Religion in schools?

Janepig

itsallinthemind wrote: »

Exactally. I must say I am very happy that the school my first goes to has almost a 'ban' on religion. My seconds school will be different, I honestly can not see myself tolerating that. Maybe I'll just have to rise above it!

Errrr, send them somewhere else then? I'm sure the head has enough to deal with without parents moaning about any slight religious aspect to the school that you knew to be the case beforehand anyway. A case of the school not being able to do right for doing wrong as if they were completely secular you can guarantee you'd have parents whinging about that too!

Jxx

coco1980

my ds goes to a catholic primary school as did I , any child can attend the school but parents are made aware that all children say prayers in class, if they do not want their child to attend mass then they have to let the school know. our children are taught about different religions and all the festivals. though we are in Scotland and I dont know if it is different here I have never heard anyone complain about the non denominational schools and religion and a few of my friends children attend them. I would also be really angry if my sons school were to close because it was a religious school, I choose to send him there for that fact

margaretclare

moromir wrote: »

I can think of more than one major world religion that believes you ARE born of a certain religion!

Yes, the Muslims certainly believe this. They use the word 'revert' rather than 'convert' if someone joins their religion, because they think everyone is born Muslim.

As for the Jews, it's an ethnicity as well as a religion. A year ago we went to my DH's cousin's grandson's bar mitzvah and I was treated to the sight of my bro-in-law, who says he is a committed secular Jew and doesn't believe in God, praying very hard. I couldn't help wondering who he was praying to, if he doesn't believe in God?

Lotus-eater

milliebear00001 wrote: »

My husband and I are athiests and we have a daughter at a Church school in Year 1. I don't have much of an issue with her learning about faith, but she knows we don't believe in a God. 6 year olds believe all sorts of stuff. Point out that although that man believes God made us, not everyone does, and it will be up to him to decide what he believes. My daughter seems happy with this, and so am I.

I'm exactly the same. my DD knows I don't believe in god and is happy about that, she asked me if she had to choose to believe what I do and I told her it's up to her to make her own mind up.
So she's happy about that and believes everything her school tells her, so god, Jesus dying for us and all that.
Tbh, there are worse things than being taught to be good to everyone and when she is old enough to make her own mind up properly, she can.

I will always be here to answer any questions she has honestly

itsallinthemind

itsallinthemind wrote: »

Exactally. I must say I am very happy that the school my first goes to has almost a 'ban' on religion. My seconds school will be different, I honestly can not see myself tolerating that. Maybe I'll just have to rise above it!

Janepig wrote: »

Errrr, send them somewhere else then? I'm sure the head has enough to deal with without parents moaning about any slight religious aspect to the school that you knew to be the case beforehand anyway. A case of the school not being able to do right for doing wrong as if they were completely secular you can guarantee you'd have parents whinging about that too!

Jxx

If the school my second child is attending is supposedly secular, then it should act that way! My first child needs a special school and the head believes that all religions should be discussed but not imposed on children's minds. All of the schools discussed in this thread are apparently secular so it would appear than whatever school my second attends may try imposing religion on them.

Whinge about being secular? Then they should send them to a faith school, not the other way around! I do not want my children's minds being filled with religious lies and propaganda, many parents feel like this. State education and religion should be kept separate, our society is too broad, if 2/3rds of teens are Atheists this shows the way we are heading.

JBD

IMO there should be no religion at all in any state school. Religion is a private matter, everyone should of course be free to practice it in their own homes/places of worship but that is as far as it should go.

itsallinthemind

JBD wrote: »

IMO there should be no religion at all in any state school. Religion is a private matter, everyone should of course be free to practice it in their own homes/places of worship but that is as far as it should go.

Out of interest, are you happy like I am that religion and culture are taught in school as a social awareness thing?

Bubby

We have an open and honest policy in our household, My eldest attends a school which talks about god etc in their morning assembly. However from the first time she asked me about god I explained that some people like to believe in god and some people don't, I fall into the latter category but if she would like to believe in him that is perfectly fine. She has always accepted this with no worries:)

itsallinthemind

Janepig wrote: »

And if that stat is correct then it shows that it makes no difference whether schools have a religious aspect to their assemblies or not, children will make their own minds up.

Well 59% at the last survey, but I was being broad.

Strangely enough, 1/3 of schools are faith based. So why the need to have worship in non denomination schools?

Extract from Wiki, save the hassle of proving facts/stats
In England and Wales, the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 states that all pupils in state schools must take part in a daily act of collective worship, unless their parents request that they be excused from attending.[3] The majority of these acts of collective worship are required to be "wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character", with two exceptions:

• Religious schools, which should provide worship appropriate to the school's religion (although most religious schools in the UK are Christian.)
• Schools where the Local Education Authority's Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education has determined that Christian worship would not be appropriate for part or all of the school.

Despite there being a statutory requirement for schools to hold a daily act of collective worship, many do not. OFSTED's 2002-03 annual report, for example, states that 80% of secondary schools are not providing daily worship for all pupils.[4]

Person_one

moromir wrote: »

I can think of more than one major world religion that believes you ARE born of a certain religion!

Well there are all sorts of illogical beliefs out there.

I doubt that if you took a newborn baby and brought it up in an environment where it was never exposed to a religion, it would come up with Judaism or Islam all on its own, whatever its ethnicity.

Religion is essentially cultural practice and tradition with a really strong grip.

My parents appealed when I was sent to a CofE primary school and got me in a supposedly non-religious one. There was still a lot of hymn singing, nativities and visiting vicars though! I don't remember a single Imam or Buddhist monk popping in...