DS came home from a school trip to a mosque today . . .

[bran]

and said "Mummy, did you know that Muslims have to wash before they pray to their false God?"

I did the softly-softly approach about people having different names for essentially the same god, and that there was no single "right" god only what was the right god for each individual person. But he was adamant that only God, Jesus' father, is God and everything else is false and wrong. So then got very stern and gave him a bollocking about all religions being equally valid and how wrong and rude it is to call something false when someone who believes in it might hear you and be upset.

I know that he didn't get this from his teachers, and he says that a particular boy was teaching everyone to say this. It is a Christian school, but they are very open and welcoming towards other religions. Do you think I should send a note to his teacher to let her know what he's been saying so that she can keep an eye on him (and the others) or just let it go? He's in yr 1 (someone is bound to ask).

bluey, the commandments date from a time when Judaism was possibly the only monotheistic faith in the Middle East hence those commandments bound Jews together.

Today false gods is usually interpreted as people's worship/slavery to money, fame, etc. as far as I know, which isn't much about modern theology.

Let the teacher know. I agree that a parent has indoctrinated this child into a set of intolerant values which give Christians a bad name.

But we as we are talking 6 years old hwere I would put that on "mistake", rather than intolerence myself.

"No matter if Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu or even a believer of the Church of Jedi, the followers of all religions should be treated with respect and tolerance. It is not too much to expect a 6yo to understand this."

I Agree MmeLindt but only once they have been explained it. You cannot expect a 6yo to have "inborn" knowledge of that.

"You cannot expect a 6yo to have "inborn" knowledge of that."

Actually, I disagree to a certain extent. I find v. young children are generally very accepting of stuff without being taught. It's the "intolerance" (for want of a better word) that they learn, not the acceptance. They then need to be taught that acceptance again.

justabout you are so right about the learned intolerance. Reminds me of a a boy at the school where I help out. He is white and plays with all the black and brown children - very multicultural school - but he informed me last week that he would be changing school because his dad thinks there are too many black and brown people there. Did not even occur to him that he was telling all this to a brown person (ie myself).

I don't think the fact that these are 6 year olds is trivial: 'Give me the boy until he is 7 and I will give you the man'.

I'm an atheist and see all religions as equally valid. 'Valid' is a term used in logic and in no way equates with the term 'truth' - which, unsurprisingly, is not a logical term. I don't believe ANY religions are 'true' but I consider them to be equalally valid. You can consider one religion to be true but have the persepctive to understand that others are equally valid - that's not a contradiction.

I'm a big fan of tolerance.

Notice precious little of it towards Christians on many MN threads where people make disparaging remarks about "imaginary friends".

Stands to reason (to me) that most adherents of a faith will, by definition, see their faith as being more valid than other ones.

A one-off comment like that from a six-year-old? I'd let it drop. If he carried on like that, I would ask the teacher what exactly had been said. Surely she should have explained that Muslims worship the same God as do Christians and Jews?

Am an agnostic, by the way.

Soupdragon, you are right to a certain point, but I would not be offended by a 6 yo saying something like that. I would just assume it is either something he has not come across/been explained yet or that he misunderstood something explained to him or that the comment was "inspired" by an adult. In any case blaming such a young child and labelling him as intolerant is way OTT to me. Also, 6yo is definitely not too late to show him a more open minded view on things.

As to intolerence sticks, well just a few weeks ago I had a nice example of the opposite and it actually made me cry with joy and emotion. I have got this childhood friend (I moved country since) who was very proud to be "indigenous" to the country he lives in and was very intolerant of other cultures, skin colours, religion... My mum sent me a local newsapaper article which is actually an interview of my friend talking about his involvement (voluntary) in a charity that gets children from Africa to Europe so they can get medical attention they could not get in their own countries (I have work for the same charity myself before moving to UK). He is not in it for the money, so somewhere along the line, someone or sometrhing opened his eyes and heart. Believe me, if this change happened to him, there is hope for ANYONE.

saadia, sorry to laugh but thats so funny. so sweet. so innocent. bless his cotton socks.
Ds, nearly 6, tells me that different people pray to different gods. But that I am not to worry, becasue he knows who the real god is.
Bless.

I actually found it very sad that he would be uprooted from a school where he is happy and getting lots of support because of his father's ignorance and that this innocent boy could end up adopting these beliefs.

I don't understand where he picked up the phrase, 'false God?' Who said this?

I'd be asking questions about the boy who was telling everyone what to say - esp as it sounds like his words overwrote everything else your DS was exposed to on the tip. And have words with DS about making his own mind up too and checking with you after this other boy has 'taught' him anything new.

On the trip. Don't think that was freudian . Religion [meh]

saadia I agree, very sad. Let's hope his good memories stay with him and protect him somewhat. Or that the headteacher can talk some sense into the father.

Exactly gorionine, that is what I was thinking.

at this turning into a bit of a theological debate. Reminds me of visiting the in-laws. Fivesets and Brushup would get on well with my SIL.

I sent a note in on Tuesday and his teacher phoned me after school the same day. She said that it denigrating Islam obviously wasn't the intention of the visit to the mosque (which I knew) and that they would be having some further discussion in class about respecting other beliefs and ways of life. She hadn't been aware that one of the children had been saying this so it's good that I let her know as it turns out at least one other child went home saying the same thing. So all fine.

Your DS obviously has formed some religious beliefs.Why don't you respect them ?
TBH I think you are the one being intolerant here.

(I'm starting to really see the value of that new emoticon. )

Good work, Bran.

Not sure why it is said to be intolerant if we say we personally don't believe what someone else believes.

It's freedom of speech, (while hopefully being sensitive and tactful.)

If people want to discuss about why they disagree about politics, football teams, fashion, and religion, then why not?

I think it's up to the individual whether they take offence or not.

BTW I often think that people are much more rude about Christians than they are about other faiths.

As a Christian, I do feel that my religion is the only true one.
HOWEVER, if my child was denigrating others in this way I would be furious - other people IMO are entitled to their own beliefs, and to them, they are just as valid as my beliefs are to me. I would have contacted the teacher just to give them a heads up in case the chatter turned nastier - as it can do at school (I used to teach primary).
I'm really pleased that the teacher had the right reaction which will be to talk about tolerance and respecting others. Well done bran - it seems to me that you acted in the right way both to your DS and in phoning the teacher.
(BTW when I taught RE I was always careful to teach all religions equally - I was not there to try and convert the kids in my class - I save that for sunday school! )

at the intolerance and bigotry of this thread!!

I was going to say to you Bran to mention it to the teacher. It is obvious to me that your DS must have pick it up from another child who in turn must have picked it up from home. Of course we are all entitled to our beliefs but the school is entitled to theirs and by taking the class to a mosque I am sure the intention was to be inclusive rather than teach them about the 'false god of the muslims' .

I would have explained and acted exactly in the same way as you have bran. What if your child came home after a school trip to Italy and said 'It was great but the Italians are all Mafia criminals'.

This thread has reminded me why I'd rather be an atheist and not a catholic like I was raised. Shame as a topic in Vanessa BBC London yeasterday about Forgivness made me think that there are good things to be learnt from religion and made me quite proud. Shame the bad seem to sometimes outweight the good.

there is only one God: regardless of what language you speak or what religion you practise.
the differences in religion come from the interpretation of the religious texts and the words from the prophets.
The Jews don't believe in Jesus and they are still waiting for the coming of GOd's son.
christians believe Jesus was God's son.
Muslims believe Jesus was a major prophet and not the son of God and that Mohammed was God's last prophet, who came to tell everyone the correct interpretation of God's word.
most of the major prophets are shared by all three religions.

I don't know anything about any of the other religions so I can't comment on their beliefs.