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

[DioneTheDiabolist]

Do not let her join the Debating Society. Your heads might explode.

[NiceTabard]

rights down?

fuck me.

[exoticfruits]

I don't know why she misunderstood the exercise.

[mercibucket]

people sound a bit frightened of the written word. it doesnt come to life and bite you.
this reminds me of philosophy class where you had to argue a pov you didnt necessarily believe in, and then some classmates seem to think this means you believe it, because you said it
(sigh)
its an academic exercise
no gods were harmed in the planning of this lesson

[ABaconAndOnionTart]

How can a 'broadly Christian' assembly not be religious?

[DioneTheDiabolist]

By focussing on broadly Christian ethos rather than a "You must believe that JC was the actual, literal son of the God of the OT" type message.

[MrsOakenshield]

I remember doing the counter-Reformation for A level history and everyone getting very hot under the collar about Calvin and pre-destination, until our teacher lost patience and shouted 'you don't have to believe it, you just need to know it!'.

[Kirk1]

What a badly worded statement. I totally get your DDs objection. If my friend who is a Christian says " I believe in God" it is a statement of fact. It is a fact that she believes in God. If the teacher was looking for a statement that wanted the single word "belief" as an answer how about :
God exists.
There are fairies living at the bottom of my garden.
When we die we go to heaven/are reincarnated/become one with the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Invisible Unicorns are pink.

[Saffyz]

How can a 'broadly Christian' assembly not be religious?

By concentrating on the things most decent people would agree on, such as helping those in need, being kind, being a peacemaker etc.

[Saffyz]

She wasn't being asked to choose whether the phrase was her opinion or belief (and yes, obviously an atheist couldn't pick either of those). Just whether the phrase was an opinion or belief.

[YoureBeingADick]

may be completely wrong here but if the OP's DD was asked to write 'I believe in god' as if it was something someone else had said (the same way someone would say 'flowers are pretty') then that is a fact unless the person who said it was lying. so say for example john said "I believe in god" OP's dd was being asked to say whether it was a fact that he believed in god, an opinion that he believed in god or a belief that he believed in god. it could of course be all 3. OP's dd could say it was indeed a fact that he believed. she could also say that she believed that he believed and that it was her opinion that he believed.

I actually think the question was incorrectly posed- possibly to provoke certain answers. (loaded question?)

[Saffyz]

... or a fact (missed that one, sorry! but you get the gist I hope)

[LadyIsabellaWrotham]

What answer was the teacher looking for? If it was Belief then they deserve a thorough reprimand for sloppy thinking. If it was Fact (the logically correct answer) then I think I'd be a bit wobbly about it too.

If my DD was asked to write, eg "I believe that women are inferior to men" "Fact" then it's unpleasantly ambiguous.

[YoureBeingADick]

saying 'I believe in god' isn't an opinion or belief. the belief in god is the belief. saying you have that belief is stating a fact - 'I hold the belief that...' just like saying 'I like chips' you are stating a fact that you like chips. the only way it could be opinion would be if the sentence was 'god exists' (or similar)

as I said- the question is phrased wrongly (badly).

[YoureBeingADick]

I see kirk1 had the same thoughts as I did.

[DioneTheDiabolist]

Now that it's come down to having it ringed on a worksheet vs copying it off the board, I think the OP realizes that this is mountain molehill stuff.

[YoureBeingADick]

I find it a tiny bit funny seeing all these comments saying your DD misunderstood the exercise. I think it was the teacher who misunderstood it.

[LittleTulip]

This thread defo needs to be on mumsnet classics

[YoureBeingADick]

and I think quite a lot of posters here misunderstand as well going by some of the posts I've just read.

[Kirk1]

YoureBeingADick Great minds!

[Saffyz]

Did anyone mean to be so rude? Fact, opinion or belief?

[YoureBeingADick]

question saffyz

[exoticfruits]

I think that the pupil misunderstood a very simple exercise- it would never have crossed my mind that the 'I' meant me. It was just a statement. You could equally have 'I am five feet tall'- as a statement ,it is a fact that can be checked. It doesn't mean that you have to be five feet tall.