Religion in Schools

I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on a question that has been bothering me for years.

Do you think that religion should be taught in school, or by the kids parents/family? And by religion, I mean a school that teaches only 1 religion (i.e Roman Catholic Schools).

My view, is that teaching kids only one religion in school is very close to being classed as a form of 'Brain Washing'. In Scotland, our Roman Catholic secondary/High schools, make their students watch a movie called 'The Silent Scream'. This movie shows an actual abortion procedure in graphic detail, with the idea that it will shock the kids into always viewing abortion as an 'Evil' act, that is considered murder by their own church.

I'm not saying that I do think that abortion is acceptable, but the kids don't need to be terrified into a belief. Is the Catholic Church so unsure of their own ability to 'Reach' out to kids, that they feel the need to scare them into believing?

If a school feels the need to teach religion, then they should be teaching the values of ALL religions! If they don't teach all religions, what is the result? ANSWER: A Country full of Ethnocentric church puppets.

Your Views??

 

I think it sucks with religion in schools. I have been pretty lucky and not have so much religion at the time i went to school but I hate it anyway. Its boring and people should have the rights to have there own belife and the schools should not try to make us belive in anything.

 

I studied at a Catholic School almost all my life, I have to say I am quite different to what you'd expect of a life long catholic.

Religion is not established in general, what I mean by this is that there are so many religious beliefs yet schools like this failed to mention as such. As I said, I was a Catholic, but I am a very open minded person, so I have my own beliefs besides those established by my time in a Catholic school. Not only do I think it's wrong, but I do think this kind of things are what causes some countries to fight.

Do you imagine a Catholic who pretty much thinks catholic is the only religion on a Hindi community???

It's wrong to categorize one religion as an absolute one, since they aren't any who are THE religion. Roman Catholic is just practiced more.

 

Roman Catholic Schools are private institutions and the children are there by the choice of the parents. This is not a good example in my opinion. The parents chose to have their children there because they believe the school will teach the proper values and morals to the children.

Private schools have the right to teach their curriculum as they see fit as long as it meets the overall mandates of the state. They would have certain restrictions on what they can and cannot teach. However a school's primary goal should not be to teach children little tidbits about the world, history, science or math. It should be to encourage children to explore and study on their own so they can better their lives. If the school teaches you that the library is an important a place to spend time as the beach or football field, then you can never be brainwashed because you have the information of a thousand generations at your fingertips. It is your responsibility to take advantage of that.

In my opinion even public schools should teach religion and religious history. Here in the United States people would throw a fit though because of an implied law of separation between church and state. However if we taught our children the basics of the different major religions and the religious history that has very much shaped our world, then there would be less violence and hatred in the world. People and their religious views are more alike than we want to believe but we focus on the differences and that is the root of bigotry. Removing misconceptions and sharing popular views can erase that. Until we do so, we will continue to face many problems in this world.

 

Wayne, I couldn't have said it better myself.

Religious schools are private and students attend by choice (theirs or their parents') so as long as the parents are happy with what is being taught, there is nothing wrong with the child attending that school. If you don't like what's being taught, don't send your child there.

I agree with Wayne in that even public schools should educate students on various religions, beliefs and cultures. In today's society, kids are being raised with the mindset that school is a place to learn things, but not religion. Usually because religion is a sensitive topic and hatred issues arise in the school setting, which is unfortunate. If children were raised learning about religions other than their own, they would be more accepting and open-minded and the gangs, mobs and hate-groups we currently have would be no more.

I wish people weren't so ignorant and unwilling to educate about things other than what you believe in.

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

I received an F in my GCSE for Religious Education because I do not believe in the lesson and the questions were based about my opinions on god.

I wrote my opinions, but received a F.

Religous Education is a waste of time at school, it should be spent doing something important like ICT, English or Maths.

 

Don't get me started on Religion.


As far as teaching it in schools, only if its a private school. I guess they could teach "creationism/intelligent design" next to evolution, but everyone knows creationism is a joke and even 12 year olds would be able to figure that out.

 

Honestly, religions are just wasting of time. Kids must be encouraged to learn more valuable things in life, invent practical solutions for certain matters, and so on. In short we must teach our kids how to live and survive rather than filling their minds with things that may be true or may be not.

Regards

 

So no toys or cartoons in your house huh? Seems kind of drab. That fact is that religions are the basis of modern societies today. If we ignore them then you are shutting out a lot of history. You don't have to have faith, just learn about your history. If you do not learn about your history than you cannot help mankind achieve new greatness.

 

Is this a class in the public education system or a private religious school?

Don't social encounters and interpersonal conflicts require some sort of background information on the person you're dealing with? If you know nothing outside of your own beliefs, how could you be able to work with or interact with other people? You don't have to do what they do or believe what they believe, but if you decide to totally ignore everything about them because it's not what you do, then you wouldn't get very far in working with them.

As I said - the hate-groups, mobs, gangs, etc. are mostly in existence because they collectively believe in something. If they were taught about other beliefs (and more importantly to accept other beliefs) they wouldn't be so hostile.

I fail to realize how studying religions/beliefs - past and present - is a waste of time. This knowledge and information comes in handy more than you think.

 

You didn't get me right. I don't say don't allow kids to live their normal life.

Kids are kids, they have the right to play and watch cartoon etc. etc.

But if you want to do something good for them, then let them learn something (like what you do when you teach them the Alphabet), in a matter of play for example.

Religions are the number one cause of wars in the history, I don't have faith in religions but I do know the history of them which is something like copy and paste with a few alterations. (And that's why Abrahamic religions are similar to each other and so are the Dharmic religions)

On the other hand, religions are not the reason behind the advancement of humanity, they're mere invention by the Man, who's the super creature (mind) on the Earth.

The greatness has been achieved by the liberty and investments. Western European countries have achieved great success after the religion is dumped and given low priorities.

Religions are important reason behind the middle east is still in the dark eras.

Instead of wasting time worshiping something that may be exist or may be not, what about coding / reading a few more lines?

I'm done, I apologize in advance if my thoughts seem to be offending to religious people, as I respect their thoughts and rights.

 

Dear Nick and Wayne

Yes, I support teaching kids to respect other thoughts and believes. This is a must and can be achieved by teaching various thoughts on a certain matter, for example.

Here, I agree 100%. I just explain my thoughts as a non-believer.

My full respect to you, whatever you are.

 

As richard dawkins said. Religion is the root of all evil it's a virus that has spread into our homes,schools and culture. If we want to be reminded of history then let's go back to the start of the century leading up when american schools banned teaching evolution.

To put ones faith in religion is to teach the potential thinker not to think, expand. Let's go back to the 1600s, Galileo stating that the 4 moons of jupiter circled jupiter only for the church to place him under house arrest for the rest of his life. That history? How about families who's children couldn't be taught that evolution is a fact and was banned from the classrooms. that history?

religious history is a one way street with no room for thought. You place one's faith in a book dictated by people who stamped out free thinkers long gone and past that done more for humanity than any religious group have done.

Religion hampered our growth as a species for 2000 years and it took science (which religion mocks) and now religion want to somehow integrate religion with science when it condriatics what science is all about. Which is facts, progress etc

How about the case when Darwin was on trial not so long ago? again, religion fighting against evolution and fighting that life started by some kind of creator when it was proved otherwise. Maybe that's the history we want our children to learn.

I come from a devout catholic family and I feel that even they lack the knowledge that science brings to the table. how it has allowed humanity to progress throughout the ages when religion says to you. believe this run along and never question the scriptures.

And I certainly won't apologize for my thoughts. I loathe religion in all it's formats and everything it stands for.

 

But, it's important to point that the mutual respect is a genuine thing. An individual doesn't need to know about the history of other thoughts in order to respect people. An individual must respect people regardless of what they believe. Accepting is not about knowing History, it's a duty towards others, right?

 

Only if it's a private institution.

 

Public.

 

Then that's wrong. Your opinions shouldn't have to meet some standard. What should matter is that you clearly expressed your opinion and fulfilled the question that was being asked.

 

Preach it sister! (pun intended)

Basically my thoughts.

If you're interested in the debunking of creationism, you should really check out Thunderf00t on youtube shelley.
YouTube - Thunderf00t's Channel
The guy is a genius, and keeps your attention. The series he has "Why People Laugh at Creationists" is amazing and I've watched all 30 episodes of it.

 

Oh god this.

Those are stupid, stupid parents. :frown:

In other news, I believe that all modern world religions are somewhere between misguided (evangelical christianity, Hinduism) and downright bonkers (Scientology). You should probably edit that last part out so that you don't get sued.

EDIT: this pretty much sums up the "religious facts" argument that keeps darwinism and evolution out of schools.

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