should Religion be taught in schools?

Question

my friend just sent me a petition for the abolishment of all faith schools and to stop the teachings of creationism and other religious mythology in all UK schools. This got us on to an interesting discussion in that there is no evidence in anything religious so how can they teach it as fact?

What is your opinion, should religion be taught in schools? or kept seperate?.

Please note this is not to say we should ban all religions but just not have lessons dedicated to it in schools.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/faithschools/

Answer 1

Separate, except for a Comparative World Religions course, where DOZENS of religions can be covered EQUALLY and without any bias. If some parents want a religion taught to or promoted onto their kids, then THEY can do it themselves at home, or take them to a private school, church, synagogue, or mosque, etc.

Answer 2

The question is so vast, it becomes impossible to answer, as someone who does not believe in God, last time I use a capital by the way, I find all people that believe Religion should be taught as fact very frustrating.

This applies particularly to creationists, and I remember having a really bizarre coversation many years ago with a strongly religious man on this subject.

He dismissed all twentieth century science as evil, yet would ask people to turn the heating up if he were cold, he would dismiss the existence of the dinosaurs, stating they had been put there by the devil to cause man to sin, and was convinced that the Earth was 4,000 years old. He also believed that he was a direct descendant of Adam & Eve, even the most religious person must accept that this is impossible by applying simple logic.

Creationism, like the Earth being flat is a totally disproved theory, it has no place in schools, or anywhere for that matter, it is as real as Santa Claus dating the Tooth Fairy.

If any religion is taught at all in schools, and I believe religion should never be taught, it should be simply in historical context on the basis of that which can be proven.

The rest is errant nonsense, and I certainly would not want any child in my family taught such things.

Answer 3

We are Christians but for a short while my Daughter went to a private school and obviously they were taught a variety of religions. She learnt a great deal about other peoples cultures and I think it was good for her to have a basic knowledge. The Christmas play was certainly different they were not allowed to do a traditional theme of the nativity in case anyone was offended, I thought that this was a bit sad because it was just only a play, and a lovely story, however their show was good and was enjoyed by all. We can all get along if we try, our kids proved this. Later my daughter went to a Catholic school when we moved and she did learn a lot more discipline, we need to keep a careful balance of the two, and we should still have the right to choose what we want as Parents and not what some Minister in the Government decides, let us all decide democratically. We have a mixture of cultures now in our society and we should all be able to choose, so please dont ban anything just improve how we deliver the mix. Our children are not soft either they will decide for themselves whether or not there is evidence of religion and faith is another story.Church attendance has dropped over the years so I think you should teach this at school or otherwise Children will miss out. When you teach kids about religion you are teaching them about values and striving to be better, if they dont get this at school and they dont attend church how are they going to learn about God. Give them the basics without forcing your opinions on them and then let them choose, making sure that no guilt is applied.

Answer 4

The primary school I started at in Edinburgh did not teach any sort of religious lessons whatsoever and they encouraged us to be tolerant towards each other although for me this was not a problem as I was used to seeing people from all nationalites wherever I went as Edinburgh is popular with tourists especially during the festivals. Although when I moved to Warrington when I was 8(a small town between Liverpool and Manchester for those who don't know where that is) I went to a church of England school, during assemblies we had to recite the lord's prayer and we were taught christian moral values and to be honest with you I did not give a shiit about any of this because I was raised as an athiest. The work they set us in class was a joke because we had to write poems about God or one thing we had to do was draw what we thought God looked like we did proper work as well though.
So as somebody that has gone to both a non-religious school and a religious school I would suggest that the curriculum should include lessons on other religions in the same way they do in high school during RS lessons and not let schools base their lessons on the specific religious values on that of their own.

Answer 5

if it is a faith school then yes it is up to the parents to decide where their child is taught so they grow up as a constructive member of scociaty.
but i do think how religion is taught is wrong i think a philosophy / debait calss would be better as it would look at all arguments for something and the students can make their own mind up, but the different faiths should be taught in a more regemented way like maths as when i was in school i had a video about some missionary in china which i still don't see the educational valu of it exept from a historical point of view of what happened at the time in china when the japaneese attacked?

Answer 6

I believe that there should be a course on the history of world religions but the doctrines of religion should not be taught. I also feel it should come down to what the parents and the student want. If the student wants to learn about religions of the world and there history then they should be allowed to. If the student is under the age of 16 (example only) then it should be the parents decision if they wanted there child to learn these lessons. The curriculum should also be included in a totally separate course no taught to the students en-mass.

Answer 7

Considering the multicultural society that we live in I think religion should be taught, if it helps understand other peoples beliefs and cultures. Predjudice is borne from ignorance and if kids are given a non biased, factual education about other peoples beliefs and customs, they may grow up to be more tolerant, and not as likely to discriminate against others.
On the other hand, I think faith schools could be verging on the side of fundamentalism. Ideologies like creationism make an interesting debate but should not be treated as gospel!

Answer 8

I think it should be taught from the point of view of history, anthropology and sociology. Religion has had a huge impact on human history and individual decisions. There is no culture in the world that hasn't been affected by religion, so it's worth learning something about. But everyone has the right to decide for themselves what faith to believe in or not and this should not be dictated by family or education.

Answer 9

I think religion should be explained and discussed in schools but children should never be told one religion is better than another or that they should necessarily believe in any of them.

For that reason I cannot see how a Catholic school or a Muslim school has any place in a modern society. Surely it gives the children attending the idea that their religion is supreme. And that's dangerous.

And as for teaching creationism (or any other absurd religious myth), that's just crazy. I despair when I hear people saying stuff like that. Adults can believe what they want but don't push this rubbish onto kids please.

Answer 10

I think that religions, or what most of them are about should be taught in schools, because even if all of them can't be true, the fact that people believe in certain things is true. I don't think schools should try to convert people to a certain religion or something like that, but I see nothing wrong with teaching kids about people around them, and their cultures, religion included. Kids need to understand what is being talked about around them, and, like I said, aven if the actual doctrine may not always be true, what is true is that peple believe in those things. We should be able to understand and see the difference between people's beliefs, especially since a lot of the wars and fights that go on today have to do with that. How can we make correct judgements and decisions if we are not informed of all of the facts of what people believe in, all around us?

Religion is always just going to be a part of life, we have to accept that. Its always best that we understand it if that is the case.

Answer 11

Religion should be shared in schools, not taught. If they have that in schools then kids can learn about why they should turn they're lifes a certain way [[if they make the choice to]]. If it's like kindergarten or something maybe they should just learn some fun stories and morals. There's sometimes no evidence of all sorts of subjects in school that we have to learn. An example being Columbus. We learn in school that he was an awesome founder of America, but they forget to tell us of his mass murdering and force upon the native americans. There are lots more things to get out of school, but religion is not one of them.