Atheist Mum - fed up with Christian Teaching in school

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Any other atheist Mums fed up with kids being taught about & subsequently believing in God & Jesus because they take everything teacher says as gospel (excuse the pun!).

I’d like my child to learn about religions but to be taught that Christians believe so&so & Hindus believe so&so etc. Even to have Passover & pagan goddess Eostre (or other Spring goddesses) at this time of year to give a rounded education. He did learn about Ramadan but thought it unbelievable. Christianity seems to have been taught with more credibility. He think god will drown bad people - like Noah’s ark & that we came from Adam & Eve.
I’ve tried explaining that there’s lots of inequality in the world & that I don’t think God - if he existed - would punish the poor & disabled & poorly.

And that Jesus doesn’t have much to do with eggs & lambs & the Easter is more about Spring-related rebirth - leaves on trees, flowers out, fertility & baby animals etc.

Explained that lots of stories similar to & predating Christianity like Krishna/Jesus comparisons & that major Christian religious festivals coincide with preexisting equinox traditions.

Not sure whether to complain to school?

WWYD?

Is it a faith school? If not then surely they shouldn't be pushing any particular religion as they're likely to have pupils from different backgrounds? I'd probably complain if the school is supposed to be secular or mixed faith.

Well, if they do RE, it is normal to hone in on Easter and Passover at this time of year.

Anyway, choose your battles.
You haven't a leg to stand on if it's a faith school. I am a person of faith and I've chosen not to send my kids to faith school. I am always flummoxed by atheists who send their kids to faith school and then whine about it. Is this the case here?

Even non-religious state schools in this country have a legal requirement to hold broadly Christian worship (assemblies). Many of them water it right down and make it less broadly Christian and more broadly broad in terms of what different people believe.

Not sure why that hasn't been rethought in today's climate really.

And I say that as someone who teaches in a faith school.

We still have children from non-Christian families sending their children to our school. Not really a problem if they are happy to go with the flow with what goes on in our school in terms of assemblies/church services/RE etc. More of a problem when they are families that have strong religious faiths of there own that sometimes clash with what we do or don't do.

You can withdraw your child
From collective worship (which has to be broadly Christian in nature) but I can understand why you might not want to.

I think it is crazy how religion is taught in non faith schools but I basically tell my son it’s all made up and so not true at all.

I am not atheist, but I don't have particular religion. I was quite shocked when my ds came home from school and told us the god made the whole world, in reception. But older they get, they do start to know difference between religious belief and scientific facts.

This annoys me too - DS aged 5 was really upset about the crucifixion, and why wouldn’t you be, it’s about nailing a man to a cross until he dies. Gruesome.
He was formally punished too for asking ‘too many’ questions during that lesson.
My daughter was upset about it too - I should have learnt the first time!

Do you have any family/friends who are religious? I always went down the line of different people believe different things. In our case it was Granny & Grandad are Christian and do they believe in god/Jesus etc. But Mummy & Daddy don't, we think - followed by age appropriate explanation.

Could you try a version of this where you talk about what the teacher believes and then what you do?

But the key is to always explain that it is up to him what he chooses to believe and that he has a choice. That it's ok to believe but emphasise it is ok to choose not to.

I was born into a practicing RC family, had an entirely RC education and still managed to grow into a questioning atheist, so I wouldn't worry too much. 😉

It is teaching religious tolerance

I think state schools teach about a variety of religions at key times of the year. That's my experience.
My children go to an RC school and we are not RC. Doesn't bother me in the slightest- I believe home influences are far more important in this instance plus our school does cover a number of religions anyway and as they've got older they've visited temples and mosques and been taught the basic understanding of world religions. It is helpful for when they start covering history in greater detail.
I don't give this any worry.

"And that Jesus doesn’t have much to do with eggs & lambs & the Easter is more about Spring-related rebirth - leaves on trees, flowers out, fertility & baby animals etc. "

You could give him a general overview of all the many symbols around the time of Easter - that the stories of Jewish Passover (when the Israelites were delivered from the slavery of Egypt under Pharoah, and escaped through the Red Sea) and Christian Easter (when we celebrate Jesus' resurrection from the dead, three days after his Crucifixion), are also echoed in things that can be seen in the natural world: new leaves and buds and blossoms on plants and trees, newly-born lambs (Jesus Christ is also referred to as 'the lamb that was sacrificed to save all mankind'), etc.

The symbolism of both Passover and Easter is all about the passage from darkness (longer nights, shorter days) to light, from slavery to freedom, from death to life.

HTH.

I am not religious but I would be delighted if my child came home with that understanding of Easter. Last year she cried because the Easter bunny forgot her

I hear what you are saying op. My dd is at a non-don School yet I don’t believe she is taught much other than Christianity which is given truth status

Guessing you don't live in a multi-cultural area/school then?

If children mix with othee children from different backgrounds then they will be familuar with all types of religion from a young age.

If your school is not in a diverse area and school only teaching Christianity then it is good for you to broaden their view of the real world.

If you live rurally you may not have a choice about faith schools. We are visiting friends in South Gloucestershire and here are the nearest schools:

How old is your son?

At 5 my daughter had the understanding to grasp that people believe different things, but believing means thinking something is true without knowing or being able to prove it. She could therefore understand that her teacher telling her that Jesus really was the son of God (and indeed that there was a god) wasn't lying, and neither were mummy and daddy. We were all telling her what we believed, and she was allowed to believe the same as her teachers or us, or something else, or keep changing her mind.

As my son's reached that age I saw that DD was quite unusual in her level of understanding. They were both very upset by the different messages from teacher and parents and really struggled with the idea one of their trusted adults was either wrong or lying about something really important. Both also worried we'd go to hell.

The boys both grew out of the upset believing phase and reached ds's level of understanding, but it took time.

I too hate that other religions are presented as "these interesting exotic people believe X" and Christianity as "we" "believe" or simply as truth. All religions should be presented objectively (and atheism given equal air time and acceptance) or all should be presented by a knowledgeable believer/ leader from that belief system or philosophy.

As it is you have to balance it at home and weather the upset, which sucks.

Do allow him to believe though - don't tell him he's wrong or he'll never grow out of it by coming to his own conclusions.

Crikey Pineapple - the differences in different parts of the country are quite striking! That's just

Try living in Northern Ireland - it's an absolute nightmare!

Doesn’t bother me really. When he talks about God or ‘cheezus’ to me I always just explain that Mummy and Daddy don’t believe in it, but it’s ok if he does. He can make up his own mind 🤷🏼‍♀️

It’s important for children to be taught the different beliefs of different religions as they will be growing up in a world full of people from those backgrounds. It does sound like your ds school is covering more than Christianity hence they learned about Ramadan.

I find in most of these threads the op says they don’t mind their child being taught about different faiths, but they have a real issue with their child being taught anything about Christianity!

I think most kids develop their overall beliefs through home influence. Learning about different religions is cool but, for me as an atheist, children being told things as truth or actually practising aspects of a religion, crosses the line. I used to discuss it with them and make sure they get that some people believe these things, others think they are stories and ideas from pre scientific cultures .

Atheist here, with a DD in a C of E school. Aged about 7 she asked me why her two atheist parents would send her to a church school.

I pointed out that it's the local school for the village and we felt it important that we should be able to walk to school. That we share many attitudes e.g. about respecting others, being kind and working hard. And that she will get no religious education from us, but needs to understand the world in order to be able to live well in it as an adult, and that includes learning about different religions, beliefs and cultures. School does that.

Also, I went to a C of E primary school and look how I turned out!!

I'm an Atheist parent who's dcs have all gone to a non dom school. However like almost curriculums they did have a certain amount of overview religious teaching. All faiths m, but mainly the Christian ones were celebrated, however we always had Divali and Chinese New Year too. They even attended Church with Brownies and Scouts which they found a bit dull but it didn't harm them. It was a community event.

My dcs are teens now and as Atheist as we are. However they have great overview of religion and its cultural forms in our country. In my eldests (non dom) secondary school they just did an amazing production of Jesus Christ Superstar and dd was as enthusiastically involved as the rest of them and found parts of really moving.

I have more of a problem with people who do "religious" things as just part of tradition without really thinking about it. How many parents who have their children baptised actually believe in god, jesus etc. Or understand what the role of godparents was intended for. Church weddings. Just seems unnecessary to do all that if you don't even believe in it. There are nonreligious alternatives so you can still have the ceremonial aspect and the celebration without the added religious aspect.

missy the reason you see those attitudes on threads is because Christianity is so often taught as truth by a Christian teacher and / or local minister, whilst all the other religions are taught as fictitious/ exotic/ "other" people's beliefs.

It's a huge gulf of difference. That's why the Christianity is the troubling one - because it is very often the only one being presented as true.