Live in the UK? Do this.

[andrewducker]

Sign here to petition the government to abolish all faith schools. Not that it'll have any direct effect, but it can't hurt.

Note - I am not against any group teaching people its principles/beliefs - I just don't think they should be getting government money towards it, or doing it in a place it's compulsory for children to attend.

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

What an excellent idea. No chance of it in the US, but that's a change I'd dearly love to see.

I disagree strongly ...

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

... for more details, see my reply here

but to summarise:
I went to a faith school (Jesuit Catholic boys school)
The vast majority of lessons were things like maths, english, physics, PE etc.
My parents paid tax for the state education part of my education
They also paid a *lot* of money (to them) for me to go to that faith school for the other bits beyond what is now the national curriculum (and the local diocese/parish paid too).
I can't say, hand on heart, that it would be possible to divide out minute by minute whether a particular sentence by a particular teacher was being paid by the state or by my family and church, so I can't necessarily prove that no state money was spent on the religious aspects of my education (but I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was carefully segregated in the accounts)

Part of religion/faith is learning about ethics and morality, about "doing unto others" or whatever the basic tenets of the particular faith might be. If you can assure me that there is absolutely no moral or ethical teaching in non-faith schools (compulsory to attend) then that would be a different matter (a very frightening one though!)

We don't need to agree on this, but I will stand up for the right for children to be brought up in an environment that is both conducive to education and supportive of cultural and religious beliefs, and to be brutally honest, I don't see that in the UK state school system (individual schools and individual teachers, yes, the system as a whole, no).

Re: I disagree strongly ...

[andrewducker]

There was certainly no moral or ethical teaching in the high school I went to.

And I'll stand up for the right for children to be brought up in a system that's supportive of cultural beliefs. But not one which forces it on them, which is what religious teaching during their educational hours does. I can't regulate what people choose to do outside of school hours, but during the hours when children are required by law to be there, I object strongly to the teaching of mythology as fact.

Re: I disagree strongly ...

[gordonreflect.livejournal.com]

all Scottish schools have to have RE lessons. It is not a faith school thing.

Re: I disagree strongly ...

[andrewducker]

But do those RE lessons say "Here is the one truth." or "Here are some different religions, and what they believe."

Because my RE lessons were always the latter, after I left the faith school I went to, and moved to a non-faith school.

Re: I disagree strongly ...

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

My school certainly taught RE as "religion of the week". It was more like a social integration thing rather than any serious (or even attempted) discussion of the mythos.

It got fuzzier when there were things like special assemblies for Easter, which were of course undeniably Christian. Although officially all the kids were supposed to go, you could not go and you wouldn't get punished for it. The athiest teachers didn't go and supported any kid who didn't want to do it, providing they weren't running around and used the time productively.

Re: Buffet...

[wordofblake.livejournal.com]

well, in the school I go to they have posters up about all religions and outlines of their beliefs in the RE classroom. Last week the 1st years were learning about Moses, Passover, and the Sedar meal. So it is hard to be 100% sure.

I don't think it is presented as a buffet of religions, but the school accepts that not everyone in the class will be Catholic.