A bit freaked out by the local baptist church

[tribpot]

So I went to the urban farm today. Me and ds go all the time. Today the local baptist church held their (harvest?) service in the barn (I assume this was a one off and not a regular deal!) which was fine except the poor old donkeys had to be moved inside to create that biblical feel and we had to walk past the ceremony whilst merely visiting the farm. Fortunately ds didn't ask any questions but I'm a little bit uncomfortable about encountering a religious service unexpectedly; I know soon I will have to deal with religious questions but I haven't really thought them through yet.

It seems entirely appropriate to me that the local church would want to hold their harvest ceremony there and I have no problem with that, except that I didn't know it was going to happen and wouldn't know how to prepare ds for it had he asked. I want to show complete courtesy to all religions without making ds feel obliged to follow one.

So - no drama today, but what to do for the future? I stress, courtesy to all religions is very important to me, equally espousing none.

Religion is hard to avoid imo. From seeing Hara Krishnas dancing down the road in their orange whatever-they-ares, to cribs in shopping malls at christmas time and counting the churches as you drive past, from Jewish / Muslim friends not eating certain foods at school lunchtime and Hindu friends celebrating Diwalito seeing Buddhist monks with their almsbowls, it is all around us if we live in the UK. (All the above are in my local area and aprt of my dcs' upbringing.)

We are Christians so we actively make our faith a big part of our life together as a family, but aside from our own personal faith, I think it is so much better with dc to not avoid the obvious (that faith is important to a great many people in the world) but to use moments like your Harvest service to explain how people have different beliefs etc.

A bit of a tangent and possibly contraversial, but I really don't understand why some people choose to keep their dc out of R.E. lessons at school. Do they honestly think that their children will be more tolerant, more respectful, better informed, more inclusive and generally better citizens because they haven't learnt about the variety of expressions of religious faith around in the world? Just a thought...

Thanks clockface, yes I think you're right, it's probably because ds isn't at school yet that I haven't thought through what to say. He's 'celebrated' Eid at nursery and now the display says 'Happy Diwali' but I imagine they focus on the food-scoffing aspects of Eid and Diwali (or is that just the people in my office?!) rather than anything else.

Hadn't thought about RE lessons (do they do them in primary?) but agree with you that more information can only be a good thing!

Ah, food and religious festivals! What a combination!

R.E. in most primary school is taught as a distinct subject (I think). Atm my dd in yr 2 is learnng about Islam and has been promised a trip to a "Muslim church" . Thet tend to focus on the more tangible things in religions, like signs and symbols, rather than abstract ideas!

tribpot - just avoid any country such as tunisia at Eid - never mind donkeys press-ganged into harvest festival, you will encounter live sheep being stuffed into car boots to be driven home and slaughtered in front gardens!

Aside from that sort of thing, I'm not sure how much children need preparing for religious spectacle, any more than any other things they see adults participating in.

'Some people believe this, some people believe that' usually gets things going.

LOL - I think our office's approach of large quantities of chocolate for every religious occasion seems the way forward, I won't suggest live sheep slaughter in case the guys think that's a good alternative.

Thanks for the advice.