How would you feel..

Originally posted by sumydid
The horror!! I'm sure it drove you into an insane rage, and rightfully so! You've got to do something about this. You should march straight up to that school and demand that your child be taught the enormous benefits of other important spiritual leaders! 😠

I'm sure it wouldn't have even been noteworthy--other than perhaps your post describing w ...[text shortened]... hristian butt! Allahu Akbar!" or "Was Aleister Crowley really a virtuous humanitarian?"

Wow, way to miss the point.


For those fortunate enough to be living in countries that tolerate different theistic positions,
It is up to the parents of a child to decide whether or not to indoctrinate their child into any
given religion.

It is not the job of schools to impose a certain religion on those children.

The point of RE lessons is to teach people about the many different faiths in the world, because
otherwise frankly large parts of art, history, and politics just don't make any sense.

He has every right to be annoyed (if what he says is true) that his school was teaching a particular
religion and not teaching About all of them.

The fact that in this instance his kid was being taught your religion (or a version thereof) is irrelevant.

I would remind you that the separation of church and state, the freedom of religion enshrined in your
constitution, was put in specially so that things like this don't happen. So that state schools don't
indoctrinate kids into specific religions against their parents wishes.
You evidently fail to comprehend the principles your own country was founded upon.

Originally posted by shahenshah
In my case, I was taught RE (actually Bible Knowledge) for 5 years in high school. But that didn't make me a Christian.

To answer your question, I wouldn't like it. Kids nowadays are much smarter than we were at that age. They can and will choose for themselves.

Mostly they watch their parents and check if they are walking the talk.

Yes, i agree,especially about the "walking the walk" part.

I dont care if they have bible studies ,but thats what they should call it.

Also, I dont think that children should have to do RE unless they are into it.
Some parents just think it's an easy way to teach their children, but as you say, children are getting much smarter these days, and in many cases the child will actually turn on their parent when they become teenagers. The parents find that the children have actually gone the other way than they intended.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
In the UK children are taught about religions, common themes and what can be learned from their stories.

Much better than when I was a lad!!

I guess us Queenslanders haven't caught up yet.

Because I have spent a bit of time in Europe, I can see that Australia will become more like Europe in the future. Eventually 🙁

Originally posted by karoly aczel
Yes, i agree,especially about the "walking the walk" part.

I dont care if they have bible studies ,but thats what they should call it.

Also, I dont think that children should have to do RE unless they are into it.
Some parents just think it's an easy way to teach their children, but as you say, children are getting much smarter these days, and in ...[text shortened]... gers. The parents find that the children have actually gone the other way than they intended.

Whoa, RE is vitally important. (done properly)

If you want to have any hope of understanding politics and/or history you have to
understand the religious beliefs of the people involved.

RE should be just as mandatory as History, Art, Geography, English, Maths and Science.

The only way this shouldn't be true is if you incorporate RE into History, which is a possibility,
I would have to see the numbers on.

Originally posted by twhitehead
When my son was 7, I saw him punch himself on his shoulder. I asked why, and he said the teacher told them that Satan sits on one shoulder whispering in your ear. (and an angel on the other shoulder). So he was punching Satan.

More recently, in high school, they do a subject called 'life orientation' and there they were learning about Christianity, Isl ...[text shortened]... upset because they taught us 'as fact' that animal can't think. I knew that was nonsense.

Thank you for your example.
That's exactly the sort of nonsense that should be wiped out.

As long as people think we need to be God-fearing people will keep coming up with such nonsense.
I thought "God is Love" is actually a christian tenet. Why then do they think we need to fear God? It makes no sense to me- as I understand "Love".

Originally posted by googlefudge
Wow, way to miss the point.


For those fortunate enough to be living in countries that tolerate different theistic positions,
It is up to the parents of a child to decide whether or not to indoctrinate their child into any
given religion.

It is not the job of schools to impose a certain religion on those children.

The point of RE lessons i ...[text shortened]... s wishes.
You evidently fail to comprehend the principles your own country was founded upon.

Here where I live we have Denominational Schools which teach their own religion plus we have the State Schools which teach RE as described by KA. By a long margin the State Schools are the less sought after and the DSchools are the so-called prestige schools where all the high achieving students attend.

Originally posted by googlefudge
Whoa, RE is vitally important. (done properly)

If you want to have any hope of understanding politics and/or history you have to
understand the religious beliefs of the people involved.

RE should be just as mandatory as History, Art, Geography, English, Maths and Science.

The only way this shouldn't be true is if you incorporate RE into History, which is a possibility,
I would have to see the numbers on.

"If done properly"

Until it is does properly, it should remain upto the parents,a s you point out.

It seems that RE is the same as it was when I was at school (over 20 years ago), when I actually got hit with a cane ( a short stick) for getting dirty during my lunch hour. That's right, just for playing sport and getting dirty.
That sort of thing would not be tolerated here or any civilized country, (one would hope),nowadays.
I was also suspended for wearing "innapropriate clothing" (where we had no uniform for the last 2 years of high school).
It was a band t-shirt with a black and white drawing of a semi naked lady.
The same day some other guy beat another kid up so bad that he needed to have one of his testicles removed and missed 2 weeks of school because he was in hospital.
The kid that beat him up didn't even miss his next class !! All he got was a good "talking to "

Originally posted by karoly aczel
"If done properly"

Until it is does properly, it should remain upto the parents,a s you point out.

It seems that RE is the same as it was when I was at school (over 20 years ago), when I actually got hit with a cane ( a short stick) for getting dirty during my lunch hour. That's right, just for playing sport and getting dirty.
That sort of thi ...[text shortened]... that beat him up didn't even miss his next class !! All he got was a good "talking to "

Unfortunately RE or any other education cannot be left up to the parents because there will always be that minority who poison the minds of their children with hate stories about other religions/cultures.

On top of that you have a bigger minority(majority?) teaching their children about their own religion as absolute truth and perpetutaing their own ignorance.

RE in schools is desperately needed!

Originally posted by wolfgang59
Unfortunately RE or any other education cannot be left up to the parents because there will always be that minority who poison the minds of their children with hate stories about other religions/cultures.

On top of that you have a bigger minority(majority?) teaching their children about their own religion as absolute truth and perpetutaing their own ignorance.

[b]RE in schools is desperately needed![/b]

I would say it's a grey area at best in my situation where I dont think RE should be taught in its current form.
You cant win either way. Society is scizophrenic, in the sense that it is divided. Neighbour against neighbour, state against state.
Any RE education, be it from parents or schools, that promotes the idea of a hateful God is just furthering this problem.

I am not sure about this but I think that selection of teachers, especially for higher grades, for RE who have knowledge of the various religions would be difficult. So schools settle for a teacher who has knowledge of one religion.

Yes, as Googlefudge says, RE should be taught just as history or geography is being taught.