This news is perhaps a little bit late, so you have my apologies if it has already been posted. In short, a select few primary schools in New South Wales are trialling the teaching of Ethics to children in grades 5 and 6 as a potential option for those who do not want to participate in Special Religious Education. I'm curious what your opinions are of this move, and from a broader perspective, your opinions on the roles of religion in ethics and morality.

 

NSW schools to begin ethics class pilot.

Nothing to fear from ethics classes.

Sign petition to save SRE classes - Bishop's call.

 

Personally I feel this is an excellent move. I do not feel religion is something which needs to be taught at school until the children are old enough to have an actual opinion on it. I do not have children yet, but if I did I would not want them to participate in SRE. However, I also would not want them to feel ostracised from their classmates by sitting in the library under supervision instead of attending SRE.

Honestly, they should just abolish religion classes altogether. If parents want to force religion on their kids, than it's their job, not the schools.

Honestly, they should just abolish religion classes altogether. If parents want to force religion on their kids, than it's their job, not the schools.

 

That'd be pretty stupid. Removing it would only result in people being even more ignorant about religions other than their own, if any (and even then...). But it's important that they're not trying to shove it down peoples' throats, but instead teach the different principles of all the different major religions in a factual and unbiased manner. That's what they did in my high school, and religion quickly turned into one of my favourite classes.

Honestly, they should just abolish religion classes altogether. If parents want to force religion on their kids, than it's their job, not the schools.

 

That'd be pretty stupid. Removing it would only result in people being even more ignorant about religions other than their own, if any (and even then...). But it's important that they're not trying to shove it down peoples' throats, but instead teach the different principles of all the different major religions in a factual and unbiased manner. That's what they did in my high school, and religion quickly turned into one of my favourite classes.

 

No, all they do is teach Christianity.

 

If they say anything else, don't believe them, at least not in Canada. (And if it's like that here, I bet it's even worse in the States.)

Honestly, they should just abolish religion classes altogether. If parents want to force religion on their kids, than it's their job, not the schools.

 

That'd be pretty stupid. Removing it would only result in people being even more ignorant about religions other than their own, if any (and even then...). But it's important that they're not trying to shove it down peoples' throats, but instead teach the different principles of all the different major religions in a factual and unbiased manner. That's what they did in my high school, and religion quickly turned into one of my favourite classes.

 

No, all they do is teach Christianity.

 

If they say anything else, don't believe them, at least not in Canada. (And if it's like that here, I bet it's even worse in the States.)

 

Not even close. I live in New York, and here we learned about all the major religions in the way Azvareth described. Over the course of the year, we learned about Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and now that we're into medieval Europe, the different sects of Christianity. Going in, I thought there was going to be a bias towards Catholicism, but that hasn't been the case at all.

Honestly, they should just abolish religion classes altogether. If parents want to force religion on their kids, than it's their job, not the schools.

 

That'd be pretty stupid. Removing it would only result in people being even more ignorant about religions other than their own, if any (and even then...). But it's important that they're not trying to shove it down peoples' throats, but instead teach the different principles of all the different major religions in a factual and unbiased manner. That's what they did in my high school, and religion quickly turned into one of my favourite classes.

 

No, all they do is teach Christianity.

 

If they say anything else, don't believe them, at least not in Canada. (And if it's like that here, I bet it's even worse in the States.)

 

Not even close. I live in New York, and here we learned about all the major religions in the way Azvareth described. Over the course of the year, we learned about Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and now that we're into medieval Europe, the different sects of Christianity. Going in, I thought there was going to be a bias towards Catholicism, but that hasn't been the case at all.

 

I dont mind education like that, as i understood it was a Christian class.

Honestly, they should just abolish religion classes altogether. If parents want to force religion on their kids, than it's their job, not the schools.

 

That'd be pretty stupid. Removing it would only result in people being even more ignorant about religions other than their own, if any (and even then...). But it's important that they're not trying to shove it down peoples' throats, but instead teach the different principles of all the different major religions in a factual and unbiased manner. That's what they did in my high school, and religion quickly turned into one of my favourite classes.

Mm hehe.

Since we have live in the same country, i think you'd loved the teacher i had. He was a fan of Burzum and BM in general. It was interesting to have more in common with him than the rest of the people in the class and then a couple of hours later having him to talk about Jesus.

When I was in primary school, RE consisted of Christianity only. While I am against religion being taught in (public) schools*, I have less objection to it when the classes cover multiple religions. I also do not mind a Chaplin being at a school, provided they are there to server multiple religions. With that said, the ethics approach is a step in a better direction, I'm not a massive fan of the age group being educated on it but it's a trial so chances are that might change slightly.

 

 

 

 

* Private schools which are obviously focused on a particular religion can do what they want really. If you're going to a Christian private school, expect your RE to be about Christianity only, or at least primarily that.

There's no point in teaching religion in school. At all. Primary school students won't understand anything and the Secondary school students are too bigoted to think anything else.

Honestly, they should just abolish religion classes altogether. If parents want to force religion on their kids, than it's their job, not the schools.

 

 

Ofc they shouldn't force it, but they should still *offer* it. My schools were always completely secular, except for the minute of silence there was no religious mentions or classes.

Honestly, they should just abolish religion classes altogether. If parents want to force religion on their kids, than it's their job, not the schools.

 

That'd be pretty stupid. Removing it would only result in people being even more ignorant about religions other than their own, if any (and even then...). But it's important that they're not trying to shove it down peoples' throats, but instead teach the different principles of all the different major religions in a factual and unbiased manner. That's what they did in my high school, and religion quickly turned into one of my favourite classes.

I agree with this. However, I think RE should be left until the children are in high school, so they're old enough to actually have an opinion on the matter. Teaching primary school children religion seems pointless, and even wrong to me.

 

There is something of a habit, at least where I'm from, of RE classes to be very much centred around Christianity, which I don't agree with. It's all well and good to say that RE classes should present each (major) religion from a non-biased perspective, but that very rarely actually happens.

All we did in our school relating to religion was sit around singing religious songs. Horrible times, plus, the teacher who oversaw was evil and made us sing. I don't care for religion and hated it when it was forced upon me. Everyone who knows me well, know that I am a strong atheist. Screw anyone elses views about religion.

 

So, pretty much, go for it.

Everyone who knows me well, know that I am a strong atheist. Screw anyone elses views about religion.

Lovely.

I really dislike it when people refer to their beliefs as "strong". It just seems like giving yourself an excuse to be an arse to those who don't share your opinions.

To be honest I think teaching either seem pretty pointless. From what I can remember I actually liked the RE classes back then, though I never really believed in god, I just found the stories interesting. They shou;dn't teach it though, at the primary school I went to you had to have a note from parents to not attend, so if they were religion you were forced to go to them pretty much.

 

The idea of ethics class also seems a bit stupid though, not sure why they always go to these sorts of things rather then just the normal sort of teaching... Ethics just seems like the sort of thing you pick up over your life..

There's no point in teaching religion in school. At all. Primary school students won't understand anything and the Secondary school students are too bigoted to think anything else.

 

Yeah, you raise a good point. I really don't remember anything from primary school RE, but by the time I'd reached highschool I had already developed rather strong opinions and views on many things, inlcuding religion.

 

 

To be honest I think teaching either seem pretty pointless. From what I can remember I actually liked the RE classes back then, though I never really believed in god, I just found the stories interesting. They shou;dn't teach it though, at the primary school I went to you had to have a note from parents to not attend, so if they were religion you were forced to go to them pretty much.

 

The idea of ethics class also seems a bit stupid though, not sure why they always go to these sorts of things rather then just the normal sort of teaching... Ethics just seems like the sort of thing you pick up over your life..

 

Yeah, I think we also needed permission to go to those classes too. And Ethics lessons in a very basic way could be useful, although you're right when you say they are picked up and developed during your life. I think your parents and peers are going to have much more influence on your ethical behaviour than a few religion OR ethics classes.

Everyone who knows me well, know that I am a strong atheist. Screw anyone elses views about religion.

Lovely.

I really dislike it when people refer to their beliefs as "strong". It just seems like giving yourself an excuse to be an arse to those who don't share your opinions.

 

Pretty much. Wait.. Can I do that? :blink:

Here we have a choice- Religion or Ethics. I'm in Ethics.

 

I still disagree with the system though; It is the parent's choices, not the students, to go to one or the other. Nobody in Religion believes in what they're taught, which is apparently half fact about different religions, half Lutheran. Nobody in Ethics really does anything, we just go through obvious stuff and have a test every 18 or so weeks.

 

But when the sun goes down it's all a waste of time. As I said in Religion nobody believes what they're being taught, and I haven't learned much, if anything, from Ethics, especially since we have just one hour per week.

Why not both? Why not present ethical questions to students then offer answers through various religions or non-religion, leaving them to make their own mind up? I come from a primarily Christian school, but that's what we do here and it works very well in terms of personal answer searching. There doesn't need to be any kind of singing or worshipping, just discussion with each other and learning.

I am not against religious education of all faiths. If anything is likely to break the hold that religion has on children, it is showing them that there are lots of other religions that believe various things just as fervently as their parents believe whatever religion they follow. It is harder to believe that your religion is the one true faith when you see that it has the same kinds of stories and long equivocal history that many other religions have.

 

I am against the subtle bias for one religion that pervades many schools: singing hymns, thanking God for this and that. The subtle bias that takes (whichever) God for granted.

I used to attend a church of england school and as such it was unbelievably biased towards christanity.......This wouldnt bug me so much if it wasnt for the fact that like most religious bigots, the teachers (Not just the R.E teacher) always referred to their christian beliefs as absolute fact. This is both ignorant and dangerous. If some-one is raised or taught in school to believe that their faith is absolute fact they will cast aside all need to justify their actions and like many a dictator/murderer/crazed politician will simply use God or faith as a scapegoat to shirk responsibilty. But i still think religious education is important, but only so children can be made to see the true scope of religious and cultural beliefs throughout the world thus making them more well rounded contributors to life.

 

Peace out. Elliot.

Honestly, they should just abolish religion classes altogether. If parents want to force religion on their kids, than it's their job, not the schools.

 

 

Ofc they shouldn't force it, but they should still *offer* it. My schools were always completely secular, except for the minute of silence there was no religious mentions or classes.

I agree with this. If a school is designated towards a particular religion, then RE should be offered. If not, then no RE should be made mandatory. It could be an elective.

 

I think that for the most part RE is something that is the responsibility of the parent. Not to mention that in high school (public catholic) the religion classes were garbage, in part taught by atheists who made fun of religion during classes and regularly answered questions wrong.