Religious Ignorance. (Buddhism, myth, worship, faith, Christianity)

[Don Penguinoini]

I don't know about you, but where i live, people are clueless about religion, except for Christianity, which is the only thing taught in our multi-cultural nation.

Why? Why is it that people are ignorant? Why can't our government stop things like racism? It can be stopped by the simple solution, we need to dissolve ignorcane of nationalities and religion. There is no source of religious wealth in my area. It sickens me. We all need to urge our government to get rid of this religious and international (country-wise) ignorance. I mean, this is why i would be racially abbused, because the idiot next door cant tell the differnece between an indian and a pakistani.

There should be a big , we are stupid! Stamp on my town


Thoughts?

If this doesent apply to you in the U.S. Thoughts are still appreciated.

[Engyo]

People are ignorant because they are. It's like asking why does mass attract mass? It does. Drop a spoon and it falls to the floor. Why can't our government stop the spoon from falling?!?

It would be great if everyone wanted to learn more about other types of people, but most of them don't. You can't force them to; you can't legislate something like that, it won't work. At best you will give more information to those already inclined to learn, and just make the rest mad.

[Wandered Off]

Originally Posted by penguino

Why can't our government stop things like racism?

The best cure for racism is interaction. The more people get to know each other, the more we figure out that we're not so different.

When I was in high school (decades ago), busing was instituted to eliminate segregation. I remember being opposed to it. I figured that my ability to learn algebra didn't hinge on the ethnicity of the person next to me, which is true. However, I was ignorant of the social interaction that is just as instructive as formal classes. That is where I missed the point.

When my school was split in half and recombined, I got to know people with different backgrounds, and it really did help me see them as individuals, which made a real difference.

Government can only encourage interaction so much though. Most of the action has to come from citizens, not the government.

[Buttercup]

Originally Posted by Wandered Off

The best cure for racism is interaction. The more people get to know each other, the more we figure out that we're not so different.

When I was in high school (decades ago), busing was instituted to eliminate segregation. I remember being opposed to it. I figured that my ability to learn algebra didn't hinge on the ethnicity of the person next to me, which is true. However, I was ignorant of the social interaction that is just as instructive as formal classes. That is where I missed the point.

When my school was split in half and recombined, I got to know people with different backgrounds, and it really did help me see them as individuals, which made a real difference.

Government can only encourage interaction so much though. Most of the action has to come from citizens, not the government.

Frubals! So true!

[Don Penguinoini]

Or maybe, our government can stop teachign christianity so much ALL the time in our classrooms. With todays view on Islam, us kids need to learn that, they aint all bad.

[madhatter85]

It is hard to tell the difference between alot of middle-eastern or east asian ethnicities. just as you can't tell us white people apart except for maybe our accent or the way we talk, I see alot of other ethnicities who are ignorant who think white peopel are all from texas, or all from new york.

You have to understand that it is extremist factions of Islam that is causing a worldwide ruckus and alot of people are going to think it is all of Islam. Growing up i actually thought that Islam was a peacful religion similar to Buddhism, It wasn't untill recently when i learned that there were extremist factions. does that mena I think they are all the same? no. people are ignorant everywhere yo go.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by Engyo

Why can't our government stop the spoon from falling?!?

Because there is no spoon.

[ChristineES]

People seem want to know about things that are about them. I know a little about most religions, but that is only because I chose to learn about them. Most people I have known don't choose to know about things that don't concern them. This is a sad but true fact.

[Fluffy]

Originally Posted by penguino

which is the only thing taught in our multi-cultural nation.

That isn't technically true.

Although I think that an unnecessarily large portion of religious studies is taken up by Christianity, I covered all the main world religions bar Buddhism in my religious education. I know that my brother, for example, spent the vast majority of his religious education on Hinduism and very little time at all on Christianity.

I suspect that this will very heavily from school to school based on the teachers expertise. Our teacher was a reverend and so that is likely to have been the reason why so much Christianity was taught. I think it was more damaging that we had a chapel service as part of our weekly schedule, however, even though it would have been a wonderful opportunity for a multi-faith worship session.

Originally Posted by penguino

It can be stopped by the simple solution, we need to dissolve ignorcane of nationalities and religion.

If you are interested in stopping racism in the UK then I strongly advise you to look into issues of community cohesion.

At the moment, the communities in which the highest levels of racism occur are those which are very splintered. Encouraging communities to become more integrated is essential to overcoming racism and although religious education is an important part of this, it is just one part.

Much of racism and religious intolerance is also closely linked to intolerance of asylum seekers as this is almost seen as a pc way to be racist or religiously intolerant. Again this issue, whilst definitely solvable, is far too complex to be put down to mere religious education.

As I'm sure you are aware, Bradford is one community that is severely splintered and I spent some time up there working to bring the community together. Some activities that we did that I think made a difference:
1) Handed out anti-BNP literature in a BNP swing ward just before the local election.
2) Set up half a dozen events surrounding the celebration of culture in areas that were all of one racial group
3) Set up multi-faith worship sessions and multi-faith community parties to encourage greater learning and understanding between the faiths
4) Ran a school linking project in which students from a mostly white school and students from a mostly British-Asian school took lessons together on racism, intolerance, celebrating culture etc.

There are many other ways as well but I think this sort of direct action is far far more effective than trying to get the government to legislate more varied religious lessons and highly encourage anybody in the UK to get involved.

[logician]

One reason people are generally ignorant about religion is that world religions are not taught at the grade and high school levels, and parents don't usually teach other religions besides their own to their children. I took a world religions course in college, about the only place you can get "formal" instruction on the subject.

It's really a shame.