5 yo asking huge questions at school. I think we need to calm him down!

[MyTeapot]

My 5 yo DS attends a school that has a different religious character than our family. It's a nice school; both DC are happy and thriving there.

Recently he's been constantly asking very demanding Big Questions. I'm partially responsible; I can often be heard saying "never stop asking questions" but he literally won't let it drop.

I do all the "some people believe..." lines, but I'm ill-equipped to answer all the questions. As a result he spends all day at school grilling people. I don't want to curb his enthusiasm but it's tricky trying to encourage a bit of balance.

Any similar stories out there?

I think part of the problem with schools is that they don't teach theology very well. They tend to push a very dogmatic version of Christianity, without really going into the details of some of the philosophical/theological issues that children often raise. There are some REALLY interesting answers to these question - answers that are complex and sophisticated and go to the heart not only of ethics, but of ontology. However, because they are rarely given, an opposition tends to develop between "clever questioning atheists" and "stupid unquestioning theists", which doesn't really reflect the intellectual depth that can inhere in theism, or the intellectual superficiality of a lot of atheist positions, (Most militant atheists I know are actually cvery basic in their philosophical understanding of the world, generally adopting some kind of simplistic positivism - some theists I know have very deep philosophical ideas that I personally find stimulating and challenging, especially those of a monist/Spinozan bent). I do think schools, of all denominations, need to teach a LOT more philosophy so that kids get a proper answer to these questions.

I'm an atheist myself, btw.

Just tell him it’s not real. Simple.

"Maybe I do have Christian privilege but then we do live in a Christian country"

At least you acknowledge your privilege. Many don't.

"I see your one of those people has pops the word 'privilege' onto the end of anything they're not a part of."

I didn't reply to that because I have no idea what you mean!

Thanks for replying to tell me you didn't reply!

I guess the biggest similarity I can see is that we used to live overseas. As a result of this my child has lessons in a foreign language which I knew weren't very useful to them. We weren't going to be there long enough for him to really learn anything and if I'm honest if have preferred they focused on his English skills. I didn't kick up a fuss, the majority of the children were from local families and the bilingual education was useful. I didn't accuse them of having some native resident privilege.

I think you're thinking people are objecting to RE again....

Do you take pleasure in being so patronising? It's almost an unpleasant as ridiculing people for having religious beliefs.

It's obvious that you're not prepares to consider any opinion other than your own and that your best defense is to be horribly rude. I don't need to subject myself to that.

Jassy.... we weren't taught one religion being right and another wrong. We were taught what Catholics believed and what other faiths believed.

That’s nice. Not universal.

My DS is most confused as to why his teacher and head teacher, who he trusts and adores, are doing what he describes as ‘lying’ to him. He’s six, he sees everything in black and white.

After all, what are kids supposed to think? Even if religions are all taught as ‘some people believe’ (which isn’t the case in all faith schools), what message is then sent by praying every day to a particular deity if not ‘and this is the one that the school says is real’?

Christianity gets special treatment and access in the provision of state services and structures. It sends a message, and it isn’t one of mutual tolerance.

Chicken-I wasn't being rude. If anything you are, by insisting that a) people don't want their children to be taught RE, that b) schools don't teach Christianity as fact and c) that Christian privilege is absolutely fine.

If it was presented as “some people believe” I wouldn’t be so concerned. It’s presented as fact.

My DC choose not to do RS GCSE at school but I have seem the curriculum and they only study Christianity and Islam.

I am not convinced of the benefits of compulsory RS, we dont teach children what political ideologies other people believe or what cultural beliefs other countries have or any other sort of beliefs the world has. Why single out religious beliefs?

On sheer numbers everyone in the world used to believe the world was flat. I am of the opinion that schools should only teach what we know to be true. Anything else is filling there head with fluff.

Even if you don't take RE as a GCSE it's still a compulsory subject in state schools. And the new curriculum is much more prescriptive than the old one.

I have a great fellow feeling for your DS

attended a very high Anglian, anglo-catholic school, where I was confirmed. In class, I remember asking how they could square the idea that God was omniscient with the idea that we had free will to make our own decisions. Never did get an answer, but it never occurred to me to not be confirmed. Sigh