Religion and Public Education

Category: Cram Session

Post 1 by Miss Gorgeous (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Wednesday, 20-Jan-2010 1:29:19

What do you think about religion in public schools today? Has things change since? How much does religion play in the classroom curriculum? Do you think they should offer it as a class or an elective or do you think its better to give parents the right to endoctrinate their children with whatever religion they believe?

Post 2 by laced-unlaced (Account disabled) on Wednesday, 20-Jan-2010 3:21:47

hmmm.

to start with, we only have 1 religion class a week. we learnt it through the songs from joseph, not the best way to learn in my opinion, but suppose it worked.

i think religion should be a class. to start with, i think people need to be aware of other people's beliefs, and secondly learn about there own religion.

Post 3 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Wednesday, 20-Jan-2010 12:53:15

I think religious studies are very important.
Whether or not people agree with it, the U.S. morals and society is based, in large part, on the moral system taught in the bible, and understanding that is key to understanding the way our society and even, to some extent, our law works.
Perhaps the emphasis should be more on the morals and message of the bible than teaching it so as to convert the pupil to Christianity, that is no the school's decission, but niether should it become such a taboo that it cann't be discussed.
I also think religious studies should introduce students to other religions, may be a month or so on each, the differences in belief and morals. There is so much prejudice against other religions here (and I am sure elsewhere too, but we are talking about American schools I presume), and I think very few people have bothered learning anything about, say, Islam, and I think people should be, at least, familiar with the very basic ideas behind it.

Post 4 by Miss M (move over school!) on Wednesday, 20-Jan-2010 14:26:07

Religion should not be in the classroom unless multiple religious views are going to be examined. The key word there is that they are examined, not supported or demeaned. If you want more specified religion or religious training, go to a school or that, or allow your child to make that decision themselves.

Post 5 by Miss Gorgeous (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Wednesday, 20-Jan-2010 15:03:14

Yes, the public schools should offer a comparative religion class to teach different beliefs and to give awareness to the students. I agree with the previous poster, I think students should have the right to choose what to believe. It is not right to force one religion, but its necessary to give some background about each religion so they can make informed choices later on.