Parents who force their children into religion?

neverdespairgirl

andygb wrote: »

If you send your child to a Catholic/Anglican/Church of England school, then they will receive religious instruction almost immediately, starting with prayers, then learning parables, then the bible. All of this is taught as FACT, and the children will be expected to accept the teachings as FACT.

It became apparent to me at a very early age (12), that adults do not like children asking too many questions about religion, and could become quite/very angry.

I'm going to agree with the chorus of "not fact at all!"

I went to an Anglican boarding school, after a C of E primary, and we were encouraged to question religion, not to be spoon fed it!

securityguy

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I'm going to agree with the chorus of "not fact at all!"

I went to an Anglican boarding school, after a C of E primary, and we were encouraged to question religion, not to be spoon fed it!

Quite. The level of religious fervour at the CofE primary my children attended ten years ago was massively less than at the non-religious primary I attended in the 1960s. As someone with a hair-trigger sensitivity to religious nonsense masquerading as education, I had no concerns at all about the school my children were at (it was the closest, and the next two for distance were also CofE).

I saw far more problems at notionally non-religious secondary schools, that tip-toed around issues like evolution out of an exaggerated "sensitivity". Young-earth creationism is a crackpot fringe belief even amongst the religious, explicitly rejected by all major faiths, and there is a PhD to be written on why school teachers persist in assuming that anyone with "faith" is in fact a fringe extremist.

Person_one

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I'm going to agree with the chorus of "not fact at all!"

I went to an Anglican boarding school, after a C of E primary, and we were encouraged to question religion, not to be spoon fed it!

Lucky you! I went to a non-church primary school and we still had to sing hymns and recite the Lord's Prayer in assembly, and were taught Christianity as if it were true.

In secondary (also not a church school), we had one particularly 'devout' deputy head who would give us sermons at Christmas and Easter about the 'true' meaning and how she hoped we'd all be going to church over the holidays etc etc.

Most faith schools have something in their mission statement about 'upholding the tenets of the faith' or similar and the kids will be led in acts of worship by the teachers, unless the parents opt out for them.

I've been in Catholic primary schools with altars in every classroom, with massive crucifixes all over the place, where they have to bow their heads and give thanks before eating their breaktime apple.

Sorry, but if you think faith schools don't teach that their faith is the correct one, you haven't been in enough of them.

andygb

margaretclare wrote: »

I note many contributors are slagging off Christianity, as if this was the only religion causing problems.

Please read post#49 again.
I feel the same about ALL religions.

lostinrates

Person_one wrote: »

The main, big, fundamental problem with faith schools is that they teach something as complete fact, unquestionable truth, that is just not.

As andygb says, schools should teach about religion, not teach that one is true!

No, we were taught about many faiths, and visited other places of worship. We had students from more than one faith (which I think might be different in selection for some state faith schools?) and while faith does form part of the structure of the year (I.e. Christmas/Easter is celebrated, there is chapel attendance etc) I was never, ever forced to do anything I didn't believe in. I always enjoyed choir, for example, and our choir was made up of all faiths and competed in all sorts of things, singing both traditional 'faith' classical choral music and more contemporary stuff. But I didn't want to continue taking communion etc and no pressure of any sort was out on me to do so. We took theology gcse as a mandatory subject, but it was not just Christianity and looking back I answered in a most obnoxiously teenaged way and was marked with great tolerance for a rude teenage attitude at times, quite besides my lack of belief which was not a problem, as I was most certainly not the only person who was not a believer or not a Christian.


Edit: I also had what strokes me in conversation with others and on forums as one of the best educations on using birth control among my peers at the time, at my Roman Catholic convent school. Very brave women, who can only be commended for that.

Any

Quite frankly forced believe will never ever be the real thing anyway and trying to force someone to stop questioning God and life is the most ridiculous thing one can do.
It is a sign ones own confusion and deliberate block of outside voices.

A person that feels the need to force anyone else into any religion by either physical or mental means is not in my view a real religious person, but a controlling bully who enjoys being a part of a religious sect.

A person has to feel the believe for it to have any meaning and this will not come just because some tells you to.

andygb

CustardAndPickles wrote: »

Sorry, but IMHO that's rubbish. Maybe things have changed since you were at school.

I attended a Roman Catholic primary school and a Roman Catholic Secondary School.

The Primary School didn't have RE classes. To be eligible to attend the Primary School you had to attend (at least monthly) the Roman Catholic church that was linked to it. Learning of prayers etc came from the church. There was a nativity play at Christmas-time.

As you did not attend the schools which I went to, then you are not qualified to describe my words/experiences as "rubbish", and by doing so you have identified yourself as arrogant and possibly ignorant.
I started school in 1963 and left school in 1975. During that time I went to three Roman Catholic infant/primary schools and two Roman Catholic secondary schools in different parts of the UK (my father changed jobs a few times).
As Person One has pointed out, in every classroom in every school there were large crucifixes on the wall. We had compulsory mass once a week as well as prayers and hymn singing at assembly in the morning, and also a reading from the bible every day. The first lesson of the day in infant/primary school was always religious studies/education, which involved us learning the Catechism and various prayers - the creed for instance. We were presented the bible as if it was history. We were taught by nuns at the infant/primary schools in addition to other teachers, and the nuns were by far the most miserable ones with the worst tempers.
Once a week we had to do a whole rosary as a class - that nearly sent me to sleep - what the heck is the point of that?:eek:
At the secondary schools there was one improvement - the penguins (sorry - nuns:o) had gone, but we now had four lessons (two single and one double period) of religious knowledge a week, where there was a slight admission that perhaps the Old Testament wasn't really factual at all - no s??t Sherlock:rotfl:
There was however still assembly - loads of prayers and singing, and a compulsory mass once a week.
There were also regular religious retreats which you were encouraged to go away on, but fortunately my parents were skinflints so I didn't have to endure that.
We were taught absolutely nothing about other religions, and I cannot remember any children of other faiths at any of the schools I attended.

VestanPance

margaretclare wrote: »

I note many contributors are slagging off Christianity, as if this was the only religion causing problems.

I've just read an updated report about a school dinner-lady who was dismissed because she gave a child a pork dinner when the child pointed to it. She said that 'it is impossible to keep track of all the different children, what they mustn't eat'. All she does is serve out the food they ask for.

Child's parents are reportedly 'emigrating to the UAE'. Mother's comment: 'the kids will grow up with a Muslim identity'. So, is that 'forcing children into religion', or is that quite OK as it's politically-correct and the said religion isn't one that comes in for all the criticism that Christianity comes in for?

Nothing better than made up zenophobic stories to try and deverte attention from questioning all religion, not just Christianity.

angeltreats

I attended a Catholic primary school in the 1980s, and a Catholic secondary school in the 1990s. In both schools, we had prayers at the start and end of the day, prayers before and after lunch, and prayers at the start of every lesson. Religious education/parables/the Bible etc etc was most definitely taught as fact and it was very much frowned upon to question any of it. We were not taught anything about any religions other than Catholicism. There was a religious retreat once a year, frequent masses and various other religious ceremonies/gatherings/whatever you want to call them in the assembly hall for assorted reasons.

The standard of education at my secondary school was very high, but if I had the choice to send my children there (I don't, as I live in a different country now) I would be wary of them having so much Catholicism forced upon them. Although saying that, despite twelve years of it as well has having very religious parents, none of it rubbed off on me.

securityguy

andygb wrote: »

I started school in 1963 and left school in 1975.

Many things have changed in the past forty years.