Religious Education In Schools

[JohnRFinch]

I agree holeheartedly that RE must be n academic subject, but teachers can't stop at the level of head knowledge about what people believe...there must also be sympathetic understanding, and reflecting on the question of what can we learn from other religions. I admire you for trying to supply in a Catholic school! Cheers. PEACE!

[shadownova21]

I'm a 14 year old raised into a catholic family, sent to a catholic primary and secondary school. As a child I was not given the opportunity to explore other faiths and beliefs. during this year I concluded that I believe in no god and that I am a atheist, but if a logical religion or explanation became apparent to me it is very likely I would put my beliefs (not faith) is such a place... for me religion has caused more problems than it has fixed. and I am taking my RE exam next month.

(yay)

[jackskellingtonsora]

I hate to break it to you, but learning about religion is extremely essential in today's modern world. The world is intensely and fervently religious and it is very important for people to know about religion both to understand it from a culturally relative perspective and to be able to counter it if need be.

[xJAKEWx]

as a R.E teacher in a secondary school i do believe the more formal way of teaching gets the education across in more detail, as i dont believe in god my advice to any student is to go with what they believe, and not to let other people make them believe in something they do not.

[jesuisamericain101]

In the United States religion is most commonly not taught in public schools, or schools funded by the state as the state has no official religion and Americans often feel it is necessary to separate church and state, but many privately owned schools do instill religious values. If religion is taught in public schools it would be a comparative religion course and therefore provide opportunities to learn about all kinds of religions, but more likely than not there will not be any religion courses.

[errington1000]

Religion should not be taught in schools.

[xJAKEWx]

@errington1000 Tell me why, as a religous education teacher im wondering ?

[errington1000]

@xJAKEWx It's like teaching Harry Potter in schools. There is no proof of these miracles that Jesus did. There is no proof God created man. In fact, there is no proof that any God on the entire planet even existed. I'm sticking to factual evidence on how the earth came into being.

[xJAKEWx]

@errington1000 yes, but that does not ansew my question, i dont believe in god, im a atheast for all i care, my point, RE isent all about god, its about religions, jews, hindu's, muslims, ECT.  My job isent to teach teanagers about god, i teach them about cultures.

[errington1000]

@xJAKEWx Good. I don't mind about the cultures part. It just annoys me that catholic schools and such prioritse one faith over another. As long as beliefs do not arise from stories, religion isn't causing any problems

[xJAKEWx]

@errington1000 could not agree more

[MsBates02]

Hi! I was looking up videos on youtube to use in lessons as I'm an RE teacher and came across this and I'm happy to find people interested in the set up of RE teaching in the UK and abroad! I don't know if you know this but interestingly RE is actually taught on a local and not national scale! Also you are right RE should be academic and is a great opportunity to develop skills useful for life! Faith schools are bound to be preachy but hey, the have a religious ethos! Food for thought though!

[radomu1]

I used to go to a British curriculum school from Year 1 to 8 in Tokyo, and I took RE for quite a while... but we never actually studies them as fact and they never told us to take morality from them. We learned Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and tons of other religions.

I'm a Japanese Christian, but I have to say it was very interesting for me to learn all these things. I'm not religious so my parents weren't offended in any way, but yes, there were not preaching. The US should adopt it.

[AreYouSaved]

Anthropology? The belief system of evolution doesn't explain why the monkey's tail rendered useless. Use 1 - good for controlling the gear stick in a car? Maybe in 1m yrs time we grow back the tail or go fully automatic instead. Use 2 - handy for taking mobile phone calls safely when driving the car. This RE teacher talks about Christ-mas(s), as if it has christian roots. Mass is pagan (winter solstice). That tail would be good for carrying more food from the supermarket. Folly humanism.

[nickidee15]

i LOVE r.e ! we dont only talk about religion but ethics and different p.o.v of religions and other people. Core isnt the best but i am doing it as a proper exam and im really glad. Its hard work but its worth it. We dont oly learn christiannity but many many other religions

[evillou77]

What a load of rubbish...im head of re in an english school-we teach how society came to be the way it is through the spread of christianity over...we teach philosophy, ethics, humanism, paganism and the gcse is based on life issues such as abortion, war, crime...at no time does anyone preach about god to the pupils - and to do so in an english school goes against the idea of objectivity of teachers- get back into schools and realise that RE is no longer the indoctrination you had as kids!

[Luvmypets123]

evillou77; My son has been taught Muslim religion for three years in senior school and I am disgusted with this as he is a Christian and he lives in a CHRISTIAN country. I am not against other religions' . I am disgusted with this, though. There is no way Christianity would be taught in a muslim country. In fact look what happened to the teacher with the teddy bear.... and the other captive who got kidnapped and her head cut off because she was suspected of teaching Christianity !

[Blackheart12345]

@evillou77

Are you saying all schools or just the school you teach

[tannagra]

Personally, I feel there should be no Religious education in schools, at least as a seperate subject. If there has to be any RE in school it should be absorbed into the History syllabus and taught exclusively in an historical context.

Religion shouldn't, even in the home, be forced on children, either overtly or covertly, until they're 16years old and fully able to decide for themselves what they want to do.

[Blackheart12345]

@tannagra

Christianity isnt even historical, its made up bullshit

[PiratePeteraaar]

Hey. When i was in infant and primary school i was taught about islam, buddism and hinduism aswell as christianity.

I remember when i was about 5 doing a class play telling one of the hindu stories. Forgotten the details but it involved a prince running away and a monkey king.

Anywhoo, yeah my primary school was a church of england school and we still learnt about other religions alot.

In secondary school we learnt about everything really, included non religiouse ethics.

im the the UK btw

[ytasrocks]

It depends on which University you go to.

I go to UW-Milwaukee where it's VERY MUCH academic and non-sectarian.

It is NOT taught through Anthropology, but Inter-Departementally (which is better).

I've taken History classes (Judaism, Christianity, Paganism) and Political Science classes (Religion in America), and Philosophy, but there are also many classes in Classics, Anthropology, Art History, CompLit, and even in Geography (Geography of Islam).

All classes count toward the major.

[dsperlin]

I think it is essential to teach about all the faiths in the world, so that people can throw away hatred, bigotry and ignorance.

[InTheSky409]

I'm from Tennessee in the biblebelt of the US, i went to all public schools and they're allowed to teach about religion because of the seperation of church and state, but they worked around it and formed what they called a prayer group that taught only christian beliefs. personally as an atheist im not sure if it should be taught. on 1 hand i think it's always good to learn about more than one religion, on the other the teacher could treat their religion as fact and the others as false.

[HEarl114]

I was a preachee of christianity when i was in primary school, it doesn't do any harm, whether god exists or not, it gives you a good sense of what is right and wrong if you do not recieve that guidance from another source e.g. bad parents. I recieced an RS eduction much like yours at my secondary level. I think if the steralised RS eduction was in primary schools, I wouldn't like that, kids need a good grounding before they start to think for themselves.

[xpinkmaterialx]

its my fav lesson__ im not ashamed to ay it either.

i am going to be a re teacher when im older.

[06clared]

and me!!!!!!

i absolutely LOVE RE, its amazing and i love the fact it relates so much to out own lives :D

[maglavagna]

I don't beleive that the subject of religion should be tought in schools. I don't think that there should be religious schools either. Religion has nothing to do with education and serves no benefit. Religious schooling simply segregates children from one another and teaches something as fact which in reality is completely untrue.

[hazyjuz]

In public schools, there is no kind of RE at all, at least in the primary years, but I believe there could be a place for teaching what the different religions are and how they originated, who follows them, etc. The trouble is, and I have spoken about this with public schoolteachers before, a lot of teachers are actually afraid of teaching this subject at all- for fear that it may be interpreted as trying to indoctrinate the students.

[hazyjuz]

Hi. I'm Australian. I'm a relief teacher as you were, with experience in both public primary schools and private Christian junior schools. I haven't as yet worked in a catholic school although my father does.

Private Christian schools teach RE very much as you described your experience of primary school, as in looking at bible stories and characters, but then also applying those to the students' lives today. So... the lessons are taught with the assumption that the students follow that faith.

[mandyua]

Have you considered the idea of the term "religion" as arbitrary and completely unrelated to spirituality or faith? Actually, it is astonishing how many societies did not even have a comparable word for "religion" until the term was imported. This is not to say that they did not have belief systems that could be classified as we classify the things that we consider religious. They just didn't see them as anything that should be distinguished from the norm.

[mandyua]

There is no such thing as religious education in public schools until the college level. Depending on what type of institution you attend you can study theology of [insert religion], actual aspects of religions (non-persuasive), or you can study the idea of religion as it relates to culture and society (this is what I study). In the latter variance you rarely look at a particular faith.

[hayguyzz]

in Finland we have religion in college and universities as far as I know. I don't really mind since I get good grades from them. I'm pretty good at fairytales.

[MissionEasy]

In Ireland, the situation is similar. Only Christianity is taught in Primary, but Secondary takes that academic approach. I enjoyed my rel classes, which was taught by a Christian Brother. He told us "Not to take the Bible literally" and pointed out contradictions. He did class debates, too, discussing morality and the like. As an atheist, I think this intellectual approach is a goodway to teach religions.

[ltzippy2]

That's quite refreshing actually. I have to say I quite enjoyed my RE lessons too.

[StatueSmasher]

What school did you go to? I went to the Christian Brothers Monkstown Co Dublin. The Chrisrian Brothers do not teach Christianity, they preach another religion altogether. The Catholic religion is an evil pagan cult dressed in the words and names found in the Bible and there is no such thing as a Roman Catholic Christian, It's a Contradiction in terms.

[MissionEasy]

"StatueSmasher", I went to Chanel Collage, Coolock, Dublin. The school was owned by Marist Fathers, but only the religion teacher was a Christian Brother, although most of us thought he might have become an athiest! Technically, Catholosism was the original way of the Christian Church (look up the reformation). But is does consist mostly of borrowed pagan beliefs. (December 25th was always celebrated by pagans, for example,)

[StatueSmasher]

I was catholic then went atheist, now turned Christian after a personal experience in my life. The Catholic Church is very superstitious and full of pagan rituals in Ireland, you can probably remember the phase of the moving statues in Ballinspittal, and the RC has certainly showed its colours in Ireland with the Ferns case and Fr Fortune. I shook hands with JP2nd in 1980 the year I left school, when I think back I was just shaking hands with an ordinary man dressed up in a religious costume.

[MissionEasy]

"StatueSmasher", May I ask why you became a Christian again? If yo look up "The Reformation", you will see that the other Christian denomiations all stem from the Catholic church. The Protestants removed some of the rituals, but the overall superstitions are still the same. I am not attacking your religious beliefs, I am just curious.

[StatueSmasher]

Part 1

I became a Bornagain Christian after many years leading a meaningless life taking drugs and partying, It was probably fear of death after an experience that got me thinking. The Catholic Church was invented by Constantine in the mid 3rd Century to try and regain power in the Roman Empire by mixing religion and politics. The RC manipulated scripture to try and prove that it was the one "true church" founded by Peter. This myth has been carried right down to this day.

[StatueSmasher]

There were Christians dating back to the time of Acts, The RC.tried to suppress these through the crusades. Only for the invention of the Guttenberg Press in the 1600s and the reformers that the cat was let out of the bag to exposed this cult. The "Harlot" of Revelation has "many daughters", The Lutherans worships Mary, they have confession and the pagan practice of Infant Baptism. The vestments used by the COI are similar to the RC, All the feast days and Sunday worship come from the RC.

[MissionEasy]

Thank you for answering; I am impressed with your knowledge of the church's history. As for coupling the meaning of life and self dicipline with religion, I respect your decision as it has helped improve your life.However, I have found it very possible to lead a moral and meaningful life without religion.Scriptures have often been manipulated for political agedas, and many people are unaware of this. This is why -acedemic- religious education in schools is important, as said by ltzippy2.

[StatueSmasher]

The RC hides the truth, you are probably aware it is foretold in Revelation 13 that you will be buying and selling using marks "IN" the hand and forehead.

I believe we are very close to this with the Verichip implant. The mark is synominous with the number 666, You are probably aware that the barcode contained this number since 1976. The RC openly supports the New World Order along with the US and UK Governments. The Real ID act & UK id card is a follow up as they contain RFID technology.

[StatueSmasher]

The Religious education thaught in Irish Catholic schools certainly put me off anything to do with Christianity, In School I associated religion with statues of Mary, priests, nuns roasary beads, babbling off senseless rituals like the Rosary. Biblical Christianity is a different thing altogether, I find end times prophecy very interesting. Check U tube for RFID 666, new world order etc.

[MissionEasy]

Sorry mate, but the "666" thing is nonsense. The earliest found copies of the book of Revelations states that the number is 616. I think theologians have also found the root of this mistake. I have seen the evidence for prophecies in the Bible, and I have seen evidence for prophecies in Moby Dick. They are both equally convincing. (I am saying this in good humour, I am sorry if I have offended anyone)

[StatueSmasher]

Whether its 666 or 616, we are heading towards an Orwellian society, Do you see the amount of Garda security cameras around dublin? nearly every street corner has them, every major junction, the M50. All new passports and ID cards now use RFID, they can be detected several feet away even in your pocket! O reilly was convicted on the grounds of his mobile phone useage, Check out all the prefixes for the Dublin Metropolitan Gardi and Confidential numbers on all the squad cars!!

[MissionEasy]

"StatueSmasher", I think you are going too far. I am aware of the cameras, but I think it is irrational to say that our society will become like that in "1984". My apologies for going off topic, ltzippy2

[StatueSmasher]

Wait and see, I was aware of all this over 20 years ago when I saw the Barcode, now this is being phased out for RFID. George Bush drafted in the "Real ID act HR 418" to be law by 2008 irrespective of human rights. The Uk and the rest of Europe will follow. Soon you will not be able to board a plain, open a bank account, drive a car, enter a government building without this card. The London underground Oyster card also uses the same RFID tracking technology.

[StatueSmasher]

I wouldnt say this is too far off topic, Religion Class should include social issues and discussions on day to day living. In an Ideal Christian society we should live day to day with total trust towards one another, no stealing or crime. What has happened to day is that the bad guys have caused to much hassle, ie murders, drug dealings, counterfeiting money, cloning ATM and ID cards, scams etc that it has all caught up on us now and is pushing us towards a draconian society.

[MissionEasy]

StatueSmasher", I will leave it with other youtubers to debate "Ideal CHRISTIAN society" with Ideal society. (I have already expressed that I easily live a good,moral life without religious beliefs to guide me) We can always repeal those control-laws. Also, I recommend searching "cross national corelations of quantifyable societal popular religosity" in google for religosity versus crime statistics. My advice: "Think Rationally".

[noxoy]

Well I'm swedish grades 1-4 We hade a lot of bible things because we had a christian teacher.

Still it was mainly drawing pictures and rewriting the history of Abraham. 5-6 we had a lot about Greek and) Roman goods and old Scandinavian goods to. It was more of a "lets read a strange funny story that people once belived in!) 7-9 We hade mainly about the Big Five (Christanity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Budism) This was taught academic and compering the religions and analyzing them and so one.

[someuser91]

took you too long to make your point... but good work fatso ;)

[nickw012]

I go to a Catholic high school. Theology class is very much preaching. "we, as Catholic believe...", "As Catholic,s we must believe...", "God wants us to...", etc. They also talk a lot about abortion, contraception, homosexuality, etc, and that too is preaching. They don't really let the students make their own decisions. "Abortion is wrong, contraception is wrong, it's ok to be a homosexual, but it's a sin to act on it and commit homosexual acts, etc." I'm an atheist by the way...

[nickw012]

Sorry for all of the typos. It typed it quickly.

Oh, I forgot to mention..I'm in America.

[ltzippy2]

Typos forgiven (see even atheists can forgive ;o), so out of interest how do you deal with this situation?

[nickw012]

Well, the Theology teacher gives homework assignments, and a lot of the time it asks for your opinion, and I was tired of lying on my homework, so I just started giving my real opinion, and when I did that my theology teacher asked if he could have a discussion to understand more what I believe. Since then we have had 2 more discussions in which I told him more about what I believe and why I believe them.

[nickw012]

(cont'd)

I also debated various issues with him (the existence of God, morality, homosexuality, etc.) He's been pretty nice about it, and pretty open minded for a deacon. At least he took the time to hear me out..

[ltzippy2]

That is at least encouraging.

[nickw012]

Yeah, but being a open-minded for a deacon is still close minded :P.

[Rhonda9]

I attended a Catholic school until I was around 12 years old. Then when sent to public school I do not remember any time when religion was spoken of. I went to school in New York State though. In the South, where I now live, things may be much different. I have never had children so wouldn't know. I am aware there are issues with this subject here. This is a Bible-belt.

[ltzippy2]

Rhonda9, thanks for the comments, so it seems to me it depends where in the US you live. don't understand the concept of the local school boards as our curriculum is national decided by central government.

[Rhonda9]

This is a great vid because I appreciate the insight of this issue. All too often perspectives are discussed strictly regarding this side of the Ocean.

[renegadesx]

In Australia, education is state managed. In primary school we also had scripture classes in public schools. In high school I believe it is an elective but not sure as my school did not offer it.