Too much religion in Reception?

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I am not religious and don't particularly believe in anything. To discuss Jesus/God or any such subject matter was not something I ever envisaged having to do age age 4. However, since Ds1 started Reception in September he is increasingly coming home with questions about Jesus. I think this stems from him having a particularly religious teacher who told Ds1 at Christmas that he had to say thank you to God. I'm not sure exactly what he was supposed to be thanking him for or what his understanding of God is. Since then he has talked about going to Heaven when you die, that Jesus was nailed to a cross and bled to death and who/what/why did this happen. As it is just a regular state school I cant see the point in them having any religious instruction and would far rather they concentrate on reading and writing. Exactly how much are schools obliged to tell them about religion at age 4 and are they going overboard. The father of one child in his class is a Vicar so came in one day to give a great talk about Jesus which will obviously be biased due to his own beliefs. It surely has to be confusing to a young mind to be seemingly bombarded with so much information. I've managed to brush most things off and dismiss it all as a fairy story but am getting annoyed that I am put in an awkward position by the school who are drip feeding him bits and pieces which he then wants me to explain.
Is he getting more than his fair share?

Yes was to Caligula by the way, not you eemie

eemie: I think 'that's rubbish' is the right response.

Caligula: There are various text books on religion which include chapters on Secular Humanism. It is dealt with in the same way as any other world view (=religion). I have a World Religions Reader which includes quotations from the work of Karl Marx, Freud, Darwin, Richard Dawkins (that right? can never remember his name) and John Lennon (who's claim that rock and roll would outlast christianity caused much controversy).

Basically, the secular humanist, when considering the faith beliefs of other world views, decides that none are convincing enough and therefore concludes that this is because there is no God. This is just one approach, which is why I think it is important to consider it's merits and disadvantages along with any other world view.

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By the way, Gwenick, what are the 'historical secular documents' about Jesus you refer to? I only ever heard of one - Josephus, The Jewish Wars - and I was told recently that that had been exposed as a fake. Or at least, that the passage referring to Jesus had been added much later. Is this wrong?

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People have argued that Jesus never really existed but these claims have never really been taken seriously. The problem is that it is an argument from silence. It is unlikey that any non-religious documents would have need to refer to an obscure Jewish miracle worker!! However the religious documents that exist run into the hundreds of thousands, even though most were written years after Jesus's death.

It's a funny question I always think - no one ever says "DID MOHAMMED REALLY EXIST?"

Jesus's life WAS fairly dull - obscure Jewish preacher, got a bit radical, got put to death like everyone else... I mean if you were going to INVENT a Messiah, you'd make it a bit more EXCITING wouldn't you?

Was Josephus really a fake?

So all the scholarship about Jesus that has used him as a source is invalid?

The only Messiah in our house is called Brian.

Lives on the shelf with the rest of my Monty Python vids.

It isn't just religion. My DD came home from primary school & told me that the Anglo Saxons lived in holes in the ground... at the time I was half way through a history degree, with a particular interest in the Anglo Saxons. I put her right & being the sort of child she is, she went back & told her teacher "mummy says you are wrong"

You will find as your children get older that they will be taught no end of things as fact, which have been disproved.

eemie - there's several Roman writings (can't remember who offhand - got a memory like a sieve when it comes to 'quotes' etc) that mention him.

I've never heard the Josephus-as-fake story (and have studied New Testament history at long and boring length!)

What don't I like about religious morality? can't say I'm over keen on how religions treat women and gay people for a start.
Yes, of course there are plenty of people who are religious and good and kind and decent, but also plenty of bigots, homophobes and people who oppress women. There is a lot of the Bible that I think is utterly immoral and cruel - I don't much like the vengeful God it features, for a start. And despite not believing in any gods (for the same reason I don't believe in ghosts, fairies or witches) I don't see myself killing anyone in the near future, and my children are nice, kind and decent (well my 13 year old stepdaughter and my three year old son are very nice people - I don't think my tiny daughter can really be judged on her morality yet!). Of course I think people should be free to practise their religion, and yes, I do want my kids to be informed ABOUT religion, but what I don't think people in authority over children should be free to do is to tell my children that their particular belief system (be it paganism, Buddhism or astrology) is not only true, but the only truth. I know religion is important to many people, but that doesn't IMO make it OK for them to tell my kids that their set of (IMO superstitious and illogical) beliefs are true, especially in a school.

BTW I would be EXTREMELY concerned if my kids' teachers told them that the Power Rangers were real people with real powers and to worship them!

What I am saying is not that people who are religious are bad people, but I don't think religion is a pathway to better behaviour. And I don't think morality and religion are by any means the same thing.

Agree with Aloha here. Initially wrote a long posts but deleted it as I was rambling on. To keep it short, but sweet - yes your child is being over-dosed totally.I'd complain. Thank you God for Christmas my a**

Thank you aloha, you have summed up how I feel beautifully.

Just a casual aside really - not all historians agree that Jesus was a historical figure The Jesus Puzzle is quite a good summary site.

The historical evidence for his existence is a lot more flimsy than I expected.

To go back a bit more to the original topic, yes I'd be upset too if a belief system was being taught as Truth without any other balances on what other people believe. Ironically, dh went to a CofE school and seemed to have got a much more well-rounded RE education including lots of different faith's beliefs.

The Jesus-as-myth theories are considered just as seriously in academic circles as alien abduction. You can find lots of similar sites on the web but it's not really given over to academic study.

Well it took only a minute on Google to discover an enormous literature about the supposed non-Christian sources for a historic Christ, along with detailed forensic arguments for and against their authenticity.

Not that I think this is the main point. I agree with aloha.

I have read half of this and can't stop myself - I find the whole concept of Christianity offensive and so to me to say 'what is so bad about telling them these things..' is like a red rag to a bull. I have a knot of rage at the thought of it - yes it is so bad and it is bloody offensive if your children are being taught that something you passionately object to is fact!

I am pagan BUT I don't especially want to raise my son to follow the same path - he may not want to. What I will do is look at different belief systems with him and explore further any that he wants to. I am not Christian but if at some point in the future my DS wants to attend church then attend church we will.
Would rather he was not taught in school that christianity is the one and only true path to salvation.

Hmm, but what d'you do about it Gomez?

I agree, I'd like my kids to go to an atheist school, but there's no such thing (I don't think).

Would you be so angry about them being taught that Anglo Saxons lived in holes? (??[shock})

TBH, as Gwenick says, there is going to be so much rubbish they are going to be taught in schools, that it just seems bizarre to me to get more worked up about the religious rubbish (which they'll probably find far more contradiction of) than things like historical facts like the Anglo-Saxons, which they are less likely to find corrected in the course of their normal lives.

Gomez: How can you "find the whole concept of Christianity offensive?" Is it the feeding the poor that repulses you? The development of eco-theology and feminist religious thought? The liberation theology of Latin America? There's plenty of good in all religions, including Christianity. Yes lots of people have been fucked up by the way that Christianity has been taught to them, but how does that discredit the whole of Christian thought?

I'm not sure what's the difference between your attitude and the kind of attitude which has got hundreds of men locked up in Guantanamo and which resulted in 6 million Jews being exterminated in the second world war...?

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