Jesus held on the cross with nails in his hands

[TaFox]

DD5 is in year 1 and has been learning about Jesus at school. Great stuff in the spirit of Easter.

The RE teacher told the class how Jesus was NAILED to the cross.

This is quite graphic for a little girl who believes that the Easter bunny will leave eggs in our garden.

Should I tell school that this is too much info for little ears?

There's very little evidence to show it ever happened at all.

It’s a fact that Jesus was a real person. Historians acknowledge this. Whether or not you believe he was the son of god is a different matter. But you can’t misinform your children that ‘Jesus isn’t real and it’s not a real story’.

This is absolutely my take too. 'It's religion!!' is such a poor reason for exposing children to themes of violence/torture.
I'm speaking as someone who gradually rejected Christianity as they grew up and is skeptical of the value of covering it in any great detail in schools today. Clearly someone who is still under the impression it's all 'true' would have a different take.

stillplentyofjunkinthetrunk · Today 12:34

I'm not sure it will help but the point of crucifixion was that it was a very slow and painful death. As a child I was told that this was why the soldier stabbed him with a spear to cut his suffering short. It helped me at the time.

They could last up to a week, if they were really unlucky, they'd often break their legs, so that they would hang by their arms alone and suffocate.

The reason for the spear was that it was the Sabbath and night was falling and having a dying person up there would have offended the sensibilities of the locals.

I did think of this the other day! Now that the majority of brutality has been erased from our daily lives, humanity has to quench their need for it in some form, eg movies, video games, books, true crime, etc.

I have family ties to a 3rd world country, and many people there just want to watch happy things, not a re-enactment of themes around them growing up or right now. Whereas media with violent or horrifying themes (even just plain old psychological thrillers) is very popular in 1st world Western or Asian countries where people live peaceful lives daily. I'm guessing it's an innate need really.

I'm quite squeamish and a scaredycat, but even then I sometimes feel morbid fascination upon coming across or hearing a particular sick story.

Maybe not, I was thinking of British history. Religious history has always seemed to be full of nastiness though and little kids seem to be exposed to that quite early on.

@ruhroh when I said ‘if it really happened’ I was questioning OPs account of what happened at school. I don’t question what happened to Jesus. It’s a story which may or may not be based on a real event but I don’t care enough to have an opinion on it.

Ok but my post wasn't really addressed to you. I saw a few posts doubting if Jesus existed and randomly quoted yours as a jumping off point for the fact/general thread discussion that Muhammed, Jesus, Buddha and other historical figures existed – some people don't care, but equally others find history interesting

Perhaps hold off on reading her Grimm’s fairytales then, OP.

Easter doesn't have origins in a pagan festival - it's a myth that is thrown up every single year. It's just not true. It's in spring because Jesus was crucified at Passover

@BurntOrange do you have an idea where the word Easter comes from? Look it up in an etymological dictionary, it has nothing at all to do with Jesus/God or Christianity. Hint, oestrogen has the same roots.

The Vernal Equinox is the eggs, bunnies, Eostre one. Easter is based purely on the date of Passover.

The Romans physically crucified Jesus. God prompted Judas to betray Him to the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin handed Him over to the Romans. They also rigged the crowd to choose Barrabas to be be the recipient of Pilate's mercy, not Jesus.
But, ultimately, it was all a part of God's plan. I've always felt sorry for Judas, tbh.

The Vernal Equinox is the eggs, bunnies, Eostre one. Easter is based purely on the date of Passover.

Why's it called Easter then?

Is the name calling necessary.
You made your point without it

You are lying to your child....

Here’s Encyclopaedia Brittanica to explain

I mean, that is the story of Easter and the UK has been Christianised for a fairly long time so most children in mainstream school will have learned this and not been too traumatised by it.
The Pagan spring festival always falls on the Spring equinox - which was yesterday :) - and that one IS all about bunnies and eggs (a sick bird that was turned into a healthy hare that lays eggs actually). I grew up celebrating 'Easter' on Easter Sunday with my atheist parents and not really understanding why some people went to church and were mildly offended by all the focus on chocolate eggs. My own children (home ed) celebrate the equinox on the correct day (and take advantage of the happy coincidence that there are chocolate eggs in Tesco) and don't really take any notice of Easter because it's not our sacred day.

@Lessstressedhemum :"The Vernal Equinox is the eggs, bunnies, Eostre one. Easter is based purely on the date of Passover."

... And the date of Passover is based on ... ... full moon ... ... following, ... ...(wait for it!) ... ... Vernal Equinox.

Passover, Schmaschover, Easter, Schmeaschter ... what's it matter so long as you get your bunnies and eggs?

Never. We didn't go on holiday as children and my parents certainly weren’t interested in visiting churches or cathedrals on days out. To be honest we very rarely went on trips or days out. My first holiday was at 12 to Cornwall for five days.

The date of Passover marks the actual date in the calendar in which Jews believed God passed over the homes of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt

Yeah it’s not fetishly patriarchal at all…. All that whipped and stripped stuff as well….

This capital punishment was administered by Roman pagans, not Christians...

And what you were told about this form of execution is absolutely true. It was common at the time. It's history. Don't blame Christianity for that.

Why is it good that children get taught about Christianity? Unless your family are practicing christians then what's the point? Telling someone to just put up and shut up or in your words "get over it" is ridiculous