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what RE should be tought in schools?
- Thread starter Mike182
- Start date
bunny1ohio
Active Member
Religion should not be taught in schools period unless it is a school designated as such... ie. Catholic school...
Otherwise no... because that's what churches are for... school is for learning not religion. Also there are too many children of different walks of life and too many different religions attending the same schools. If their parents don't want their children to be taught religion at school they shouldn't be forced to accept it. If they do... there are private schools for that... there is also church.
Otherwise no... because that's what churches are for... school is for learning not religion. Also there are too many children of different walks of life and too many different religions attending the same schools. If their parents don't want their children to be taught religion at school they shouldn't be forced to accept it. If they do... there are private schools for that... there is also church.
Green Gaia
Veteran Member
I think they should be talked about in a historical sense, but no one religion should be pushed on the children or be taught as the only right one.
Lindsey-Loo
Steel Magnolia
I don't think any religions should be taught in schools. It's the parent's job to teach religion, not the school's.
bunny1ohio
Active Member
budamus said:
In the respect of teaching about what the different religions actually practice... as an elective class taught in middle/high school... I could see that... but the question was which religion should be taught... as in as a basic tenet of the education process... in that case... none...
Booko
Deviled Hen
Mike182 said:
It depends on the subject. For example, I'm darned if I know you can study History without some knowledge of religion. Ditto for English Lit. When it comes to grade school, we seem have gotten so nervous about even mentioning the subject that we've forgotten there are some subjects that can't be understood w/o understanding religion.
Oh...a strange story. My husband was teaching at Emory University here in Atlanta, and they were reading a poem about the Magi. One of the American students raised her hand and said, "Proffessor, it's not like we're religion majors or anything" and several others nodded. IOW, several of the American students weren't getting at all the references to events surrounding the Nativity.
The three Chinese students, otoh, were able to explain the subject well.
Booko
Deviled Hen
bunny1ohio said:
Would you include the instances I mentioned in my previous post, where some knowledge of religion is necessary to understand a subject, such as literature or history?
I agree that schools, at least at this time, should not teach religion _per se_. We haven't gotten to the point of acceptance of other beliefs (or lack thereof) where we can do that with any fairness.
Mike182
Flaming Queer
bunny1ohio said:
you have, i think, just highlighed the need for education about other peoples religion - for people to work together and get along, surely we need to understand their religious perspectives, no?
many religion classes not only study different religious beliefs, but the philosophy of religion and ethics - should these also not be tought?
in my personal oppinion, there should be a wide variety of religions tought in schools (note, teaching does not imply preaching)
bunny1ohio
Active Member
Mike182 said:
No matter if you teach them about religious tolerance.... mankind is hard-wired to find subjects to disagree on... nobody believes the same thing about everything and I don't feel that would change by teaching religion. I did reply in another section of this thread though, that as an elective in middle/high school for the purposes of teaching the differences in religions and what they actually practice as opposed to what people may mistakenly believe they do would be acceptable... but I also feel it would be something age appropriate and not go too in-depth into the religions or there it does become preaching... but no I don't feel they should have to learn about other religions if they don't choose to. With the internet they could get all the information about it they want. Among other things
As to philosphy and ethics yes... but it doesn't have to be philosphy about religion...Booko asked
As it pertains to the subject at hand and if it is a necessity to understanding the subject being taught then I could see that as well... but only to the point that it needs to be taught to be understood... more in depth than that and I feel it should be reserved for another "class" as above... or home or church...
Booko
Deviled Hen
Mike182 said:
I agree generally, it's simply that I do NOT trust our local gov'ts to set up a curriculum that is even remotely fair-minded.
Remember, I live in a part of the country where people actually that Halloween is a pagan holiday that celebrates Satan. And yes, some of these people are on school boards.
muichimotsu
Holding All and None
Overall, the issue seems to be determining what the curriculum and nature of teachign religion would be in the class itself, if it ever occurred at all. Religions themselves are spoken of in history classes, as I remember, but unfortunately, there ARE still those misinterpretations that come up.
The only way for a course that the thread creator suggested could exist is if the instructor remains as objective and fair as possible about teaching the religions, having fun with it, making it relaxed, not so tense.
You'd have to find some very rare people, I imagine, to make a religion course in every school relatively the same type of experience, albeit different for each student in respect to how they view the curriculum as it is taught and how this teaching of the religious practices and perspectives affects their own religious growth and understanding of religion/
The only way for a course that the thread creator suggested could exist is if the instructor remains as objective and fair as possible about teaching the religions, having fun with it, making it relaxed, not so tense.
You'd have to find some very rare people, I imagine, to make a religion course in every school relatively the same type of experience, albeit different for each student in respect to how they view the curriculum as it is taught and how this teaching of the religious practices and perspectives affects their own religious growth and understanding of religion/
Mathematician
Reason, and reason again
History classes already teach the basics of most wide-scale religions, which is perfectly acceptable and makes sense.
It's when people start wanting religion in science class that I put my hand up.
It's when people start wanting religion in science class that I put my hand up.
muichimotsu
Holding All and None
I don't know if that was what our thread originator was stating, but it is a good point. I recall in my biology course when we started a subtle discussion about evolution and well, it went on for another 10 minutes with the teacher explaining that she would teach evolution, but only as an aspect of science, not as complete fact, as she knew many people believed otherwise.