Withdrawing DD from RE?

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I want to see if anyone’s had any experience withdrawing their children from PE? How did the school handle it etc.

My husband and I are both atheists. Our DD is 5 and is extremely interested in the universe and science. She’s now coming back from school very confused thinking that god created the world and asking if he made the Big Bang happen! This is too confusing for her, she naturally believes what her teachers tell her (why wouldn’t she) so naturally she’s taking RE as fact and it’s confusing the hell out of her.

I’m happy for her to learn about god in her own way in the future and find her own path but she’s much too young right now.

I’ve read we have the right to withdraw her from Re so simply want to see if people have had experiences with this.

A little interesting aside

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190423145511.htm

Oh, come on! IdaBWells! You are not seriously calling in aid a study part funded by The Council on Spititual Practice and which states its methodology thus- “For the new study, the scientists used data from 4,285 people worldwide who responded to online advertisements to complete one of two 50-minute online surveys about God encounter experiences. The surveys asked participants to recall their single most memorable encounter experience with the "God of their understanding," a "higher power," "ultimate reality" or "an aspect or representative of God, such as an angel." They also asked how respondents felt about their experience and whether and how it changed their lives.” are you?

This week we had a teacher change and for the first time ever my DS came home having enjoyed an RE lesson because it was focussing on discussion of the whole classes views and ideas about the Big Bang theory.

I have a huge issue with an RE teacher discussing the Big Bang, it's nothing to do with RE.

If I ruled the world no one under 18 would be allowed to participate in any religion. They can choose to explore religions as an adult once they have learnt how to critically analyse facts.

Banning something makes it so more appealing, churches would have a revival.

Much as school may try to indoctrinate children with religion, it doesn’t seem to be working and life in the uk has moved so far away from religion.

Even weddings and funerals don’t seem to have any religious aspects now as they are conducted without prayers or any type of god involved

The only place left with any type of religion seems to be school & yet the teachers aren’t successful in getting church numbers up or baptism & confirmation to be on the rise ( other than for entrance to a school)

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/church-england-uk-young-adults-identify-british-social-attitudes-a8527136.html

Whatever they are doing in school is working out really well for agnostics & atheists

It amuses me that atheists accuse RE teachers of brainwashing children with Christianity, when they do exactly the same at home with their creed of atheism.
You can not disprove the existence of God - you are simply refusing to acknowledge His existence (or even the possibility of it.) That is a faith based position!

Oh gosh. This is so incredibly muddled (and not a little arrogant).

Atheism isn’t a ‘creed’. It’s an absence of belief in any gods. The same absence of belief (due to absence of evidence combined with historical record around them) as I have for fairies and dragons.

The suggestions that the existence of the Christian god (or any god) must be disproved or the atheist is simply denying the existence of that god does make me wonder about your statements about supporting science.

Can you disprove the existence of the Rainbow Serpent, or the Hindu deva and devis? If not, why are you refusing to acknowledge their existence?

(My slightly sarcastic point: religious belief or lack thereof isn’t a binary choice between belief in your god or lack of belief in your god. Behaving as if that’s the position of atheists is either ignorant or arrogant, or both.)

ivykaty, the answer to "whatever they are doing" is on this thread.

As has been said, parents who exclude their children from RE make children curious to explore Christianity, and set it up as a focus for adolescent rebellion. That cuts both ways. By privileging the airtime given to Christianity, and marginalising or actively challenging non-religious world views, schools are setting themselves up to achieve the same in reverse.

Anecdotally, scaring the crap out of 5 year olds doesn't help the C of E's cause either. DS was interested in religion and choosing to be a Christian in his first months of school; then they chucked a load of hardcore religious jargon and imagery at the kids without an age-appropriate intro or explanation or any opportunity for the children to explore their own responses and ideas, and DS moved within weeks to a firm rejection of Christianity. His choice - and I'm troubled by how negative he's become about religion generally, that's not something he hears at home.

And as an atheist, no, it doesn't feel like what they're doing in school is working out well for me. On this thread we've got Christians upset because they feel non-believers are being condescending and offensive about people of faith's ability to engage with science and reason; but we've also got atheists getting upset because we feel people of faith are being offensive about our values and ethics or alleged lack thereof. The most basic outcome of religious education ought to be mutual+ understanding. So that doesn't seem to be going well.

I notice the OP has disappeared...

Well if you had that much faith in your atheism, you wouldn't be concerned about your child learning about the world and other religions . What is the need to alienate them just because of YOuR beliefs . Your not allowing them to learn about other cultures and religions and have their own beliefs . You can't sugar coat then from religion it's part of everyday life . Yes you may be able to make fee lonely whilst their peers engage in an activity whilst your child is sat out but are you going to stop then reading the news , listening to the radio , the television? Is ridiculous

If Christians had so much faith about their god (insert other religions here too) then they would not shove it in gobfulls down children's throats in what should be factual learning environments.

It is entirely possible to learn about belief, different religions and different cultures in social studies classes - they won't miss out.

Ditto the poor little munchkins who are dragged by parents to worship - where is the emphasis on letting them establish their own beliefs (which might not be in the parental religion).

Ditto the poor little munchkins who are dragged by parents to worship

Exactly how do you propose Christians practise their faith once they have children? Are you suggesting that they need to stop going to church because they’ve had kids? Do you think practising Christians shouldn’t be allowed to have children?

they would not shove it in gobfulls down children's throats

And you personally know every Christian across the world to back up this statement

As I said on the other thread @JITSOG “Children are automatically brought up in the faith/culture of their family. So of course if you go to church your child goes too. But they should also be shown that other people believe in different gods and in none. And should be given the choice not to go to church as soon as it is practically possible.”

The OP either has their feet up with a bag of popcorn enjoying the entertainment, or is reeling in shock somewhere from the unexpected barrage.

Thanks BertrandRussell but I’m keen to hear YetAnotherSpartacus thoughts on that too.

Well, i’m still interested in how Christian parents make sure their children are properly informed about the possibilities of other faiths and of none. They do tend to find this a difficult matter to address.

As has been said, parents who exclude their children from RE make children curious to explore Christianity, and set it up as a focus for adolescent rebellion.

I’ve yet to find a student banned from RE that then rebels by going to church or becoming religious - with 2% of 16-24 year old attending church it doesn’t seem many are rebelling atheism

yes, I’m loving the idea of church going as an act of teenage rebellion.

Jitsog surely they could have a crèche

Im sure some probably do have childcare facilities. But if they didn’t, should practising Christians abstain from church?

BertrandRussell I answered some of your questions on the previous thread. If the responses are not satisfactory to you, I suggest you find another poster to respond in the depth you deem acceptable.

Exactly how do you propose Christians practise their faith once they have children? Are you suggesting that they need to stop going to church because they’ve had kids? Do you think practising Christians shouldn’t be allowed to have children

My comment that provoked this was contextual to a previous post that suggested that children in non-religious households should attend religious education because apparently doing otherwise is being more about parents' beliefs. Thus, I do think you have divorced it from its context ... However...

Re religion practising parents - I do think that arrangements should be made for children who don't want to go to the place of worship. They should not be forced to go and all schools should emphasise that all religions are faiths and have no basis in fact. I think that RE should be replaced with a secular social studies alternative and faith-based schools should be banned.

Since you asked.

Good luck OP I wish I had done the same. Education should be grounded in rational humanist enlightenment values, in which 'religion' is an irrelevance at best, and dangerous cults at worst.

“I suggest you find another poster to respond in the depth you deem acceptable.”

Yep. That’s what I was hoping for. A Christian poster actually prepared to engage with this. Atheists are always being told that it’s important for our children to know about religion and i couldn’t agree more. I want to know what religious parents do about making sure their children know about atheism, humanism, agnosticism and secularism.

I personally don't understand this attitude.
Me and my husband are atheists and so are our 2 kids. They both did RE at primary and senior school. DD1 took RE GCSE and is doing RE at A-level. She got an A* at GCSE. You don't havre to believe it to understand it and appreciate the views of others.
It is about having a broad knowledge, learning about others beliefs and encouraging an appreciation of diversity.
RE as a subject is great to promote a questionning attitude and helps with formulating arguments and essay writing.

If atheist parents were actually forbidding their children from finding out about religion and shoving atheism down their throats as per the perception upthread, then yes do think it would make religion attractive - probably not the C of E though! Thing is, you'd struggle to find an atheist who's imposing their views on their child like that, just allowing the child to choose, so nothing to rebel against and no examples. I do think you see plenty of examples the other way round - school wants me to be a Christian, makes me go to worship every day, doesn't give much airtime in RE to other views, well screw them then, I'm not interested.

booellesmum, your children have left school. The approach to teaching RE seems to be changing, at least it is in church schools (which many of us have no realistic choice about sending our children to).