7 year old doesn't want to do R.E.

z.n

I feel it is a mistake to withdraw a child from classes for any but the most exceptional reasons. It sets them apart from their peers and creates underlying friction with children and adults. Far better that she joins in with everyone else- she already has strong opinions and so long as she is not being told off for holding or politely expressing those views then surely full participation is a positive thing for all the children-tolerance and acceptance all round. There is a huge benefit in children realising at an early age that different people believe different and contradictory things but you can still be friends with them. RE is the one class where such issues can be handled even with very young children. In any case, much of our moral tradition is based on religion and so basic religious teaching (not talking extremeism here) simply provides a story based means of getting the standard social boundaries in place.

However, if it is more a suggestion of indoctrination then I would be more concerned and while not withdrawing my child I would talk about religions more at home to offer balance etc. At secondary school the curriculum definitely will cover many different religions and while still 'boring' (according to DS) should be more balanced.

As to colouring in type work- I always helped with any sort of busywork homework and used it as an opportunity to impress the need to sometimes find the quickest and easiest way to get a task done to minimum standard and move on to more interesting stuff. If that meant getting others to help colour in that was fine. (Again this pre-supposes that the child has good pencil control and can write well.) Sometimes it is better just to fit in rather than make an issue of things. Especially mainstream religious belief.

Mojisola

gayleygoo wrote: »

It is supposed to be a state school, not a church one, but the amount of religion they teach is alarming, even giving religious activities as homeworks (which we never made her do and the teacher never commented on them not being done). To me it is plain lazy teaching to put on a bible video or give biblical colouring sheets - that's not useful education.

Gloomendoom wrote: »

I would have thought that a comprehensive religious education would enable her to make an informed choice when she is older.

It doesn't sound as if the school is educating the children about world religions but instructing them in one version of Christianity.

Tropez

As others have said, it's actually very important.

I'm an atheist. I will always be an atheist but the truth is while I can be an atheist, I cannot escape religion. I wish I could but it is such an extremely important part of some people's lives it is responsible for so much of the world in which we live.

A couple of weeks ago we had our updated list of things that we have to "pay particular attention to" in the workplace for the purposes of being non-discriminatory and inoffensive - the number of religion related items on there vastly outnumbered anything else. It could even be argued that while Church attendances and the number of people who identify themselves as Christian (of any denomination) is falling across the United Kingdom, the importance of understanding religion is increasing due to the wider multicultural demographic that the nation has when compared to fifty years ago.

I can fully appreciate that as an atheist you would not want to feel like your child is being indoctrinated into a faith (especially given how impressionable children are) and I can understand that if the child finds the way religion is taught to be boring or silly, she will be turned away from the subject but I think it is important that she has a grasp of how important religion is to some people, both in the good ways and the bad.

Mojisola

It might be that the school isn't sticking to the National Curriculum - do these resource books look familiar?
https://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/key_stages_1_and_2/areas_of_learning/religious_education/index.asp

gayleygoo

Thanks for all your replies, they have helped to reassure me. I realise that any child can find any subject boring, so I agree for that reason that I just don't want to take her out of it. OH and I are atheists and for lots of the reasons given by others here we wanted her to "learn everything" as such. We knew it religion was going to be taught in school anyway and have been fine with it for the past two years.

I feel it is excessive though. At least one or two homeworks a week are about the bible, they watch bible videos everyday during video time, and she has been told the earth is 6000 years old and made by God in 7 days. Many religious people no longer believe that, and they are teaching it as fact when they haven't even introduced science in school, never mind other religions - I wouldn't mind if they covered others as well! We have taught her about different religions at home, we have lots of books about different beliefs to try to put it into perspective. But the school (and I think the headmistress in particular) seems to have an agenda. Even fundraising events were faith-orientated last year. They have "religious inspections" and have had to learn by rote lots of hymns and bible phrases for the visiting ministers. I don't remember hearing about an English or Maths inspection!

In N.I. the religious situation is a bit weird. There is one integrated school locally which teaches about different religions (which we couldn't get her into) but other than that it is either quite strictly "catholic" or "protestant". Obviously we consider ourselves to be neither, but there are lots of children of other nationalities and potential religions, so I might ask the teacher if it is possible to talk about the variations.

I tend to disagree with the view that religion needs to be taught so that she can make up her own mind in the future. A primary school child does not need to learn about religion, it is an adult concept that can only really be thought about when a person has a better understanding of time and morality. I'm all for it in secondary school, since that's when teens begin to question such things and figure them out for themselves. I feel that there is a christan ethos to "get in there first and indoctrinate" rather than discuss ideas.

I will give it a bit more thought anyway!

missbiggles1

tbourner wrote: »

Are they only teaching Yahweh based religions? If so then that's not right. Tell her to ask about Islam, Satanism, Buddhism, Hinduism etc.

Love the way you just slipped "Satanism" in there with all the world religions!:eek:

elisamoose

gayleygoo wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies, they have helped to reassure me. I realise that any child can find any subject boring, so I agree for that reason that I just don't want to take her out of it. OH and I are atheists and for lots of the reasons given by others here we wanted her to "learn everything" as such. We knew it religion was going to be taught in school anyway and have been fine with it for the past two years.

I feel it is excessive though. At least one or two homeworks a week are about the bible, they watch bible videos everyday during video time, and she has been told the earth is 6000 years old and made by God in 7 days. Many religious people no longer believe that, and they are teaching it as fact when they haven't even introduced science in school, never mind other religions - I wouldn't mind if they covered others as well! We have taught her about different religions at home, we have lots of books about different beliefs to try to put it into perspective. But the school (and I think the headmistress in particular) seems to have an agenda. Even fundraising events were faith-orientated last year. They have "religious inspections" and have had to learn by rote lots of hymns and bible phrases for the visiting ministers. I don't remember hearing about an English or Maths inspection!

In N.I. the religious situation is a bit weird. There is one integrated school locally which teaches about different religions (which we couldn't get her into) but other than that it is either quite strictly "catholic" or "protestant". Obviously we consider ourselves to be neither, but there are lots of children of other nationalities and potential religions, so I might ask the teacher if it is possible to talk about the variations.

I tend to disagree with the view that religion needs to be taught so that she can make up her own mind in the future. A primary school child does not need to learn about religion, it is an adult concept that can only really be thought about when a person has a better understanding of time and morality. I'm all for it in secondary school, since that's when teens begin to question such things and figure them out for themselves. I feel that there is a christan ethos to "get in there first and indoctrinate" rather than discuss ideas.

I will give it a bit more thought anyway!

I am very surprised they have video time each day.......

Buzzybee90

Religious education isn't supposed to be a lesson in Christianity but on other religious and cultures. We learnt multitudes about Sikhism, Islam, Hinduism etc. but little about Christianity.

tbourner

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Love the way you just slipped "Satanism" in there with all the world religions!:eek:

What's wrong with Satanism?

Tropez wrote: »

A couple of weeks ago we had our updated list of things that we have to "pay particular attention to" in the workplace for the purposes of being non-discriminatory and inoffensive - the number of religion related items on there vastly outnumbered anything else.

I recently tried to find something for a work colleague on evilbible.com, only to find it was blocked by work under the category "Alternative Beliefs". I checked churchofsatan.com and the same thing! ALL other religions I can think of the websites are open, just those 2 are blocked - bit discriminatory I think.

And no, I'm not a Satanist I'm an atheist (ie: I don't believe in satan), but I understand the belief structure and don't agree with the negativity it receives. There are more Satanists in the UK than Scientologists apparently .

Mojisola

gayleygoo wrote: »

she has been told the earth is 6000 years old and made by God in 7 days. Many religious people no longer believe that, and they are teaching it as fact

That would be a breaking point for me.