's not something that happens on the trip. Surely not?!?

For the person asking, I could not care less which religion it is. Pls don't suggest this is anti one religion over another. It's not. This trip is to a mosque, however.

I don't know which mosque the OPs child is visiting but here are the prices for educational visits to Regents Park Mosque (big fancy mosque). £60 for up to a group of 30. So 2 quid each.
Compared to a group price for St Paul's Cathedral.
£9 per child.