ghost

[dmo]

my son 11 is in yr7 at a catholic high school
his english project at the moment is on ghosts and he has to re-serch them

aibu to think that this is not a topic i would like my son to look into esp being a catholic school, when you die you die and go to haven not stay on earth being a ghost

should i say something to school?

What a peculiar topic

I wouldn't say anything to the school, tbh, but I would keep an eye on what they are actually doing. Does your ds have a home/school journal that you can write a comment in if you felt it necessary?

yabu - this is more general knowledge than anything else. A lot of people believe, so its good for your son to know about it. It doesn't mean the school is promoting the belief, just looking at it as a topic.

what exactly does he have to research? Ghosts are not a fact - nor is heaven. It is perfectly reasonable to ask an 11-year old to use reserch skills to look for information about ghosts - in stories and legends, in history, in art etc. He is not being told to beleive in them, he is being asked to find out about them.
Same as lots of topics at school - he might be asked to research Judaism - but he's being asked to find out about it, not to convert.
Finding out about the world and making up what you believe is education.

Like other beliefs/religions, it's something that some people believe in. Can he approach it (with your help) from a factual point of view "some people believe... " etc, referencing legends and myths?

Actually, what LightSITD said...

I would NOT be happy if I had kids and they were told to look up Ghosts unless it was related to His Catholic faith,

its not essential to English course and grades you could ask if he could do the research project on the Holy Spirit instead and that would provide an alternative research view to people who believe in Ghosts.

Yourr Son could research how Catholics and Catholic Priests/leaders respond to 'Ghost'
issues if people come to them for guidance.

He could ask his Catholic Priest to do an interview with Him on 'Ghosts and Catholic Faith'

Let us know how he gets on Cheers JZ7

JZ7 - what an odd reply. Surely the Holy Spirit is not the same as a ghost?

Although I have understood from some some reading and people that some parts of the Catholic faith believe and practive 'talking to the saints' I don't know if its majority view but there has been some darker practices even in the Church Institutions and hid behind 'Religion'

But your view is what I believe too, the same issue has been raised when Harry Potter was all the craze and some parents have questioned the teachers choice of set texts
when Harry Potter is selected as some parents believe that kids are influenced by the practices of magic and occult from Harry Potter. And to some extent some kids have experimented....

JZ7

My DS4 is also in Year 7 so I will ask him if they are doing the same work.

If he googles ghosts sit with him, especially if he goes onto Youtube to look at video's. Many of them are the trick scary kind of video. DS4 got engrossed in one of them (he is very interested in Bigfoot, ghosts, paranormal stuff etc) and the picture changed quickly to a scene from the Exorcist - he screamed and cried for about half an hour afterwards.

I almost passed out to be honest!!!! I have only seen The Exorcist once when it first came out in the 1970's!!! Have never got over it!!

I don't really see the objection.

From a literary point of view there are many novels and plays with ghosts - hamlet for eg.

It is interesting from a scientific point of view to try and see if you can come up with natural phenomena to explain people's sightings.

A lot of cultures and religions believe in ghosts and spirits so it's interesting to find out what others believe.

I really can't see the problem. I think your argument is that as Catholics don't believe in ghosts (although I know quite a few who think they might have seen one) that the children shouldn't learn about them. That seems a bit shortsighted to me.

If it's part of english literature I think it's justified. Whole genre of supernatural literature after all.

As tumtumtum says - it's from Hamlet through to Harry Potter as a literary device. Don't see the issue really ... though of course if it were, say in RS or PSHE then I might be concerned

And dmo your faith is obviously v strong so I don't think that one thing on ghosts is going to undermine what you and the church teach your child the rest of the time.

Out of interest what are your views on evolution/creationism/intelligent design? As I think that if you have very stong traditional religious views there are a lot of things (not just that example) your DC will be taught as a part of the national curriculum, which you will find go against the grain.

?Lightshinesinthedarkness,

no I know the Holy Spirit is not a Ghost that was the whole point, I was suggesting that instead of her son researching Ghosts to research the Holy Spirit - an alternative view as this is still spiritual phenomena and part of the Christian faith.

JZ7

..but ghosts are not 'spiritual' phenomena - there is nothing spiritual about ghosts. Spiritual implies a connection with religion or faith, surely?

Why not tell him to concentrate on ghosts in traditional legend, or literature, or something? No worse than being told to research say unicorns or fairies.

Though many leading Catholic churchmen over the centuries have believed in ghosts and used this belief to promote the Catholic faith. It may be considered incompatible with modern Catholic faith, but I bet most medieval saints and theologians would not have thought so.

The spiritualist church involves talking to people who have passed on though doesn't it - which sounds pretty much like ghosts to me and I'm sure that they consider themselves to be spiritual.

In fact the word spiritual implies communing with spirits doesn't it - whatever they may be and to some people I'm sure that includes "ghosts".

What are your concerns? Are you worried that his projects is going to cause to to dabble in Luiegee boards or black magic or witch craft.

Many christians, but certainly not all do believe in supernatural. Although plenty of christians do not believe in ghosts. What about all those priests who perform exorisims?

I suppose it depends what kind of direction his project takes. How would you feel if he did a project in Islam? I don't think he is going start believing in ghosts because of a project.

Ghosts of course are spiritual when there is genuine stuff happening and yes there are lots of faiths, religions linked to Ghosts.

Ancestor worship - in many cultures,
China - some sort phenomenon

plus there are two ways of defining Ghosts:

1. Majority - 'talking to the dead' seeing 'dead peaple etc..

1. False Spirits - (Christian understanding)

where a fallen angel can appear as someones dead relative to decieve and make an influence in some way on the persons beleifs.

This view is hardly discussed on the mainstream media yet it is the most accurate
account of the true nature of Ghosts

So mediums who 'channel dead peoples spirits' are actually channelling the work of a false spirit who imparts information about the dead person as false angels have timeless powers to draw on the life experience and energy of the persons soul.
Then people are led to believe that their dead relative is talking to them.

JZ

tumtum - i get your point, but I think a ghost is something that you actually SEE - (the visible disembodied soul of a dead person). Mediums in a Spiritualist Church don't claim to see or talk to ghosts.

Lots of medieval Catholic texts swarm with ghosts- usually come back from hell to warn their relatives not to follow in their footsteps. Some of them are written by eminent churchmen. Maybe your ds can do research on "beliefs held by the Catholic church at various times". But to suggest that Catholics have never believed in ghosts- as in apparitions of the dead- is clearly unhistorical and false.

WOuld you object to him learning about Greek or Roman or Norse mythology? Or the festivals and practices of Hindus or Sikhs or Jews or Muslims? Or reading science fiction?
While there are no such things as ghosts, same as there are no such things as gods, from a cultural/historical point of view this is all worth knowing about.
If you really are so obsessed with your DC learning nothing that isn't bucketheaded 'Christianity' then why aren't you home-schooling? Because they will learn that people who are not Catholics exist when they study history (though Catholic schools may well skim over the Inquisition and the reign of Mary Tudor I suppose).

thank you all i will chill out about it just thought it was a very odd subject to do at school but i will go to it as some people believe............................

Besides, Catholics have held these beliefs; they were a major feature in Catholic sermons in the Middle Ages.

Its still a false spirit though and Ghosts don't just operate on being seen visibly, they can be hear audibly, they can manipulate things electricity etc...

But yea the traditional reference to seeing a 'ghostly figure' is where you are coming from but its no different than other activities.

Mediums do claim to talk to ghosts through 'channelling dead people' they communicate inwardly and verbally tho not to dead people - no one can talk to dead people as its not possible only spiritual forces and powers from spiritual realm that are non-human and never have been human.

Interesting that different people with different beliefs have different ideas of what constitutes a "ghost".

As a athiest any instance of communicating with someone who was dead, whether you saw them or not, would come under my idea of a ghost ie someone who is dead coming back in some way.

For the believers it seems that some sorts of things I would call a "ghost" are OK and factually exist while others don't.

I must admit that my position of not believing in either type seems more consistent - but then i would say that wouldn't I. And anyway religion isn't really about consistency.

JZ7 - does this stuff really interest you? You seem to have some quite definite ideas about it all.