Religion In School...

[bobspock100]

there are about 82 different divisions of Christians which are called denominations. the catholics ar the largest droup of Christians. there are about 9 divisions of islam, 8 divisions of Hebrew, 18 divisions of hindi not including the seik. do not overlook buddist and confushon, various orthodox churches such as greek, Russian, Turkish, Cypriot, lessor known religions such as wiccan and pagan which has 100's of breakdowns.

if all of these religions were to express themselves to the public in public places, the world would be total chaos. for this reason, it is established by "common law" that religions are informally restricted to their operating theatre and missions.

this does not include schools. there is excellent reason for separation of church and state that goes far beyond the common understanding. could you picture 400 clergy of different religions all preaching in a hallway at school. please believe that the overall public good is best served by not having religion in the schools. and this is before we even get to the concept of separation of church and state. I am sure all agree we cant have government sponsoring one religion over others in the schools.

be advised however that some of these religions operate their own schools which serve the community well, and I have no problem with them receiving some tax money for that purpose. it also relieves a given percentage of burden from public school systems.it also seems borne out that said schools usually provide education which is superior to the public school system. I have no problem at all with that.

 

[cybele]

Judaism, not Hebrew, Hebrew is a language, Judaism is the faith.

Sikh, not Seik. The Orthodox faiths you have listed are denominations of Christianity, so are classed in your original 82.

I believe in world religion being taught in public school, and it is taught at my children's high schools, a run down of beliefs, the history of the religion and so on. The older kid's school does a world religion day where representatives of various faiths come in and they all chat about life, philosophy and so on, they do things together. I particularly enjoyed the Imam and High Priestess who decided to demonstrate ballroom dancing during a chat about fundamentalism where they both revealed themselves as ballroom dancers.

Teaching faith in public schools, I am very much against.

 

[bobspock100]

thank you for correcting me Cybele. I am not much of a religious person. actually I am an atheist. I have a reasonable working knowledge of things, but I have no clue about all the details involved in all the various religions. it is my personal belief that religion does more harm than good these days. to me it appears that religion teaches that people don't have to do much to solve problems, all they have to do is mumble in the corner to some invisible wizard and he will fix everything for you. and the real kicker is that you are supposed to talk to this invisible wizard, but if you ever get an answer back, they immediately lock you up in the mental hospital, because intelligent people know better.

 

[cybele]

I think you need to research world religions more before you develop such opinions.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not pushing some kind of conversion thing here, you are an atheist, I completely respect that, however if you are going to speak about religion, and what people of various faiths do, you need to educate yourself on the topic, and it sounds like you are not educated on the topic.

 

[bobspock100]

you are right on this one. I know nothing about it. I am so bias that I never had time to pay any attention to it. I should not discuss what they do or don't do, except to the extent of what they tell me they do.

 

[singledad]

I have no clue about all the details involved in all the various religions.
...
to me it appears that religion teaches that people don't have to do much to solve problems, all they have to do is mumble in the corner to some invisible wizard and he will fix everything for you.

Just a note: It is extremely rude to express opinions that you know are likely to offend, when you know very well that these opinions are based in ignorance.

That said, I agree completely with "no religion in schools". And that includes atheism - it's not ok to teach that religion is wrong or misguided, any more than it is ok to teach faith. It's all about respect. I would agree with a system like cybele describes - teaching the basic beliefs and history of various religious, and encouraging debate.

 

[TabascoNatalie]

Here in UK, a lot of state schools have been founded by churches. It is not much of a problem of faith being taught -- if you go to a Catholic school, you know you'll be taught catholic stuff. The much bigger problem is admissions. Competition for school places is fierce and faith schools often have a better academic reputation. People end up faking religion so their kids could go to a better school. That is very very wrong in my opinion.

 

[cybele]

What I love about religious schools here is that they don't even care. As long as you are willing for your child to attend faith services and in some cases, like the Jewish and Islamic schools, wear cultural dress, they accept anyone. I'm pretty sure it's a legal thing, even the religious schools cannot discriminate due to religion.

 

[bobspock100]

the religious schools in Australia sound more reasonable than what I have observed elsewhere. the worst I have seen are catholic schools that spend have the day teaching religion. granted that the level of education in religious schools is normally pretty good, I don't believe in indoctrinating the kids into a religion when they are to young to be able to make an independent free choice.

 

[cybele]

The Catholic schools are the most lax here. The standard amongst those I know who have/do attend religious school is one class per week, about an hour.
I had a Catholic education and we just had prayer every morning for about 5 minutes and mass once a week. Given that this was a school run by Nuns in the 70's, pretty lax. Sometimes Latin class incorporated a bit of religion, but not always.
I know some of the girls who boarded had some religious event once a week in the evening, but I was a day student, so I don't know much about that.

 

[TabascoNatalie]

What I love about religious schools here is that they don't even care. As long as you are willing for your child to attend faith services and in some cases, like the Jewish and Islamic schools, wear cultural dress, they accept anyone. I'm pretty sure it's a legal thing, even the religious schools cannot discriminate due to religion.

Here they cannot discriminate either, but if a school is very popular and oversubscribed, faith is given preference. If state schools were of equal quality, people wouldn't have to fake faith.

As for indoctrination, religion isn't just belief, its also traditions and lifestyle. It is primarily with the family. School is just a supplement.

 

[bobspock100]

naturally kids are raised within the concept of family cultural values which may or may not include religion. I am more accustomed to kids being imprinted with religion from their family, then as they grow and think for themselves, they just kind of ignore the whole subject as illogical. but whatever choice the kids might make, I think it is unfair and wrong for various forces in life to attempt to force, trick, or otherwise pressure kids into it. whether these forces be government, school, social org's, or whatever. I think one of the largest evils in the world are the preacher dudes who run their mouth as if they are an authority figure, telling what you have to do.

 

[TabascoNatalie]

I don't really understand what's the problem. Its 21st century and nobody forces you to send your children to certain schools if you strongly disagree with their ethos.
As for religious authorities, its just like school teachers -- all depends on individual personalities. Some deserve the highest respect and others none at all.

 

[bobspock100]

you just touched on the problem yourself. no one forces us to send the kids to a school with religion in its schedules, but then when we chose to send the kids to a public school that is not supposed to do that, we should expect that they wont do it. so when they do introduce religion, then there is the problem. I have taken note lately of schools that rent space in the school to religious org's., bibles mysteriously appearing in the school, taking time out to pray, studying religion. and other forms of it. this is all wrong, and should not be.

 

[TabascoNatalie]

Do you also have an issue with schools celebrating Christmas? Children participating in a Nativity play? Its also about religion...

 

[bobspock100]

I certainly have no problem with xmas. its a wonderful holiday that makes the kids so happy. I think for most people, or at least myself, xmas is not really viewed as a religous thing anymore, even thou we know it is. I view xmas as 2 things. an excuse to make little kids happy, with the santa clause thing. and all the good will, and a chance for togetherness with those in life that you love. with regard to xmas things in school, I am in favor and would not dream of destroying happy events for kids. however I would also teach the kids that some parts of what they hear about xmas are just fairy tales that they should ignore, because some people like to believe in magical things that aren't true, to make them feel better about things they cant handle of have no control over. and that he/she (my child) is strong minded enough and intelligent enough that he/she doesn't need it. but they should enjoy the rest of xmas with santa and happiness and good will toward people.

 

[TabascoNatalie]

Ignore God, but believe in Santa... No more comments