Should kids be taught religion in schools

[lloydie]

I dont know any High schools that teach compulsory lessons on Santa Claus

Fair point. I think what I was trying to say is that educations in myhts is an important part of understanding your heritage. You can personally educate your children to not believe in God, but in school, the positivies far outweigh the negatives.

Besides, if you're (not you mate, just a general comment) a parent who wants their kid to not believe in God, and they do because of some RE classes, it's probably time to accept that you are a shite parent anyway.

From personal experience;
My nephew was brought up in a liberal family where religion was largely ignored. However, on reaching primary school age he suddenly started coming home with stories of how "Jesus did this" and "Jesus did that"that as though Jesus was some sort of superhero. Whilst his parents were perfectly capable parents (not shite ones) able to talk him through the difficult questions at a time in his life when these concepts were difficult to grasp and when a child's innate trust in authority is at it's greatest, a task made more difficult by the tacit support of religion which permeates our culture.. It set up a needless conflict between him and his parents, him and his classmates, him and his teachers and his School and his parents

I'm sure that there are less able parents who are not 'shite' who would rather not have this issue forced upon them and have to fight for balance against the massed (sic) ranks of religious propogandists and apologists.

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

should kids be taught religion in schools ? still happens here, but is it right to teach kids that this person called Jesus did supernatural things like walking on water ?

Absolutely. Religion is a massive part of our culture, and people who don't study it are the worse of for it.

Normally I concur with virtually all of your posts,but on this one I must take issue.
That religion is 'a massive part of our culture' is simply down to the fact that belief in one deity or another used to be the default setting for mankind,and was simply an unquestioning faith in the edicts of the clerics of the day.
To merely question the existence of God could result in a swift and untimely demise at the hands of the so-called devout for heresy.
Now that we have the requisite scientific understanding of the world to explain phenomena such as floods,the waxing and waning of the moon and bad harvests,we no longer need to resort to evoke the benevolent blessings of some beardy bloke in the sky who probably doesn't exist anyway.
Religion is,in my opinion,a complete anachronism nowadays,even if you leave aside the divisive sectarian excess baggage that it invariably comes with.
It actually boils down to little more than an irrational superstition,and that,to me,is no basis as a subject worthy of study for the enlightened education of impressionable young minds.

 

[scenecreamer]

these threads are always difficult because the OP and most posters make little effort to distinguish between teaching religious practices of the world and teaching the adherence to a specific religions beliefs.

understanding the varied histories and practices of the worlds religions and approaching such topics from the perspective of cultural anthropology/human geography is very important to understanding the cultures of the world.

 

[Skashion]

Yup, it should be taught but in a neutral way. It should be information about what religions and their sects believe and the influence those beliefs have had in the world. It should not be taught as truth, and the the proven falsehoods of religion should be taught as part of science.

 

[Pringletelli]

Last year I did my GCSEs and we had R.E once every fortnight and still had to take an exam at the end of the year, furthermore, the kids that had pissed about in year 10 weren't allowed to do the R.E exam so for the whole of year of 11; they all got shoved in one big piss about class for an hour. The exam was the easiest exam I've ever done and I got an A, I never really took anything in during the lesson but she gave us this sheet just before the exam and that had literally everything you had to know. All you had to do was give a catholic's opinion, protestant's opinion, a non-christian opinion's and your opinion towards things like abortion, divorce, sex outside of marriage etc so like most things these days, we got taught the stuff to pass the exam, not to prepare us for future life.

In college however we have Ethics instead, which isn't R.E but is similar, now this does prepare us for future life because all we do is discuss the events in the past week (City results for me!) and then discuss a topic such as drugs, binge drinking - there's a new topic each lesson. It's good because it's more of a discussion than a lesson, it's dead chilled out and you don't have to contribute if you don't want to, you can just sit there listening. You still get an idea of everyone's opinion on the matter instead of having an opinion given to you and you have to write that down to pass an exam.

 

[stonerblue]

No. And certainly not at junior school or infants.

 

[amber2345]

I think an awareness of all religions should be taught, hopefully this will minimise prejudices against people from other religions. I do feel that a lot of prejudice is the result of ignorance and a lack of understanding for other peoples beliefs and circumstances. So yes going by this theory there is a place for religious studies. Once the kids have an awareness they should them have the option to continue if they wish to do so, in more depth.

Parents should also think carefully when choosing schools. For those who feel strongly about their childs religious up bringing the then send them to a catholic/C of E/Islamic school by all means. But those who don't wish for their kids to study RE then don't put your kids in such schools. A friend of my parents recently complained about this but her kids go to a catholic school. She isn't religious and had to appeal for her kids to gain a place there as it is the top primary in the area. So yes it's the best school but if you put your child in a catholic school then they're going to be taught based upon catholic beliefs!!

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

I think an awareness of all religions should be taught, hopefully this will minimise prejudices against people from other religions. I do feel that a lot of prejudice is the result of ignorance and a lack of understanding for other peoples beliefs and circumstances. So yes going by this theory there is a place for religious studies. Once the kids have an awareness they should them have the option to continue if they wish to do so, in more depth.

Parents should also think carefully when choosing schools. For those who feel strongly about their childs religious up bringing the then send them to a catholic/C of E/Islamic school by all means. But those who don't wish for their kids to study RE then don't put your kids in such schools. A friend of my parents recently complained about this but her kids go to a catholic school. She isn't religious and had to appeal for her kids to gain a place there as it is the top primary in the area. So yes it's the best school but if you put your child in a catholic school then they're going to be taught based upon catholic beliefs!!

Faith schools should be abolished.
Full stop.
It's bad enough teaching kids divisive fairy stories to start with,but once a school starts to teach five year olds that followers of religions other than their own are infidels and will burn in hell, it really is time to stop the madness.

 

[tonea2003]

should there be an awareness of all religions taught in schools and i will include atheism and its ilk for the sake of argument, absoluteley yes.
should religion be indoctrinated into children at school absolutely not!!

 

[amber2345]

I think an awareness of all religions should be taught, hopefully this will minimise prejudices against people from other religions. I do feel that a lot of prejudice is the result of ignorance and a lack of understanding for other peoples beliefs and circumstances. So yes going by this theory there is a place for religious studies. Once the kids have an awareness they should them have the option to continue if they wish to do so, in more depth.

Parents should also think carefully when choosing schools. For those who feel strongly about their childs religious up bringing the then send them to a catholic/C of E/Islamic school by all means. But those who don't wish for their kids to study RE then don't put your kids in such schools. A friend of my parents recently complained about this but her kids go to a catholic school. She isn't religious and had to appeal for her kids to gain a place there as it is the top primary in the area. So yes it's the best school but if you put your child in a catholic school then they're going to be taught based upon catholic beliefs!!

That's why I stated an awareness to other religions, not brainwashing into 'my beliefs are better than yours'. It is also unfair to ban all religion from schools. If a child is born and raised into a religion then the parents have the right to educate their child as they see fit. This is my point of religious schools, it's there for those who wish for their child to have an awareness to a specific religion. If you want your child to be athiest then fine, just don't put them in a school with a connection to a specific religion.

Faith schools should be abolished.
Full stop.
It's bad enough teaching kids divisive fairy stories to start with,but once a school starts to teach five year olds that followers of religions other than their own are infidels and will burn in hell, it really is time to stop the madness.