Would you say something to the RE teacher about this comment?

[chicaguapa]

If the RE teacher was talking about God creating the world and switching on the lights on the sun, moon and stars and then a DC (not mine) said "Excuse me miss, but the moon isn't lit, it's lit up by the sun" and the RE teacher responded '"Ah, but that's what science would like us to believe", would you say anything?

DH (a science teacher) is climbing the walls with unbridled fury.

catsrus Please come and teach DD. You sound like a fab RE teacher (maybe science too but we already have one of those ).

Yes, I would say the explanation is that the creation story didn't actually take place in 7 actual days, but over 7 millenia, so God created Man and all the surrounding creatures and the universe through evolution. I don't actually believe this, but it's quite easy to explain, and was actually what I was taught at Catholic school 25 years ago. It disappoints me that we seem to have gone back in time to a time when religious dogma is seen as untouchable, whereas science is seen as 'another theory'. They are not equal. One has to be proven and the other is a belief that needs no proof.

If only she had a better teacher.

I am a bit fatalistic about this. Sometimes they end up with a teacher who is not so good, that's life. Fortunately, in secondary they don't have to spend all their time with them.

How do you know what was said?

I'd say something. Kids don't need to be fed bullshit.

I'm a committed Christian (DH is training to be a vicar) and I would say something. I'd be concerned that the RE teacher doesn't have a particularly good grasp of her own subject, never mind science.

"Religious Education" is about teaching kids about religions, about what people all over the world believe, enabling them to have the critical tools and knowledge to make up their own minds. It's not "Religious Indoctrination", in which the teacher tells children that what religions say Is True and that science is just a theory. That is a very important difference.

I would definitely say something. The RE teacher should be couching things like that as "some people believe X" rather than as a statement of fact.

Sorry chick - I retrained in computer science, got seduced by all that lovely technology that was coming into schools in the early 80's and wanted to play with robots Haven't taught RE for 30 yrs - I can proudly say that I was THAT nightmare parent at parent's evening though, demanding to know which RE syllabus they were using and what the qualification of the RE staff were.

I do think we avoided the rather bonkers extreme end of religion that the US deals with by having RE in schools where there is some opportunity to debate and discuss. In the US they "only" have science classes not RE - so the bonkers creationists are able to offer it as an alternative theory, not a different way of thinking completely this is a very scary map.

Science isn't directly opposed to RE at all. Plenty of scientist are religious (I'm one of them), plenty of Religious are scientists.

What faith is she that compels her to believe that the moon emits light? It's just bollocks and she wants pulling up for that alone.

But how does a scientist, who is also religious and believes in God, explain the creation of man?

(Simple explanation please!)

Not a simple explanation but - evolution. It's the same explanation that the non-religious make do with. I do believe we are more than the sum of our genes though.

OP - I wouldn't say anything personally, but I might encourage my DC and friends to tell their science teachers. As a former physics teacher, if I had found out one of the RE teachers at my school was deliberately trying to undermine my subject to the students I would have a few words with them.

No faith that I know of requires you to believe that the moon emits light: she is misrepresenting Christianity as well as science.

If the teacher was joking, it is in fact a funny joke.

Oh I wouldn't worry, you do half expect an RE teacher to say that, and kids have to learn to engage with the science versus religion debate sometime. Save your energy for when a teacher really goes unhinged.

In our (mostly Muslim) area, they would have a very high failure of RE if 'being Christian enough' was the criteria. Are you sure it wasn't 'well argued enough'.

FGS I'm pretty sure it was just a flippant jokey off the cuff remark. Not the actual view of the teacher.

What patriciaholm said:

"Religious Education" is about teaching kids about religions, about what people all over the world believe, enabling them to have the critical tools and knowledge to make up their own minds. It's not "Religious Indoctrination", in which the teacher tells children that what religions say Is True and that science is just a theory. That is a very important difference.

I hope the teacher was joking. If not, she sounds a bit loopy.

There is no inherent contradiction between science and religion. The Catholic Church accepts the theory of evolution. The concept of God is creator is not that he engineers every little thing ('God lights up the moon? Come on), but that he is the ultimate cause of everything. Google 'Cosmological Argument' - in a nutshell, it argues that something must have ultimately caused everything to exist, a cause without a cause.

Plenty of scientists are Christian, it doesn't bother them at all.

OP, I suggest you contact Accord and tell them your anecdote. They campaign for better RE teaching in schools, because at present the quality is very varied.

There is a national framework for RE, which includes exploring the relationship between religion and science, but its not compulsory.

p.s. When my 5 year-old DS told his Reception teacher that numbers go on to infinity, she replied that "only God is infinite".

So, unfortunately, I had to tell him early on in his school career that his teachers don't always know the right answers.