Religious Education in London preps

[javaprogrammer]

I see that Religious Education (RE) is necessarily provided in state schools but can be 'opted out'. How about in prep schools?

I see that all London prep schools have it as a subject one way or another, although I understand it is to introduce and explore all faiths without any worships or biases. My family has no faith whatsoever and we don't want our dc to be taught any religion or join any discussions in any way whatsoever.

What's your experience? Can I opt out?

Many scientists are religious.

I know this doesn't answer your question, but we did find that there was less religious worship when we moved our DD from a state community primary school (no religious affiliation) to a private prep. It went from regular religious worship in assembly to a Christmas carol concert in a church and not much else.

We're as non-religious as they come, but I've only ever minded the worship, not the learning about various religions. I think learning about various religions reinforces the idea that which religion people belong to is usually just a quirk of fate - being born into a Hindu or Muslim family. Which makes them all sound equally illogical.

Learning about religion is no different to learning history.
It's just knowledge.
You don't have to believe it or agree with any of the beliefs.
It's simply facts that are taught.
Some parts of the learning might create discussions, different interpretations and debates but that's no different to studying literature.

Does this apply for mandatory gcse RE?

The independent secondaries we use make RE an option from year 10, it's only mandatory in the state sector and I don't think it actually has to lead to a qualification, just be taught. Apparently it is mandatory to 18, but I can't think of a sixth form locally that adheres to that.

There is an independent school locally that makes their whole cohort do RE GCSE, it's a religious school, so we didn't look at it.

If it makes you feel any better, my boys’ London’s prep had an almost maniacal commitment to not teaching Christianity as an academic subject. I thought it a bit odd given the cultural centrality of Christianity and the low knowledge of the subject. But they went to church weekly, as is pretty standard.

I can see the latter being an issue for you (probably barely half the school was of Christian background, but they all went ) but don’t see why learning about religions should be such a problem. Although I did get a bit bored of quizzing them on obscure details of Buddhism .

I personally believe religion makes people dumb

That is a particularly dumb comment to make.

I'm not religious, but the people I know who are regular church goers are lawyers, accountants and doctors.

RE in schools teaches children about religions. It doesn't force children to have a faith. Learning about all faiths should teach tolerance and acceptance, something that you clearly don't have.

Perhaps you should educate yourself about what is actually learned in RE at school instead of making incorrect assumptions. RE also covers stuff like philosophy and ethics as well as world religions. It is no different from learning other humanities subjects like history.

The prep school allows opting out, so we are opting out as I think religion makes people dumb.

They say a parent is a child's primary educator. In your case, that is a terrifying thought.

This is insanity. I am 100% atheist yet value RE as an important subject, both in terms of adding to our understanding of history / art / literature, as well as allowing us to understand our fellow humans a bit better.
Opting out of learning is rarely the right thing to do, it just means your child is left behind and feels singled out.
Honestly OP, this is one of the “dumbest” posts I’ve read in a long time.

I think your statement makes you sound dumb, narrow minded and a bigot.

Learning ABOUT religion is no dumber tham learning history or English literature.

I hope you give this reason to the school. This will make you a laughing stock.

I went to Jewish schools so our RE was about that. I did learn about bits of Christianity in English and history as it was relevant. I think RE now requires pupils to learn more about other religions even in faith schools (Thatcher was still prime minister when I started secondary school!) I don't think I've been at any disadvantage.

my kids went to school in the US, and in my area they are very serious about no religious instruction. I've heard stories about it creeping in in parts of the South. They do learn about various world religions in social studies, but usually not in elementary (primary) school.

keep in mind that religiosity varies massively across the US, and also the Catholic Church fought to keep out religious instruction because they wanted kids going to catholic schools.

You won’t be able to avoid it at private prep schools. In fact, they’re more even more likely to do something like have a daily assembly, possibly even in a church, a few times a week.

Why would you want to opt your child out of learning about belief systems, that ultimately help them understand the world and people around them? And indeed will help them understand their own parents and the belief system they develop because you, while thinking you are not religious, if you’re British, you are the product of the Christian tradition. Christianity is etched into your values and your belief system without you even knowing it. All the things that morally you think are self evident were definitely not self evident to the Greeks or the Romans.

I feel compelled to add to that some of the most dumb closed minded people I know are people who claim to be atheists. They end up saying things like religion starts all wars, while ignoring the various major horrors around the world that have occurred that had nothing to do with religion.

Schools aren’t teaching your kids how to have a faith, they’re teaching them about religion as a concept which will
also help them to understand other people, art, literature, history and so much more.

Without that education, your kid could stand in front of some of the world’s greatest paintings and sculptures from
Da Vinci or Michelangelo and have zero idea what they’re depicting. They’d also never learn about how the crusades shaped modern politics, why Henry the 8th formed his own religion or the roots of the conflict in Northern Ireland and even around the world.
And you think knowledge of this sort makes people dumb? 🙄

Or, I would personally add, the immense good that people motivated by faith can do. In the U.K., if every church or faith-based charity stopped doing voluntary projects, things like Foodbank, homeless shelters, community projects etc, it’s estimated it would cost upwards of £55bn a year to replace.

Religion isn’t the root of the conflict in Northern Ireland though.

Depends who you talk to. You can’t understand it properly without having awareness of how religion was part of it.

I had a fantastic private education at a church school and it affirmed my atheism!

I’m still grateful that I have a very good cultural understanding of Christianity & so I’ve chosen for my child to do the same. If they end up religious, well, that’s their prerogative & I’d respect that.

Currently on any media that allows comments (Facebook, online newspaper sites) there are 100s of comments about various Diwali events happening around the UK.
A huge amount of these people commenting seem to think it's an Islamic festival and it's all to do with "the takeover".
Which is more dumb?
Learning in school about a religious festival and knowing some facts about it.
Not learning about it in school so you end up an ignorant racist who doesn't even know they are making stupid comments about the wrong religion?

You’re not reading any of the comments, are you? RE doesn’t teach you to be religious. It teaches you about different religions. It’s important to understand the belief systems of different groups, surely?!

It seems to me that the @javaprogrammer needs to go back to school to learn ABOUT religion. Her ignorance is absolutely outstanding, and we all know that ignorance breeds intolerance. I hope her child receives a better education she has had.

I don't think she realises what a complete fool she is making of herself.