To think that religous education should be complusory for EVERYONE

[ReallyTired]

I think that everyone should learn about ALL the major relgions in the world, whether they are Christian, Muslim, Buddist, Hindu, or Athesist or agnostic.

However I think that religous education should be taught as "This is what Christians believe" rather than "This is what WE believe". Children should not be subjected to attempts to convert them to different relgions, but they need to understand and tolerate difference. Ie. Learn that there are times that we should agree to disagree.

A basic knowledge of the five world's major relgions helps children understand current affairs, history and avoid offending people from other cultures to themselves.

If parents want their children brought up as a Christian, Muslim, athesist or pagan then they can take their children to church/ Temple/ Mosque out of school hours.

I like the assemblies at the the special school I work at. They have no relgious songs, but the school has fun singing pop songs. Although the songs are non religous they have lyrics encouraging good behaviour.
All the children are included and gain from the experience.

I want my kids to be taught Christianity is fact and not Christianity iss one happy story and there are lots of other happy stories. I think it's my priviledge as a parent to make this choice for my children.

I also think that parents who don't want religeon as part of their children's education should have the right to make that choice.

AtheneNoctua - there are lots of excellent Sunday schools that can do that for you.

Athene... you can teach your children whatever you want.

But it should be the duty of the education system to let them know htat here are lots of other belief systems. And that they are in some cases far from 'happy stories'.

I don't want it one day a week. I want it five. I want it to be an integral part of their education. And, yes, I also want them to learn about other world religeons. But, I want my religeon taught first and foremst. Surely there are lots of parents of lots of religeons who feel this way.

I mean, I wouldn't go into Isreal and start telling them that they should tech judaism in parallel with buddism, Islam, etc. Of course not. They are Jewish and that is what they want their children to be.

My children's religeon is a very personal decision and it belongs to me, not the state.

our children to go to a catholic school so obviously R.E is a part of theirs and our lives ,i do think that with understnding of various religion comes an element of respect and i think a lot of misunderstandings could be eased if we were all more understanding/accepting of each others religion you dont have to follow it but understanding and tolerance go a huge distance towards acceptance.

I also think a lot of childhood traumas could be eased if there was an element of understanding bout how other cultures view events such s death.

Athene - send her to a religious school then. Where they can add as much of their own variety as they like. I'm glad you do want them to learn about other religions - unfortunately some religious schools don't do that.

Ultimately your chidrens religion is a personal decision and it belongs to them not you or the state. Hopefully all our children will get sufficient education to let them make an informed decision.

But AN what about all the jewish, muslim, jedi parents who want what you want? Are you saying the state should be paying for schools for every religion?

isn't it better just to keep it out of publicly funded schools?.

If you are not talking about sending your children to privately funded religious schools, i'm sure there are places they could go five evenings a week, or you could start one up with other like minded parents.

not sure how much they'd thank you for that however.

very much with Dawkins on this one; there is no such thing as a Christian child, but a child of Christian parents.

Back to the same old sticking point really. Since there is little true choice of school any religious teaching also applies to those who didn't choose it.

AtheneNoctua, if it happened that there was only a muslim school in your area would you be happy to have them teach your kids to worship allah? or a mormon school teaching that polygamy was best?

If not then you must agree with those of us who want it seperate from the actual schooling.

There are private prep schools in the UK that are completely permeated with a Christian ethos... maybe you should be looking at those, Athene?

Perhaps I misunderstood the intent of the the thred. I thought the OP was saying all children should learn all religeons equally. (i.e. abolish church school)

Mine do go to a church school, they spend more time on the associate relieon but all major religeons are covered. I thought this was required of all schools as a part of the national curriculum?

AtheneNoctua, well, as it happens, I agree with you, I want faith to be an integral part of my children's upbringing and education, which is one of the reason we've chosen to take the full burden of it on ourselves rather than sending them to a school.

But I certainly wouldn't expect my children to learn about Christianity everyday in a state school.

Fluffyanimal, I had no plans to teach kids that religion is silly. Just to ignore it. There is no need for lessons teaching that goblins don't exist or pixies so why would I want to teach that god doesn't? I just don't want you going around telling vulnerable children that he does until such time as you have proof.

Reality isn't a personal option or based on belief. Reality is still there even if you close your eyes and put your fingers in your ears.

PErhaps you would like it better in the United States, where we have separation of church and state. It is a lovely country.

In the United Kingdon, however, there is no such separation. There is one state relgeon, just like lots of other countries. I don't expect Iran to provide Catholic school for children of Catholic parents. And, likewise, I don't expect the United Kindom to pay for church schools whose religeons are not the state religeon.

Anna, I would love for my children to go to private school. But, sadly, I can't afford it.

yes, well I'm a non-conformist baptist who is all for a well-thought out and planned disestablishment, so raspberries to the state church

grey river, i find your post insulting and obscene

Spero, I'm not talking about whether or not there is a god or gods, I'm talking about the objectivity of the view that religion is a dangerous delusion. I am undecided as to whether or not it is a delusion to believe in the existence of a god, but I think whether it is dangerous or not is merely one point of view among many. I agree that plenty of terrible things have been done in the name of religions, but equally, plenty of really good things have been done too. Also, it is quite possible to distill common moral principles from the teachings of many major religions, leaving aside any 'supernatural' considerations.

Besides, your quip about God existing but he hates us actually reveals the truth of your assertion. What you have is no empirical evidence that God does exist, and evidence to suggest the probability that he doesn't exist, which is not the same as evidence that he actually doesn't.

So I think that it is just as dangerous and one-sided to put forward the view that religion is dangerous, than to put forward the middle view that religions exist, certain people believe certain things for various reasons, and that the nature of religion is such that it relies on interpretation, which varies and leads to the vast amount of good and bad things done in the name of religion.

I would feel uncomfortable with acts of worship in assembly, but I would not feel uncomfortable with the cultural, ethical and philosophical relevance of religions being taught in school, whether it be in a specially dedicated class, or integrated into History or Philosophy or Citizenship or whatever. Religion is part of the human condition and children should be taught some understanding of it as such.

Greyriver, I don't want teachers telling children that God exists either, just that some people believe that he does.

But to play devil's advocate for a moment, do you allow your children to believe in Father Christmas, or the tooth fairy, however temporarily?

for you that you cannot afford what you want and that (for once) actually exists out there

I went to a very Christian-ethos prep school. It didn't make me into a believer in God, but it did make me think about moral issues.

Anna, why are you suggesting I leave the system I work hard to support? Not everyone can be a kept woman in gay Paris. (nor wants to be)

My children go to a school which supports our state regligeon. Of course there is a role for the state to support the state religeon.

Are you suggesting that people who can afford to pay for private school should leave the state school and put up their own tuition?

The separation of church and state in the US is a good thing. But I get the impression that they would benefit immensely from the OPs proposition. (I saw someone ... Dan Dennett I think suggesting it like it was a really novel concept over there... teach kids about other religions...!!)

Athene - I don't understand your post entirely / what you are getting at me for.

All I am saying is that you say you want five-day-a-week Christianity at school. I say - that exists (combined with academic excellence) within the private system. You say - I can't afford private. I say - bad luck.

The state can obviously not cater to everyone's whims. It caters to the greater good. If you want speciality schooling, in the UK it is available, at a price, obviously.

fluffyanimal, we'll have to agree to disagree. I think there is a lot of objective evidence that religion is dangerous. and when my daughter learns about history, she'll learn more than enough about that.

I don't really care if god/gods exist or not. If they do, they clearly hate us. or are completely indifferent to us.

but your middle way is entirely sensible; lets teach children this as part of their history lessons.

its a very interesting point that christianity is our 'state' religion. Nominally perhaps. But not in reality. About time we formally separated church and state.

...at the moment that 'speciality schooling' is what you get in a lot of village state schools... I'm having to pay to NOT have it. And DD still gets assemblies...