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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to tell DD he's not the Messiah he's a very naughty boy?

92 replies

bobdog · 22/03/2010 15:22

DD, nearly 5, has come home with a muddled story of Jesus on a cross thing for Easter. The school seem to present this along with the alphabet as a FACT.

AIBU to muddle her up with Monty Python quotes and send her back to school singing 'always look on the bright side of life'

(No offence intended to those that choose to believe in any Religon or to the Bible as a collection of stories and parables)

OP posts:

BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny · 23/03/2010 21:16

Ds was asked in an old school what faith his parents were (it was not a faith school), the head went around most of the class before he got to ds, all of them announced they were catholic (he was a catholic), ds stood up proudly and said "well, I'm a jedi!" He was really told off for this. I'm proud that he followed his own path.

Vallhala · 23/03/2010 21:22

Oh yes, please do (and video pictures of the teacher's face when she hears the song, for broadcast on MN!).

ButterPie · 23/03/2010 21:29

bobdog Love the twinkle twinkle! I've nicked it for my fb status, hope you don't mind.

GrimmaTheNome · 23/03/2010 23:11

Belle - good for your DS! I don't see why he should have been told off, loads of people put Jedi on their census form.

BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny · 23/03/2010 23:16

He "disrupted the flow of the lesson" I moved him to another school at the end of the year, one year of that head was enough. He suggested I send ds off to a boarding school with a "strict housemaster" , this didn't happen!!

GrimmaTheNome · 23/03/2010 23:23

Belle - had the man never heard of a 'free thinker'? But at least he asked what faith the parents were rather than the children themselves. I like the new humanist billboard campaign:Please don't label me

BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny · 23/03/2010 23:28

I think his plan was to get rid of families who didn't meet his 'ethos'. There were a few families that left at the end of that year, some like me were pushed. One family removed their child because the child's father was terminally ill and the mother did't want her child taught that he would go to heaven after his death as it was not their faith, the head refused (second hand info from another disgruntled parent).

I don't mind him being a jedi, he now thinks he's a demonic creature so I actually prefer jedi!

sallyjaygorce · 23/03/2010 23:35

DS thinks God is going to turn Voldemort into a ghost for trying to kill Harry Potter. Then he ran off shouting "I'm Herod and coming to get you" to his sister.

BelleDeChocolateFluffyBunny · 23/03/2010 23:37

helyg · 24/03/2010 07:45

lol bobdog... I live in a small Welsh village, we don't get out much

cory · 24/03/2010 08:07

Very much agree with Throckenholt in telling them "some people believe this, others believe that".

I am very grateful that my parents left me to make my own mind up. I became a Christian, they are atheists/agnostic. Am doing the same for my children: looks at the moment as if they are heading down the atheist/agnostic way.

Thing is, if it's right for atheist parents to tell their children that the Bible is just a story, then presumably it is right for me to tell mine it's the truth. And you don't really think that, do you?

oh and btw I believe in dinosaurs. The majority of Christians do. It's just that the creationists are so much more vocal these days.

GrimmaTheNome · 24/03/2010 08:50

Thing is, if it's right for atheist parents to tell their children that the Bible is just a story, then presumably it is right for me to tell mine it's the truth.

IMO its best if all parents take the "some people (including me) believe this, others believe that" line.

What is unacceptable is for teachers to present their own belief systems as facts which small children may swallow.

Teaching children about Bible (Koran etc) stories is fine because those stories, whether true or not, exist and are historically and culturally important. Teaching kids that they are factually accurate and that there's something wrong if you don't follow a religion is wrong.

TheShriekingHarpy · 24/03/2010 08:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

wonka · 24/03/2010 09:09

My son told them in school 'his Daddy said Jesus was just a made up story' Teacher told my son well your Daddy is wrong!

ArcticFox · 24/03/2010 09:42

Well both your son and the teacher are right. There's little doubt that Jesus did exist and he was crucified for saying he was the son of God. The doubt is as to whether he was who he said/thought he was and whether he was resurrected. Similarly, you cant really dispute that the Prophet Mohammed existed. It's just whether you believe he was who he said/thought he was.

GrimmaTheNome · 24/03/2010 10:39

The atheist billboard campaign is, I suspect, partially prompted by an implicit drive to reduce and dilute certain leading religions.

Well, yes, and why not. As propaganda goes, its rather mild and even-handed (cf your average churchyard billboard).

And if any of the religions was actually true then well, surely an omnipotent god could deal with lack of childhood indoctrination at a later date so there should be no reason for the religious to worry.

ArcticFox · 24/03/2010 10:50

Ah yes, but of course there's a big difference between an omnipotent God and an interventionalist God.

GrimmaTheNome · 24/03/2010 10:55

Ah yes, but of course there's a big difference between an omnipotent God and an interventionalist God.

Oh - then I suppose the Christians wouldn't like it as their god is certainly interventionist, at least intermittently.

ArcticFox · 24/03/2010 10:58

when?

LilyBolero · 24/03/2010 11:03

I agree that creationism shouldn't be taught as 'fact'. In fact most of the Old Testament could be taken with a liberal pinch of salt.

New Testament stuff is harder - like it or not, there's little dispute about the existence of Jesus, and the crucifixion etc. So it almost certainly is fact. Whether or not you believe in the resurrection is up to you.

Similarly, as mentioned below, Mohammed can't really be 'doubted' in terms of 'did he exist?'. Yes he did.

daftpunk · 24/03/2010 11:05

Yabu if your child is at a faith school...

Yabvu for quoting from the life of Brian....

...It's over 30 yrs old and just not funny anymore...(it stopped being funny in 1982)

You sound like a twit ...

GooseyLoosey · 24/03/2010 11:06

Ds (6) is a fan of the Clash. There is a line one song referring to "Zombies of death". Ds asked what Zombies were so we explained that they were dead people walking around, but there was really no such thing.

Fast forward a week later at school with teacher talking about the resurrection. Ds asks "Was Jesus a Zombie of death then?"

throckenholt · 24/03/2010 11:09

whilst historically there is little doubting Jesus existed - the question as to whether he was the son of god or delusional is very much unproven (and unprovable).

My problem is with children (even in a church school) being told the "facts" - when they are not facts at all - they are beliefs.

For many of us church schools are the only local schools - is it fair that our children are told things are black and white when they are not ?

GrimmaTheNome · 24/03/2010 11:21

when?

Interventionalist? Well, according to christians I've known, there's miracle working and answering intercessory prayers.

onagar · 24/03/2010 12:41

I like the life of Brian approach and that's much gentler than some responses you could try

Daftpunk, it is still funny to me. I watched it again just last year, but that is definitely a matter of opinion though.

As for is it ok to call the bible a story. It is a story until proved true just like someone is innocent until proved guilty even though you might suspect that they did it.

So even though you might suspect/hope the bible is true there is no evidence so it's still strictly speaking a story.

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