Religion in School

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casiopea

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In the spirit of debating Religion (respectfully) I was wondering how people feel about Religion continued to being taught in Schools? There have been many debates about Irish coming off the syllabus I assume people feel similarly about Religion.

Do all schools in Ireland still have to teach religion?
If you are a practicing Atheist/Agnostic can you get your child out of religion class? Or are you still interested in them attending religion (so they appreciate what you don't believe in)?
 
I'm sure a lot of schools, having origins in various religious orders, would take issue with kids being exempted from RE/RI on atheist/agnostic grounds.

Maybe the trend should be to move towards a 'religious appreciation' type class? The teaching of an awareness of different belief systems etc with more of an emphasis on the moral values of each? It might be tricky for teachers to negotiate but it would encourage debate and independent thinking I'm sure.
 
Caveat said:
Maybe the trend should be to move towards a 'religious appreciation' type class? The teaching of an awareness of different belief systems etc with more of an emphasis on the moral values of each? It might be tricky for teachers to negotiate but it would encourage debate and independent thinking I'm sure.
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They do this in the UK i think. It seems to e a better foot forward than total removal- after all those with no religion must live alongside others who do have a faith and an understanding of all faiths would be no load to carry in life.
teachers in schools with religions ethos are not as into it as they once were anyway.
 
Religion is something that the family should have 100% control over. Even within the same religion there are varying degrees of how that religion is followed and the one size fits all course that would be taught in school would not be a good idea.

Leave the responsibility with the parent's and immediate family and let schools focus on the important educational subjects.
 
Granted it was more than a decade ago but religion class in the Catholic school I attended did cover all of the world's major religions, along with a section detailing the dangers of cults.

It was really more of a civics class, being careful to not push one particular religion but always pushing the concept of religion itself. It still didn't stop the school from barring a friend who was Church of Ireland from attending the class, but they wouldn't grant me leave not to attend! That said, I found the insistence on every address beginning with the reciting of prayers more annoying than the religion class itself, which could actually be quite interesting.

The best move would be to get the church out of public school education entirely but that wouldn't preclude religion being taught as a subject in schools.
 
I couldnt believe when i heard recently that religion is now a leaving cert subject, i think that religion should be replaced as a leaving cert subject with something like drivers education, i would go as far as saying that every school child should leave secondary school with a full drivers licence
 
I don't believe Educate Together facilities have Religion on the Syllabus.
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All primary schools are required to have a religious education curriculum. In Multi-Denominational schools this is interpreted as encompassing all major world religions/cultures but does not include any doctrinal education.

For more info see www.educatetogether.ie

The second level syllabus (available on www.education.ie) is very heavily biased towards Judeo-Christian religions (at least to JC level - I haven't reviewed the LC one as neither of my children are taking it as a LC subject).
 
Caveat said:
Actually barred? On what grounds? Happy enough to accept him/her into the school though :rolleyes:
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He wasn't allowed attend anyway. It was a Catholic school religion class, so I presume they were entitled to implement a "Catholics-kids-only" policy. He sat outside the principal's office with another kid who was Church of England and an American kid of indeterminate religious status.
 
contemporary said:
I couldnt believe when i heard recently that religion is now a leaving cert subject
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Has that happened? I had spoken with someone from the department of education (about 18months back) who was working on a proposal that R.E. would be removed as it currently stands and gets replaced by Theology. It would become dramatically less "Catholic" focused with the curriculum focusing on Christianity and world religions. I believe part of the proposal was that its mandatory for intercert and optional for the leaving cert (ie in the same way most subjects are chosen with the exception of the main 3 or 4). I thought it sounded very interesting, but I didn't think it would ever happen.

Religion is something that the family should have 100% control over. Even within the same religion there are varying degrees of how that religion is followed and the one size fits all course that would be taught in school would not be a good idea.

Leave the responsibility with the parent's and immediate family and let schools focus on the important educational subjects.
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That is the way it works here in Switzerland. RE is not taught in schools. All religious education is the responsibility of the parents/family and is separate to school. As a result many religions, including Catholicism, operates a "Sunday School" model here where children attend an hour of RE after mass (the very young ones attending school during mass). Its at "Sunday School" they prepare for first holy communion, confirmation etc.

I think the Irish school approach to religion does need to change.

- The current approach doesn't seem to be working.

- It's becoming increasingly hard for teachers (who themselves don't believe) to teach it.

- Ireland is no longer a homogeneous community and rather than the one of two exceptions (as in my time) - most classes will contain more and more children practicing different disciplines.

- If religion is to be taught in school, an understanding of different religious cultures needs to be taught to help promote tolerance and understanding.
 
casiopea said:
If you are a practicing Atheist/Agnostic can you get your child out of religion class?
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They're not so much practicing as getting on with their lives.

The Church of Ireland kid and his British & American friends had a lucky escape.
 
As a young boy, I found that rocking violently back and forth and rolling my eyes while speaking Latin backwards in a very deep voice was usually sufficient for me to be excused from class.
 
contemporary said:
I couldnt believe when i heard recently that religion is now a leaving cert subject, i think that religion should be replaced as a leaving cert subject with something like drivers education, i would go as far as saying that every school child should leave secondary school with a full drivers licence
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I don't think that sufficient experience under such a course could warrant a full licence. To have had time learning good driver etiqette, real world driving situations and how to react to real world incidents would warrant a provisional licence and then at the very least we know that the provisional licence holder, driving on their own have some clue as to what they are doing. Under the current system a provisional is a licence to kill or cause a serious accident.

But driver education in schools should be a very high priority, I agree. And I would go as far to say it should be part of your leaving cert and points tally etc.
 
Teaching is all about giving facts and information that the person being taught will take away and apply to their decision making in life.

To 'teach' only one religion in school is nothing short of brainwashing really. The students do not get all the facts, views of differing faiths etc, so how can they make informed decisions on what they believe in.

Just because religious teching is non-intrusive and is seen as OK, does not make it any different from any cult 'techings' to force people to a particular point of view.

Leave it to the parents, they are the naural teachers in this respect
 
Aren't all religions cults anyway, as none of them can prove what they claim? It just seems to me that some cults are more successful than others. By all means teach children what various religions believe. Just don't teach them that any particular one is true.
 
I should add that I think its also important to teach children that atheism and agnosticism are also worthy options.
 
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