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?

He WAS nailed to the cross.
It was an extra harsh crucifixion including insults pinned above his head and a crown of thorns.
He wasn’t ‘placed’ there and there wasn’t a ledge under his bum for him to take a break on.
It does help to hear certain things as a child because it’s beyond gory to think about it from an adult’s perspective, like pp said about the Egyptians and the Tudors.
It would have been just the basic sentence and then left to be added to over the years with the meaning of Easter. Why it happened, the meaning behind the actions, the sacrifice and the love.

Also, the Maltesers in his hands joke is aimed for primary age! 😂

The word Easter in English derives from the pagan goddess Oestre , who was celebrated in spring. Most European countries use a name possibly derived from the Jewish festival of Passover, which was also not about Jesus but about the Israelites in Egypt.

Oh FFS. She is SIX. You make a lovely grown-up point about the symbolism and nature of the sacrifice that some people believe someone called Jesus made.

So what? The child is six. And I doubt very much that she'd be capable of appreciating the 'potency of the symbol', I think it would just be shock-horror. You could equally say, well it's absolutely right and proper that people know exactly what happened to millions of Jews (and other persecuted groups) during the Nazi holocaust (and so it is) - but would you sit a six year old down and tell them in detail? Bloody hell, I hope you wouldn't.

I grew up Catholic and this was just a part of the deal. I am not raising my kid Catholic, but one day I decided to take him to sunday school (when he was a toddler) just to view different points of view. And oh my lanta. It was near Easter, and they gave him an advent calendar that they had made using an egg carton. One of the days had ACTUAL NAILS in it!!!

I've more of an issue with children being told Jesus died for their sins than the actual nailing. For a start, what sins do children have? In any case, he was put to death by the government because he presented a challenge. One of the first political prisoners and people are still killed by governments today for daring to challenge corruption.

There will be much worse to learn at school than the crucifixion.

What Christians call Easter in the UK is a moveable feast, because the Jewish Passover is a moveable feast (both based on full moons). The full moon which determines when Easter Sunday occurs, is even called the ‘Paschal’ full moon. JC’s death and resurrection was supposed to have occurred around the Jewish Passover which is determined by the full moon.

The Christian Easter doesn’t always coincide exactly with the Jewish Passover as the Jewish year has leap years which throw it off, and I think Christian churches made some other adjustments later on as well. Orthodox Christians still follow the Julian calendar, whereas western churches follow the Gregorian calendar. So, if your dates are different, that can affect which full moon is your Paschal full moon.

This is basic RE stuff for Easter.
Kids have always been taught this from a young age in a country that is Christian.
Every image of Jesus on the cross shows the nails and the cut in his lower abdomen from the Roman centurions sword.

I was taught all this from a very young age as I went to church on Sundays and Holy days where a huge cross hung behind the alter with Jesus in colour, blood and all.
Its part of his sacrifice and has never affected me negatively.

Er, I’m an atheist. But that’s what the religion is about. 🤷🏼‍♀️

As an aside - have you ever heard of Godwin’s law? Because you sort of lost the argument there, I’m afraid.

My kids went to a community school and learned that at the same age too.
Tbh they enjoyed Horrible Histories type information so it didn’t bother them.

I think this is true. As a child I just sort of accepted the crucifixion story, it was only much later that the horror of it hit me.

That’s the Jesus story. No point in sugar coating it. She’s going to come across lots of stuff about religion that’s far more damaging than that little fairy tale.

@BoohooWoohoo , yes I agree that kids are naturally attracted to scary and disgusting things. I don’t think we’re doing children a great service by shielding them from narratives that strike their imagination. It can all be counterbalanced at home.

I’m pretty sure my DCs were more scared of the Easter bunny. Perhaps because I told them he would steal any toys that had not been tidied away 😂On the upside, we had a tidy living room for one night a year.

Easter (Ostera/Oestre) was originally a pagan celebration of spring and fertility and not about Jesus at all. Point out to me where the word ‘Easter’ is used in the bible. Easter was hijacked by Christianity to celebrate the resurrection so Bunnies are probably more apt.

Me too. My dd is in catholic school let me tell you. This is tame compared to the stories of how some saints died. Everytime she has to pick a saint to dress as I say please pick someone who didn't die too horribly.

Cows are slaughtered for beef,marrow,leather etc. Get mastitis from giving their calf's milk up for full grown weaned adult humans etc.

The fact that Jesus was accused and sent to be crucified even though he did no wrong and did it willingly is the main lesson.

I personally object to children being taught religion in school at all, but as someone who was brought up in the 70's where being christian was considered what everyone was unless you said otherwise, I cant remember a time when I didnt know this. Its was just kind of one of those things that filtered into consciousness. The pictures, the stories etc.

I dont think it is traumatising at all. Lies and indoctrination yes, but not scary.

Is this a normal school, i.e. not a 'religious' one?

When DD (now 12) was in reception the local Round Table did their usual going round the schools giving out small easter eggs to all the kids. It was a lovely thing to do, it ensured every child got an egg without singling out anyone who was more disadvantaged.

Except one year they dress as Easter Bunnies. Now I am sure that the heart was in the right place but fuck me......some of them were terrifying! Donnie Darko was less scary than a couple of them! DD was absolutely petrified, refused to even go out of the class room, much less approach them an egg and she wasn tht eonly one. The next year they went back to wearing Easter bonnets, so I suspect that there were alot of traumatised kids around the town with a lifelong phobia of the Easter Bunny! Even now she shudders and says about how she hates people dressed up as animals as it freaks her out, I sympathise!

I grew up in the 70s and had no idea about Christianity. Yes, there was a Religious Education class once a week but I paid no attention and there wasn't homework. I went to a private school where half of the girls were Jewish. I entered adulthood thinking half of the UK population was Jewish.

I’m American, so what do I know, but I never understand these posts. You live in a country that has an official state religion, and then you’re shocked when kids are taught the essentials of it in school? Knowing that Jesus was nailed to the cross and died is necessary to understand Christianity, and Easter in particular. How else are you going to explain to a little kid why Christians celebrate Easter? Or even why there’s that “addition sign” on top of a church building?

The private school thing may be the difference. Plus the fact that it had a larger religious diversity. At my school there were two black kids and no other non white pupils, Christianity was certainly the expected norm.

State school for everyone I know involved at least one hymn and at least one prayer in assembly every day, plus a talk from the Head. It was like a mini church service and it was compulsory. I can still sing "Lord of the Dance" by heart......

The history about the world is a gruesome thing . Wait for the first museum trip .
None of it .

Would be more inclined to tell the food industry to stop selling chocolate eggs. Nothing to do with Easter and contributes to obesity.

Eggs have more to do with the pagan celebration of Spring fertility, which is the festival that was hijacked by the church in order to make acceptance of christianity more acceptable to the general populus, than a man being murdered because he had delusions of grandeur...in my opinion.

Crikey. I've done Catholicism from birth, with 13 years of Convent education and still managed to miss that delightful little detail! Yuk 🤢