Atheist and the nativity

balletshoes

PoorCharleyBear wrote: »

it was just a surprise that it seems to have featured highly in school. And I know that her little classmates are Muslims, Hindus and Catholic so featuring one religion seems strange.

I am happy to expose her to it- just do not want it to be forced on her as it was for us as children.

its not being forced on her, and one religion is featured right now because they're talking about Christmas. When its Divali, Eid etc they will feature in class.

My DDs primary school is a large multi-cultural non-denominational one. Her RE is very different to what my small village church-affiliated RE lessons were. They compare 2 or 3 different religions per school year, learn about the beliefs and traditions, visit different places of worship etc etc. Organised religions and their beliefs can be fascinating subjects and I'm very happy for my daughter to be learning them alongside her school friends, who come from a variety of nominal religions and backgrounds. There are no daily prayers at school to any God, and all RE lessons are education, not instruction.

I am not a follower of any organised religion.

meritaten

My grandaughters' primary school have just had their year 3 and 4 Xmas factor concert! it was rather bizarre but fun!
Apparently, all the characters from the Nativity found themselves 'auditioning' for the X factor (complete with all the usual judges) and guest 'artistes'!
The kids sang the usual Carols interspersed with 'popular' xmas songs! for 7 and 8 year olds they were brilliant! and ALL pupils had a '3 minutes of fame'!
It wasnt particularly 'religous' but for those who were - Mary, Joseph and Jesus were there!
I thought it masterfull in that it didnt deny the nativity story - but it brought in popular culture. and ALL pupils had thier part to play.
The audience enjoyed it immensely (particularly the impersonations of the judges!)

while you may be atheist - there is a large christian population who see christmas as 'THEIR' festival! so its useful for explaining to children why the holiday is called Christ mass. Not 'present day'!
children should learn about different religions and thier relevance to everyday life.

barbiedoll

I wouldn't worry too much about this at your child's age, they don't do the Nativity for older kids, my son's school only did the Nativity for the infants, it was all talent shows and discos after that!

When my son heard about the Nativity story, he came home full of ideas about Jesus and god etc etc and decided that he would pray at bedtime (possibly in the hope of more Christmas pressies lol!). When he learned about the Sikh religion, he decided that he would like a picture of Guru Nanak in his room. He quite liked the idea of being Jewish, he's asked what Catholics do, etc etc, and we've had long chats about whether I believe in god and if not, why not.

Now that he's a teenager, he's a lot more informed and he finds the idea of religion pointless. We have science books at home, we watch science programmes and we talk about scientific events, discoveries and issues. Of course, he will be influenced by my views, I'm his parent but I do try to let him make up his own mind, if he chooses to follow a religion, I would support him, much as it would stick in my throat!

We've spoken about death and the possibility of an "afterlife". We've buried pets in the back garden and we like the idea that the plants will grow over them, to feed the insects, which feed the birds etc etc. We've spoken about organ donation and what will happen to us when we die. It's an ongoing process, for both of us, we know that we're perfectly entitled to change our minds at any time, and that we shouldn't judge people on the basis of their beliefs.

It's easy as an atheist, to get annoyed by the way religion intrudes into everyday life but personally, a child playing a shepherd in the school Nativity play is the least of my worries. What scares me more is the thought of the rabid Christians of the "Tea Party" in the US getting anywhere near the White House. Or the radical Islamists who prey on vunerable youngsters. Or the Catholics in Africa telling people that HIV can be cured by eating grapefruit.

By the way, have you seen this?............
http://www.the-brights.net/

pearl123

Remember kids will frequently do exactly oposite to wants their parents want them too!

Lunar_Eclipse

PoorCharleyBear wrote: »

I was a bit taken aback as she is purposefully at a non faith school and there are a few other religions in her class.

Your daughter will be taught about the 4 main world religions so will gain a broad view about different world beliefs and cultures. So she'll learn about the Xmas story, but also about Eid, for example. I don't think Atheism is covered for some years, although it might be raised by children (& teachers usually opt to divert questions beyond the national curriculum guidelines to parents.)

RE is compulsory in all schools following the national curriculum (most state schools) and is currently a mandatory GCSE. I only discovered that last year and was surprised.

claire16c

I wouldnt worry. The 5 year old I look after has just done a nativity play but she also spent about a week learning about being a Muslim, I got showed how they pray and all sorts. Her brother who is 7 spent about a week learning about being a Hindu. he came home and made his own power point presentation on it with my help just for fun, he got really into it. They also believe in Santa though.

Who knows what theyll believe in a few years time but I doubt the nativity would have any effect.

I decided when I was about 6 I thought the whole jesus thing was a load of rubbish (as in him being the son of a god, I dont necessarily think he didnt exist as a person and I think the same now), and me and my friend decided in the playgroup wed start a new religion and write our own bible. The god was a woman too. Cant remember what we actually wrote now :rotfl:

I still did the odd nativity play at school and had to sit in various school assemblies which was kinda religious but it had no effect on me what so ever, other than re enforcing my opinion that its a load of rubbish.

Lunar_Eclipse

USM wrote: »

Organised religion on the other hand is inherently unhealthy and scary.

True. Many Christians feel the same. Christianity is based purely on an individual's relationship with God, through his Son Jesus. It has nothing to do with organised religion, church or stories taught in school.

claire16c

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

Your daughter will be taught about the 4 main world religions so will gain a broad view about different world beliefs and cultures. So she'll learn about the Xmas story, but also about Eid, for example. I don't think Atheism is covered for some years, although it might be raised by children (& teachers usually opt to divert questions beyond the national curriculum guidelines to parents.)

RE is compulsory in all schools following the national curriculum (most state schools) and is currently a mandatory GCSE. I only discovered that last year and was surprised.

Its not a mandatory GCSE, schools just have to teach RE lessons in yrs 10 and 11. They dont have to enter people into the exam.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/14To19/Years10And11/DG_10013568

I know at my school we still had to have 1 lesson a week, but we spent it mainly watching videos about various things, including ghosts and abortion!

Even in the 6th form there was supposed to be some compulsorary element of religion, the school got round it by a 1 day visit to a church :rotfl:

JC9297

claire16c wrote: »

Its not a mandatory GCSE, schools just have to teach RE lessons in yrs 10 and 11. They dont have to enter people into the exam.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/14To19/Years10And11/DG_10013568

I know at my school we still had to have 1 lesson a week, but we spent it mainly watching videos about various things, including ghosts and abortion!

Even in the 6th form there was supposed to be some compulsorary element of religion, the school got round it by a 1 day visit to a church :rotfl:

They don't have to study RE after year 9 unless they have chosen to take GCSE. I know some Catholic secondary schools make their pupils do it but it is not a requirement of the National Curriculum.

Even if primary schools are not specifically faith schools, they are not non-faith or secular, they are still broadly Christian, as the UK is not a secular country. RE teaches about different religions and schools often have a small celebration for Divali and Eid, but the emphasis is on celebrating the main Christial festivals.

I agree with others that all you have to do is say some people believe x,y or z - depending on the religion. I have to say the only children I have known to be withdrawn from religious celebrations in school have been the children of Jehovah's Witnesses. All of the others happily join in.

kafkathecat

Just to add, Europe has almost 2000 years of Christian culture. If you don't learn about Christianity there is so much art, poetry etc. which will pass you by. Obviously this is a good reason to learn the classics as well.