Religion in Schools

[Trivval]

G'day,

I live in Australia, just to let y'all know, and I was wondering what your opinion of Religion in Schools is? Recently a school in my area has stopped using the Lord's Prayer in school assemblies and it sparked quite a debate amoungst the community. To be honest what little I do know of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc, has come from conversations I've followed in NSG - I lurk alot. Nothing about Christianity is taught in my school and I am from a mostly Agnostic family. When I find something that is intresting I normally trawl through countless pages brought by google, bing, yahoo, etc, to gather a little information about it so that should it ever appear again I'll be able to follow the conversation.

To be honest I know almost nothing about the Bible, testaments, other than Jesus was born ~BCE 33 or so, lived and performed some miracles, got some followers, was sold for less than that chap with a cool coat was sold for (that bloke who ended up bringing jews to egypt, etc), and then was crucified- one of my favorite ways for execution, but that's just me. Obviously in more detail, however they are the key points... actually, no that is pretty much it.

My question for NSG is, should religion - a religion, all religions - be taught in shool, or at least briefly touched over so that children get a general gist of what is happening. Should it be mandatory for everyone? Should the church, synagog, mosque, etc take a more active role in informing children about their religion? You get the point.

Also, please note I am at school at the moment - nationstates.net is banned, but not forum.nationstates.net, go figure - so my replies will probably be not very quickly, on time, or any of that nonsense.

[The Truth and Light]

Religion is not to be taught as a belief in any school, at least where I live. One can study the beliefs of a religion objectively in any history class, but generally no public school will hold prayers or teach doctrine.

Of course, I'm completely ignorant of Australia, mate.

[New Manvir]

The only place religion has in a public school is in a comparative religions class.

[Bottle]

Given that a depressing percentage of my country's population cannot correctly identify our current Secretary of State, I tend to think schools have more important shit to focus on.

Show me a country with 100% literacy, 100% basic science knowledge, 100% basic civics, 100% familiarity with basic world history, and universal multilingualism, and I'll agree that maybe that country could make room for some school electives that would touch on world religions.

[The Warrior Hearted]

It should only be talked about in the context of history.

Outside of that, (and not including creationist views) it shouldn't be taught or even encouraged

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Unless the school is from a religious institution, I don't think religion has a place in school unless it is mentioned in a history class.

[The Truth and Light]

Given that a depressing percentage of my country's population cannot correctly identify our current Secretary of State, I tend to think schools have more important shit to focus on.

Show me a country with 100% literacy, 100% basic science knowledge, 100% basic civics, 100% familiarity with basic world history, and universal multilingualism, and I'll agree that maybe that country could make room for some school electives that would touch on world religions.

Your idea is smart. Some dumbnut will actually create a country like that but by the time puch somes to shove the populace won't care about religion.

[The Truth and Light]

It should only be talked about in the context of history.

Outside of that, (and not including creationist views) it shouldn't be taught or even encouraged

I don't know about the last bit. Students have the right to assembly, and many students love their Christian clubs.

[Trivval]

More of a: "There was this bloke, he did this thing." and let the kids connect the dots why the Arabs are pissed with the Israelis. But yes, I understand what you are saying. I have some people in my class - stares across the room - who cannot place Canada on a map.

[The Warrior Hearted]

It should only be talked about in the context of history.

Outside of that, (and not including creationist views) it shouldn't be taught or even encouraged

I don't know about the last bit. Students have the right to assembly, and many students love their Christian clubs.

thats not the school encouraging religion, its the students themselves.

There is nothing wrong with that

[The Truth and Light]

I don't know about the last bit. Students have the right to assembly, and many students love their Christian clubs.

thats not the school encouraging religion, its the students themselves.

There is nothing wrong with that

What if clubs require a teacher as a sponsor? Would that take it too far?

[Ceannairceach]

Schools should be secular. Religion should only be mentioned in comparative classes and in history.

[Trivval]

I don't know about the last bit. Students have the right to assembly, and many students love their Christian clubs.

thats not the school encouraging religion, its the students themselves.

There is nothing wrong with that

I'm not even sure what a Christian Club is, but I assume it is some kind of extracurricular group or something.

[Al-Harakut al-Islami]

Religion should be taught objectively if it makes sense for the lesson plan (i.e., in a history or geography class) or if the school is run by a religious establishment.

[The Truth and Light]

thats not the school encouraging religion, its the students themselves.

There is nothing wrong with that

I'm not even sure what a Christian Club is, but I assume it is some kind of extracurricular group or something.

In the States schools like to promote clubs that students can join for all sorts of different purposes. At my school, we have a club called Students for Christ where students meet and discuss Christian issues.

[The Warrior Hearted]

thats not the school encouraging religion, its the students themselves.

There is nothing wrong with that

What if clubs require a teacher as a sponsor? Would that take it too far?

even then, the club would be outside of school hours and is 100% voluntary. It'd be little different from someone choosing to go to church.

[The Truth and Light]

What if clubs require a teacher as a sponsor? Would that take it too far?

even then, the club would be outside of school hours and is 100% voluntary. It'd be little different from someone choosing to go to church.

What if it takes place during school hours on school grounds, as many clubs do?

[Lotus]

I don't think religions should be taught in school. There is a separation of church and state, and public schools are a government affiliated agency. I have no problem with prayer groups prior or after school though as long as it's not being forced. At best, a religious studies class might be able to be offered as an optional elective, but frankly I think it doesn't belong in the classroom.

[Trivval]

Alright, class is over, I'll come back to this when I can.

[The Warrior Hearted]

even then, the club would be outside of school hours and is 100% voluntary. It'd be little different from someone choosing to go to church.

What if it takes place during school hours on school grounds, as many clubs do?

i dont know of many clubs that are during school hours. If they are, then they are not clubs but classes. In public schools, a case could be made that having that class during school hours is unconstitutional.

[Mr Bananagrabber]

G'day,

I live in Australia, just to let y'all know,

Well thanks for presenting yourself as a stereotype. Cut the "G'day" shit and just be cool, man.

and I was wondering what your opinion of Religion in Schools is? Recently a school in my area has stopped using the Lord's Prayer in school assemblies

So you go to a private school then?

[Ifreann]

G'day,

I live in Australia...

Sweet Atheismo, the redundancy



But on topic, I think schoolchildren should be taught about the main religions to foster greater understanding between those of different faiths or no faith. There's a very important difference, of course, between teaching about a religion and teaching a religion. We shouldn't have teachers indoctrinating their pupils into whatever religion they follow.

[The Truth and Light]

What if it takes place during school hours on school grounds, as many clubs do?

i dont know of many clubs that are during school hours. If they are, then they are not clubs but classes. In public schools, a case could be made that having that class during school hours is unconstitutional.

Where I live it is not so. Clubs are during study hall between classes, and they don't show up on your schedule or count as any sort of credit, so they're seperate from classes. I think that's pretyy much how we do it in Arkansas, I don't know about your area.

[Divine Unity]

First, for context, I'll say I am a very devout Catholic, at a Catholic High-school, going to Seminary next year.

If it is a public school, then the school itself really doesn't need to be encouraging or forcing any religion on any students. There is no problem with students forming clubs or organizations for particular religions, designed to learn more about their own or another person's faith.

I can see the value in a class that outlines the major tenants of major religions, without exposing one as right or wrong or favoring one religion above another.

I think it should be focused on the students. I know some public school athletic teams have a team prayer before games, and things like that, and I think that is fine, so long as the students are leading and organizing such things. For some teams this is tradition, actual faith, or a mixture.

Regardless and in summary, I think any/all religious things in Public Schools should be entirely Student run. If the faculty is running the show, or forcing students to be in it, then there is a problem.

[The Warrior Hearted]

i dont know of many clubs that are during school hours. If they are, then they are not clubs but classes. In public schools, a case could be made that having that class during school hours is unconstitutional.

Where I live it is not so. Clubs are during study hall between classes, and they don't show up on your schedule or count as any sort of credit, so they're seperate from classes. I think that's pretyy much how we do it in Arkansas, I don't know about your area.

Study hall? I thought they got rid of that years ago.