Daughter made to write 'I believe in god' in school

[chickensaladagain]

Dd was in an ethics, philosophy & religion

She had to write a number of statements then say whether they were fact opinion or belief

One of the sentences was 'I believe in god'

She objected as it wasn't true but was told to stop making a fuss

We are a family of atheists -I don't pull my dcs out of any assemblies etc because I think it's important culturally for them to understand religion but surely having to write 'I believe in god' isn't appropriate?

This is not a church school btw

[chickensaladagain]

The fallen ninja

Yes it probably would have been different

[Shakey1500]

Both you and your daughter have-

A. Spectacularly missed the point of the exercise

or

B. Have deliberately missed the point in order to create a "point" which. quite rightly, has been labelled "making a fuss"

I won't explain as there's plenty on this thread that have tried. If you feel my post is rude, well, I'm sorry you feel that way

[Isildur]

OP, is your daughter primary school aged?

[MrsOakenshield]

sigh. I'll ask this one final time - do you think that by writing this statement down it now becomes the writer's belief? Because it doesn't, and all you need to do is reassure your daughter of that FACT.

You haven't been jumped on. But you have refused to listen to what anyone is saying!

[worldcitizen]

Is I belive in God a fact or a belief????

Well, any pupil could totally get an awesome grade for this reagrdless of which one you have decided it is, IF you apply logic, reason and great argument, me thinks.

[Driz]

Your daughter clearly gets her lack of intelligence from you! After this many responses, you still don't get it?

[Gingerandcocoa]

Chicken I cannot believe you don't see what we're all trying to say.

IT WAS AN EXERCISE!

Leaving the thread now. One thing is to debate with someone who is open to reasoning, another is to debate with someone who is blinded by their aversion of even writing down the words "I believe in God".

[peachmint]

I opened this thread thinking your DD was made to write lines.

Seems she was actually just being asked to think for herself. No idea what your problem is.

[worldcitizen]

I serioulsy doubt ir is primary school age. I bet it's older and yet still an age, where you haven't really separated your views from those of your parents'.

[EsTutMirLeid]

Look OP don't get upset.

Most of us who have always been atheists have had difficulties expressing our atheism when we were young. We can be so atheist that we become a bit irrational and feel we are being ganged up on and not respected in the same way we that we are expected to respect religious belief in others.

I think she has genuinely missed the point of the exercise and got a bit carried away trying to express herself.

Try not to get upset about it on her behalf, it's nothing.

[worldcitizen]

I also now have to leave already announced a fifty-thousand times as it is hopeless...

[Growlithe]

This reminds me of a Basil Fawlty quote: Oh, I can spend the rest of my life having this conversation. Now, please, please, try to understand before one of us dies.

[EsTutMirLeid]

And you've all got me wondering now whether it's a fact or a belief and I'm a sodding atheist!

[GetStuffezd]

What a load of utter bollocks. Admit it, OP, you long to be doing SadFace on the front of the Mail.

[worldcitizen]

OP is not only upset on child's behalf, she's upset herself and totally backs the child, which will lead to being doomed in terms of academic success.

Bye

[MrsOakenshield]

I'm leaving too as my posts are obviously invisible. You could really help your daughter with this, if you wanted to.

[TakingThePea]

GetStuffezd ...... LOL!!!!

[hmsvictoria]

Chicken, do you think that merely writing the phrase would somehow contaminate the very soul of a non-believer?

[NiceTabard]

Hmm having a think again

At a push and if you were super-athiest, it could feel the same to write that as to write down something that would be more generally accepted as being offensive. I am sure that most people can think of a line that would make them feel deeply uncomfortable to write.

So from that POV I think that the DD raising it in class is fair enough as it's her class and it's a class for discussion on ethics and so on, and so for her to raise an ethical problem that she has with something they are being asked to do is appropriate.

[NiceTabard]

It could have been a good opportunity for teaching I'd have thought, around different views and so on.

Shame there wasn't any discussion around the exercise.

eg some children might have put I believe in God - fact while at the other end of the scale a child felt too uncomfortable with the statement to even write it down.

Could have been a great discussion I think.

[amistillsexy]

I believe in God.....FACT (the fact is, I have a belief)

God Exists......BELIEF (I have no empirical proof of the existence of my God, yet I choose to believe in His existence)

My God is better than your God...OPINION (others may disagree with me. This is simply my opinion)

Your daughter is being educated. Make the most of it and be grateful. She was being silly and you are encouraging her. Take this opportunity to have a discussion with her about what is meant by the three terms. That is what the object of the lesson was, and it is important for her to be able to differentiate between these terms in order to discuss religious philosophy and ethics.

[Rowlers]

Your DD's teacher deserves a medal, op.

[MissStrawberry]

Surely it should have been I believe in God?

[NiceTabard]

I'm coming round to the OP actually

I can think of loads of statements that start "I believe" that I would not want to right down.

I think OPs daughter was correct to challenge the teacher and it's a shame there was no debate, given the class it was.

[ABaconAndOnionTart]

Op methinks you do protest far too much. Religion is not a contagious disease. And comparing belief in fairies/father christmas with God is truly offensive.