Should religion be taught in School?

Question

With followers of any religion believing that they are correct and with so much tension centred around religion (Muslims right now) - should the subject be dropped from the school curriculm and keep faith teaching for religious buildings - churches, mosques, etc

Religion is taught in UK high schools - for those friends around the world who were wondering.

Answer 1

Well, what kind of religion are you teaching? If you are teaching Christianity, then yes. Buddhaism, Islam, others, no. Who determines what we teach? I say we get back to the basic foundations of our forefathers, "IN GOD WE TRUST" and teach the 10 Commandments.

Funny, in first grade public school, we can't give out Bibles, but first year felons in our state pens are all handed a Bible upon admittance. Maybe if we handed them out in first grade, we wouldn't have first year felons.

Answer 2

That seems to be the next logical step, looking forward. But if we stop and look back for a moment-we see that we all use to teach Christianity in our schools. As a matter of fact Christianity was the main course. Over time we taught less and less about God and more and more about other subjects. Any teaching about God today in schools , even seminaries, is about how God is a myth. If we stop teaching religion (Christianity) in school altogether, we would be only moving in the same direction that got us into this trouble to begin with. So, I say-unless you want to become Muslim, you need to turn around. That is where we are headed. Once we get there, we can never return.

edit. Teaching religion is not enough-we must teach the risen Christ!

Answer 3

All religions should be taught in high school but, in the interest of time specific religious courses would have to be taught as electives. However religion and culture should be integrated into history, social science and language classes. Religion should not be omited from the curriculum the way it is now. People need to have a basic understanding of the beliefs and cultures of other people. I also think we need to teach our kids to respect others. I learned this by having culturally diverse teachers and role models growing up. I think that is entirely good for kids.

Answer 4

I think that religion is an important part of culture and an undeniably important part of history that cannot be taken out of schools. To do so would be to destroy our culture and any attempt to learn about and from human history would fail. The adults of tomorrow without the knowledge of all that any religion has taught us--SCARY to even think about! Hopefully, if that ever were to happen, parents would still be smart enough to teach their children. That is why I chose to send my children to a Catholic school--I do not want my children to spend the majority of their day in a Godless world forced on the public by a minority of Godless people.

Before anyone believes that I am restricting my childrens' knowledge of other religions: it was in a Catholic school that I learned the tenants and beliefs of numerous other religions from unbiased sources including the religions' own writings.

Answer 5

You say "dropped from the school curriculm" like religion is actually taught in school. Graduated from Highschool in 2003 myself, and I can't say that I had any course in religion, unless you count learning about the middle ages and how the catholic church controlled Europe. What school did you go to?

Answer 6

Religion has a valid place in schools as a subject of academic study, but it must be handled in a balanced and objective way, highlighting the conflict and persecution and atrocities that religious belief is responsible for as well as the good that it might do (if any). That kind of understanding of the beliefs and effects of religion is necessary for a proper understanding of the world. Other than that, religion has no place in schools.

Answer 7

As long as the teachers can keep their moral bias out of the curriculum I'm all for this. It helps people understand what others around the world believe. Many people only believe what they believe because they have no idea what they could be believing. It could also end up after you learn about all the religions you say to yourself "Okay, this is rediculous, none of these are true." And then you wake up and really live your life.

Answer 8

Religion should definitely be left out of state schools. States are not religious, and if any religion wants to instill their beliefs on people, they should at least try to do it at their expense, not on everybody's tax money.

Besides, as you hint, it may not be a good moment to exacerbate religious fanaticism. It could be discussed, though, why we are so extremist about religions.

Now, let me ask you a question. What happens in your country if a person doesn't want to have religious education? Are you forced to take those lessons, even if you're from a non-religious family? What if you are from a religious but non-Christian family?

Answer 9

It is the responsibility of the parents to teach their children morals, principles, worship. That should not be a responsibility of the school. There are literally hundreds of religions anyway. How could a school possibly teach them all? And how could a school teach them objectively without somebody's feelings getting hurt?

Answer 10

the schools in my area teach about every religion , the schools are mixed with all races and i think its great that the kids learn so much about each others culture , the level of tolerance in the schools seems to be great with little bullying or discrimination .. i say this from the children's point of view ... i have noticed that the adults aren't so tolerant
so hopefully the next generation will bridge this religious gap

Answer 11

I think it is a good thing that children get knowledge of different religions because knowledge increase tolerence.

I do not think school shall teach one religion though. It would be better if they spent more time teaching ethics and philosophy because reasoning and reflecting - ability to think is an important skill today.