Religious content in Primary Assemblies

[TruthSweet]

DD1 will be starting school in Sept. and has been accepted at the local school.

We went to the new parents evening recently and after the meeting we were looking around the hall. On the wall was a schedule of songs that are sung (two songs each week). They learn a new song every week which is then sung for the next week. On the list were 5 secular songs about nature/friendship and one hymn (I think it was called 'I love thee God' but definitely included 'God' and 'love') so for two weeks DD1 would be singing about loving god. Also, an assembly every 6 weeks is lead by the pastor of a local church.

We are an A/A family and therefore don't want to include our children in acts of worship for a religion we don't practice. Has anyone withdrawn their children from worship/assembelies in school either because it's the wrong religion/any religion/you prefer to provide religious instruction at home? Has it stigmatised your children?

P.S. This isn't a Xtian bash as the school is very multi-cultural area (30 different languages spoken by children at the school) so we would not want our DC taking part in an act of Islamic/Jewish/Buddhist worship.

Is this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%E2%88%B4A%E2%88%B4 what you mean by A/A? I don't think it's a term in common use, perhaps you should explain?

Our 2 dc do not attend the religious assemblies at school - it has not caused any problem.

SomeGuy - Sorry for not being clearer A/A is atheist/agnostic (I'm atheist and DH is agnostic).

My siblings and I did not attend religious assemblies at our c of e primary. We are catholics and my dad had had a hissy fit dispute with the govenors and pulled us over some fit of pique point of principle .

He was concerned that we would feel different but we just enjoyed pissing about sitting quietly outside.

Just read through that link! Definitely not that A A!

You're lucky that its 5/6ths secular! I wish DDs school was. We haven't withdrawn her from assemblies though, IMO its unfair on the child as its an integral part of the school life - and as she is quite secure in her own rational views, singing hymns doesn't seem to have done her much harm. I'm not sure what we'd have done if the school had invited pastors/vicars/imams/rabbis in though - that to me oversteps the mark. Probably we'd have just primed her beforehand with the important fact that you don't have to believe everything grownups say and that it might be interesting to hear what ideas other people have.

The school has links with a local church (where the pastor comes from) and they run an after school club (have no problem with that btw).

I really don't mind children learning about all the different faiths but from a 'Muslims believe xxxx' type of learning not a 'the Koran says xxxxx is the right way to do xxxx so that is what we must do' (just an example).

I just find singing hymns or other devotional songs to a very active way to worship and I would have the same objections to the saying of grace or blessings. I also find it quite disrespectful to have non-believers joining in on acts of worship as (to me) it seems to be making a mockery of the religion if anyone can join in, believer or not.

We're atheist and my DD goes to a church school (only school in our village, and all surrounding villages are also church schools - so we had no choice).

We did however, decide to allow my DDs to participate in assemblies and acts of worship - so long as she wanted to.

I am atheist, but I do not feel that I have the right to dictate my religious beliefs on a child - each person has to decide their own religious views. We do however, talk through these issues at great lengths (I am a RS / Philosophy teacher, so its kind of normal for us ). I did feel though, that if I removed her from school worship, she would not be able to make her own choices, as she would not hear the other side of the debate... After all, she may choose to be religious, but she needs to be able to hear the religious argument to be able to make an informed decision. I therefore felt that as she gets quite a strong atheistic line at home, the church message at school probably balances it all out.

I recently overheard her discussing with her best friend (they are both 6) whether they believe in God, and it seems that neither child does. She has also asked me what she should do about praying (they pray 3 times a day at her school), if she doesn't believe in God. I told her to join in with the bits she does agree with. So for example, if the prayer was "Dear God, thank you for our food.." She just says "thank you for my food", because that bit is true and she is thankful that she has got food. She just remains respectfully silent on the bits that she does not agree with.

We decided not to withdraw from assembly because that seems to be the hub of the school, where they celebrate achievements, get their certificates and take assemblies and do nativities - I felt she would be missing out on all that if we withdrew her (as you can't pick and choose what bits you want them to join in on). For us, it is a compromise that she seems happy with - and it has had the added bonus of raising lots of interesting points for discussion too