I think religion is a personal affair. Religion should be seen as a separate room aside the commonly known material world, presenting a place of relief and hope. This place must not be interfered with due to its vulnerability; it's made up entirely of feelings and can therefore not be explained logically and should not have to be examined.
What the education in religion does, isn't giving one's individual spiritualism a chance to grow,instead it's suppressed. School is an area of science, where rules are taught, not an institution of spiritualism.
From my point of view, I think religion is in itself suppressing individual spiritualism. It has over the centuries taken on a form of being a collective agenda, giving spiritualism a set form. This gives every individual curious about enhancing one's spiritualism a tremendous backlash in that going one's own spiritual path isn't seen approving on by any major religion. (Buddhism isn't a religion;thus a philosophy of life and therefore does no suppress, rather enhance spiritualism)
However, I stand by the point that thoughts and feelings are personal, therefore religion is a entirely personal affair and school should be carefully about teaching it. Moreover, a subject called life philosophy or ethics and moral would be a good alternative.
In response to Mika Hi!!! I think that the teaching of religion as I can see in Italy is a waste of time. When I was at High School during religion hours we studied for other subjects!! But if we see it from another point of view in theory the idea is not so bad.. The religion hours should be a sort of way to compare the different points of view of the various religions and traditions.
Yes, your words are true Andrea, religion class should be a forum for expressing religious views, however one should not have to protect or prove one's belief. Religion is like love; trust in some greater power that no man neither can nor wants to explain (surely there are some scientist who can, and want to)
What would love be with a list of registered psychological symptoms, making it possible to treat it medically?
Belief is what it is or isn't. It can neither be discussed nor explained. Attempts can be made in describing it, but the understanding of someone's belief just isn't possible with differing upbringing,culture,language or experience.
I think that religion at schools could be a moment in which the teacher explains all the religions, suggests discussion about the difference and equality between them. In this way we can understand and feel more close to different culture. Unfortunately I never had this type of religion's lesson, the teacher always spoke only about the Christian religion.I think that Catechism exists in the parish if one wants to learn the Christian religion. At schools especially now with many students of different cult I think that it would be better to explain all the religion, with their festivities, their values and sins. It could be a way to join the students, to integrate foreign students explaining our values and to make us know their culture.
Today the society involves people from different country and therefore with different religions. But how should the school act? I will discuss if religion should be a school subject or not.
One could argue that religion should not be a part of the school system because it is easy that the main religion in the country would take a big part in the teaching because it is there the teacher have probably the best knowledge. Also it could be a problem in countries, like Sweden, there religion not at all have such a big part. Many people in Sweden are atheist, they don’t believe in any religion. How would the school do this type of teaching and also should the school teach about atheist are also good questions.
On the other hand we can see that children from religious families and children from non-believing families both can make up their own opinion and not just believe in the way the family that they came from believes. Also religion is a big part in the world and therefore to understand each other better, both then we talk business and also human to human, it is very important to understand why someone believes in such way. Much have to do with the countries culture and in the culture Religion is one very big part that guides many people in life. Knowledge is important on the way to understanding each other. In countries like Sweden, there religions not has such a big part, it is even more important to have the knowledge about what a religion is and what a specific religion stands for to understand the people how live with this religion. If we don’t have the knowledge or understanding we would have a really big problem in communication.
According to how important it is to understand each other, especially in the world of globalization that takes place today is the understanding of religion very important and therefore something that the School should teach us.
The matter you introduced is, definetely, not so easy to be discussed in a few words. However, I'll try to explain my opinion as much clearly as possible. Historically, many thinkers (especially during the so-called "Scientific Revolution era") started to consider religion as an "instrumentum regni" , useful to keep the peoples in a state of ignorance; we can think about Machiavelli or Spinoza, just to cite two names. They were living in a society where the whole scolastic system was managed by the Church and supposed to avoid some delicate subjects.
Nowadays, the system is totally different but, especially in my country, the influence of Catolic Church in our lifes is yet strong... I mean... not only in the education system, but also within many other political and social aspects. What can you expect from a State which has ben "confessional" till 1984 (date of concordat's revision) ? I think Catolic religion and public powers have to stay separate, without reciprocal influence, especially within the istruction system. It could be more formative for a student that a public school gives him a complete awardness of all world religions ( I agree with my friend Andrea upon this point) rather than introduce only one way to consider the problems. The world is various and rich of different ways of live.
Personally, during religion class, I was often quite bored because a problem or a matter of discussion was intoduced to me only from one point of view!!! This is the italian situation. I live in a country were the traditional power of the Church is strnger than in the rest of the world and I know that we can considered physiologic this state of things. I'd like to know more about your country and the relationship between the scholastic system and the religious institutions.
I think that you're right when you write that the spiritual part of religion can't be taught at school. But it could be an interesting subject if the teacher talks about the religions' history and the cultural differences between peoples that believe in different religions. I'm not a believer but I think that the knowledge of certain part of religions could be very helpful for students and for people in general.
In Italian schools, usually there is one hour of catholic religion at week. This lesson is optional and is a good opportunity to talk about general topics such as racism, imigration, war, ecc. we agree with you that religion is a personal affair, in fact in our experiece we didn't talk about our personal beliefs at school. we think that this lesson would be better if it gave general knowledge of all religions. this way in the future children would have the opportunity to choose their personal belief without the influence of their families. Talking about all religions, would make integration of foreign students easier. What is the situation in your country like? Is there teaching of religion in schools? what is the the main religion? recently in Italy there was a discussion about religion symbols at school like the crucifix. we don't agree with it. we think that public schools must be "neutral". what do you think about it?
The teaching of religion in schools is a controversial topic; but in Italy it has been discussed only in the last years, because in the past it was generally accepted also because anyone can choose freely if attending the religion lessons or not. But the lessons, instead of being an opportunity for comparing different approaches to religion in the global sense of this theme, were often only a monothematic discussion about Catholic Religion or sometimes about our own exeperiences. The discussion involves actually not only classroom lessons but also symbols and activities, which are connected with Catholic Religion. Immigration of people from different countries, particularly from Africa and Middle Orient, which have often a strong religious feeling, has underlined this issue and the answer has been the one of removing from schools all symbols and activities involved with religion (for example Christmas school plays). We think that it's right to protect School secularity, but it would be interesting to mantain all these activities without connecting them with religious festivities but making them becoming an important chance for integration which seems to be so difficult in our Country.
Hi Francesco, how are you? I’m Isabelle from Sweden! I read what you wrote about religion and it being taught in school. I agree with you, school is an area of science, not an institution of spiritualism and I definitely think religion and public powers have to stay separate. Politic is public while religion is personal and something people should keep to themselves.
Church has been a big part of the Swedish society if you look back in time. It’s not so much anymore, but we are still studying religion in school. When you are younger you learn about Jesus and the bible through stories and animated movies. It’s not until you get up to high school you’ll study the other religions in the world. It is actually not much religion studies through the Swedish school system at all.
Even if I’m not religious I do find religion interesting. As long as the religion teaching is focused to give knowledge and not to force the pupils to believe, then I really think it is important to know about the world’s different religions. It gives you a deeper comprehension of other cultures and the ability to understand, as you said; the worlds various and rich of different ways of living.
Hi all, I´m Sofi from Sweden (now living in London). It has been interesting to follow your discussion here. The differences between Sweden and Italy seem to be that in Sweden we teach all religions and in Italy you focus only on the Catholic faith. Am I right? There has been a discussion in Sweden about ceremonies connected to the Christian faith. Every semester schools used to have ceremonies in church before Christmas or summer vacation. This included psalms and Christmas songs and plays about the birth of Jesus. Muslim children have sometimes not been allowed by their parents to attend these ceremonies and some argue that all connection to the church discriminates these children. It is a difficult topic since I believe tradition is important and like Matteo and Marinella I believe it would be good if these traditions could be kept. I also feel that if I moved to a Muslim country I would not expect them to change their school system because I was uncomfortable going to a mosque. I would accept their tradition but maybe not attend the ceremony. At the same time I feel for those kids that end up outside the school traditions. It is very difficult to judge what is right and wrong here. Regarding the teaching I think the religion classes are very important. We all need to know how other people believe and why they do so. Religion is very connected to language and culture and in order to understand other cultures we need a religious understanding. Especially in the society today when there are many religious conflicts and it is easy to believe media´s version of the truth about the Catholic church or Muslims.
I must say I have not the same opinion about religious education in the Swedish school, I actually did remember talking about different believes in the fifth grade, about Buddhism, Hinduism, the old mythology of Thor and Odins, and about Luther, and the Lutheran church.
I totally agree with you Sofi about the importance of understanding other culture and their religion.
Gianni said “But it could be an interesting subject if the teacher talks about the religions' history and the cultural differences between peoples that believe in different religions”
I think this is actually what is suppose to be taught in schools, in order to understand, as Sofi said, other cultures in our multicultural society, understand history, and understand the origin of our ethic and moral actions.
I think it is highly important to be a part of today’s education, not that we should teach and promote one faith but give knowledge and understanding.
Many people do discuss if religion should be taught because its thoughts of and theories of life cannot be verified as certain and that more scientific “things” should be taught. But, everything that is taught in school are theories, even thoughts of the creation of the earth is a theory. The Big Bang, for example, has been taught as a theory in correlation to the bibles description, even if the person responsible for it wrote it as an explanation of the bible.
I think it is important to teach the students to be able to be objective and not force them to a truth that is someone else, whether it is forcing someone to atheism, Hinduism, Christianity or other mythology.
The importance is giving knowledge about different religions, its history, its culture and believes.
Hi everyone, and thank you for some really interesting comments about the religious education in schools! I think that religion is a very important subject to be taught in schools today, and I think that all schools should teach a little bit about all of the religions. If you then want to know more about a certain religious view, than you can do that on your own, on you spear time.
Through knowledge about different religions you get respect for different cultures and understanding for how other people act and think. But at the same time, if you use the tool in a wrong way it can work in the opposite direction. I think you can look at religious education as a very powerful weapon. If turned towards love and understanding it can do a lot of good for many people around the world, but if you turn it towards intolerance, indoctrination and separation it will become quite dangerous.
What I mean is that to me it is not a question of IF there should be religious education in schools; it is more a question of HOW the education is carried out and what the main point of the intention is.
I am having a problem with my own view on this topic… I want all schools to be a place where you get the chance to learn about all the different religions in an objective way. But how do we deal with the problem that some religions preaching things that are against human rights, against the law or creating hate and discrimination against certain persons because of their sexual preferences or their choice of life. Can someone give me a comment on how to deal with this
In response to Camilla I do agree with you about the importance of not promoting one faith, there should be up to every person to decide in what or in who to believe. And the schools should create opportunities for the students to find their own view of life. But when it comes to how life started and where we come from in the beginning of time, I am convinced that the theory of evolution must be the way to explain that. But that will happen in the classes of science and not to be mixed up with religion.
I get really scared when a (former) candidate to the post as vice president for the US believes that the woman was made from a rib from Adam and that dinosaurs lived on earth 4000 years ago…
Hi everyone! I have read thru this forum and hope I can give you my view of the teaching of religion in school because I am a teacher of religion. I work in a multi cultural school and in my classes I got children between 12 and 14 years old an they are, Christians (catholic, ortodox and protestant), muslims, hindu and buddhist. I have not yet ad a Jew in class but I think it is just a matter of time. I try to give them an idea of the history of religion. I go back to the very beginning, to the ancient african, american and european religions. I want to make them see how alike the different religions are. How they explain the birth of the world and the beginning of man kind. Then I continue with their religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity have all the same beginning. The Exodus is the beginning of all three of them. Then I try to explain to them with the help of the Moske, church and synsgog in the neiborhood that the idea of each religion is practicly the same with some differences. Most of the difference between the religions, man has made up after Jesus´and Muhammeds death. I usually explain the hoístorical parts and then we discuss the different religions idea. What is their morals? What does the religion want? What is good and bad? I try to give them some input of all the major religions in the world. Hopefully they leave my class a little bit more informed and tolerant.
I agree with the teaching of religion in schools as a way to learn about different religions. Whether we want it or not, religion is an integral component of our culture and since nowadays at least in Italy classes have become really multicultural, the teaching of different religions could be very useful for integration. I think that religion hour could be positive. More than other matters it could be an important chance of dialogue and reflection about universal values. On this subject, the teaching of only Catholic religion in my opinion stress in the negative a division between Catholic and all others indistinctly. Instead students getting to know different religions could be found common aspects and values to share. For example, there is a 'Golden Rule' that say 'Do not do to others what you wouldn't want others to do to you' that is present in many religions.
I think that the answer to your question is that children are taught Swedish law and equal rights along with religion so tha tthey know what is accepted in Sweden. I remember having a discussion about those things in school.
Religion has an important place in school, to prevent prejudices and fear for other cultures. I live in a small town where it take time for people to accept different cultures. The school is the right place to learn and understand the different values and traditions of religions.
The teacher's task is to inform the students not lead them to a specific religion. A professional teacher knows how to avoid influnce his/her students.
I fully understand your arguments that school should not interfere with our personal beliefs.
In Belgium, where I have lived for more than 10 years, children are free from school every Wednesday afternoon for "religious instruction". This way, the parents can decide where to send their children for religious education (the nuns, the mosque or the synagogue). Many children just go home though (and parents have to solve the problem of who will take care of their children that afternoon). In Belgian schools they teach "Ethics", not "Religion", just as you suggest.
When I went to school in Sweden in the 70s, we weren't taught "Religion" but "Christianity". For the final year before graduation, we had to choose between "Philosophy" and "Psychology" (a rather strange choice)! I am glad that this has changed.
In a multicultural society like Sweden, I think that it is utterly important that all students leave school with a good understanding of all the world religions (plus Buddhism, if this is not a religion, as you say, Mika).
For an enhanced cohesion of our society, I also think that it would be wise to give days off from school during the Moslem holiday of Eid al Fitr (end of the fasting month of Ramadan) and the Jewish Yom Kippur (the day of Atonement). This would also be an excellent opportunity for every school to focus on that religion, in line with classes given before Christmas and Easter (the Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox way).
Someone in the forum mentioned that some Muslim parents didn't allow their children in church at the end of the term. In my perfect world, those parents and the head master who accepted this should have been forced into religion class!!! :-) You must in fact embrace Judaism and Christianity in order to be a Muslim, so going to church can never be a problem for a Muslim! World politics in the Middle East make this matter complicated, and extremists would perhaps say something different. However, this is the mainstream belief!
Another aspect which should be addressed is the maturity of children, which varies of course. Personally I would have appreciated a crash course in religion at the age of 30 instead of 13.
Conclusion
Education on different religions: yes. Education in order to influence the students' individual spirituality: no.
Hi Gunilla! I like very much your approach to teaching religion in school. I think that all education systems should follow it, mainly nowadays because of globalisation and immigration. By this way, we can guarantee an equal respect for students with different cultural and religious heritage. Besides, I think that it is suitable to the purpose of school, which should provide the basics of different fields of knowledge along with the education on the fundamental principles, like the respect for every culture. The education system shouldn’t have any influence on ideological or religious feelings of students. Everyone has the right to develop an independent thought on life, through personal experiences. I think that if we start from this point of view, the teaching of religion in schools won’t be a problem any more. We have to think of it as a matter that can be taught only with an historical, philosophical and scientific method. Therefore, its subject could be the study of the history of religion, the comparative study of religion, the relationships with the State, and so on… without introducing anything that could interfere with the individual religious choices. In this way, the teaching of religion could become one of the preferred instruments that could provide full understanding of the meaning of “reciprocal respect”, which is the base for a pacific and ordered cohabitation; and it could become one of the most favoured matters of students because of its attractive and fascination. Even a country like Italy, where there is a high influence of Catholic Church on this theme, a reform should be adopted because of the crucial role of the school in a multicultural and secular State on encouraging the dialogue between different religions for real integration.
A central part of this discussion, which I believe has been left out, is the relation between religion and society. Religions are not based on a scientific method, which all the other school subjects are. This gives school an excellent opportunity to stress this difference. Science is a method based on scepticism; this is why science appears paradigmatic. Religions, on the other hand, are based on the lack of scepticism. This knowledge together with knowledge about different religions gives the students ability to value and reflect. I also believe that it is important to show how versatile the influence of religions is, and why it has appeared stronger and weaker in different times. It is also important to discuss why our society is more secular today, and that it still is based on values grounded in different religions; we are still socialized into different religious notions. The school subject religion is so much more than just the different religions.
I agree, we in most western countries live in a secular religious society. But in many countries around the world people do not. The state desides how and what they should believe in. Which religions they are aloud to participate in. We also have to remember that about nine hundred years ago, before we became Chritians, we also had a secular society. I completetly diffrent one from today, with other values than the Christian. Even if we are secular, much of our "conscience" come from our religious beliefe. Almost every time a people become sceptic about their religion another one takes its place. In this secular world of today it is science.
In response to Jörgen Hi! I agree with you when you say that “religion” is not based on a scientific method. It involves a personal approach about the faith: believing or not in “something” that you can’t see or touch, believing or not in the life after the life, also by following the notions given by a specific religion… These are private thoughts, which can’t be neither judged nor taught. On the contrary, I think that “the teaching of religion (in school)” should be based on a scientific method. If the meaning of the teaching of religion in school was still to influence the individual idea about the sense of life (maybe, by examining it by the viewpoint of only one specific religion), well, I think that it couldn’t be included into the public education system. I think, this is the aim of religious institutions, who can more properly provide it outside the school. Just because “religion” is not a science, we must give to its “teaching” a suitable purpose that is conform to those of a public school. School should be based on a scientific method and should give the basics of the values of life without interfering with individual ideological choices, mainly in a secular State, who should be impartial towards different religions and guarantee the dialogue between them, also by starting from the school. Therefore, I think that “the teaching of religion” can be kept in school, only if it is considered by a scientific, historical, and philosophical approach. Then the content of this kind of school-matter could be the study of the history of religion, the comparative study of religion, the relationships with the State, the analysis of the role of religion in different times on society, and so on… So, the same, I think, you have highlighted as the main subjects of the discussion and that can give the students ability to value and reflect.
Hi, my name is Sara Beck from Sweden. I will be writing about the teaching of religion in schools and here is a summary on my ideas.
During history the role of the subject Religion has undergone a change. It has changed from being a subject where students were taught about Christianity and the Bible, to a subject that instead helps the pupils develop their ability to understand and reflect over oneself, one’s life and surroundings and develop a preparedness for acting with responsibility.
One of the aims of the subject is to give the pupils a deeper understanding regarding the Swedish society and its values which are based on Christian traditions. At the same time the Swedish education act clearly states that the education has to be scientific and not based on belief. When writing the education act there were many discussions regarding the words “in accordance with the ethics borne by Christian tradition”. But this is merely a way of confirming what values should be reflected, and in no way that Christianity should be prominent.
Religion is an important subject as students learn about different cultures and traditions. Pupils can through their new knowledge develop their respect, tolerance and faith in equal value of people.
On the other hand, the subject may also deepen the insight on differences between cultures and religions, which could instead lead to contempt. It is essential that the teacher is a good leader and can answer to ideas that doesn’t comply with common values but at the same time allow discussions in order to hear different views.
It is also good for pupils to understand the relationship between society and religion throughout different periods in history, as well as different places around the world. Religious beliefs, or rather, differences in beliefs have played a major role in conflicts throughout the world and still does.
The teaching of religion in schools should be equally distributed between the major world religions. It should not be focused mainly on the home-counties official religion, because school is a place for objective learning.
By introducing all students to all religions and also to atheism the sense of feeling discriminated should be avoided. This also gives a good insight in other peoples lives and what values they have and how those affect the way they are.
I also think that cultural teaching should be integrated in the subject as religion and culture both affect the way people lead their lives. We live in a globalize world so it is important to understand other people. For example, some Muslim women do not want to shake hands with males although that is the common western way to great one another. Perhaps a greater knowledge would lead to greater tolerance and perhaps facilitate integration.
Personal belief should not be discussed. The subject should only provide the students with relevant information so that if they feel inspired they could explore their religion of choice further on their free time, by for example joining a religious organisation.
I agree that schools should not be interfere with the students own spiritualism but focus on teaching facts about religions, its history and the differences between them. The teachers job is to teach objectively,and let the students have their own beliefs.
I believe it's important to learn about the worlds different religions to be able to understand how religion effects different society's. Just because religion is very connected with culture.
And as said before the teaching of religion leads to greater understanding and tolerance among people.
29 comments:
I think religion is a personal affair. Religion should be seen as a separate room aside the commonly known material world, presenting a place of relief and hope. This place must not be interfered with due to its vulnerability; it's made up entirely of feelings and can therefore not be explained logically and should not have to be examined.
What the education in religion does, isn't giving one's individual spiritualism a chance to grow,instead it's suppressed. School is an area of science, where rules are taught, not an institution of spiritualism.
From my point of view, I think religion is in itself suppressing individual spiritualism. It has over the centuries taken on a form of being a collective agenda, giving spiritualism a set form. This gives every individual curious about enhancing one's spiritualism a tremendous backlash in that going one's own spiritual path isn't seen approving on by any major religion. (Buddhism isn't a religion;thus a philosophy of life and therefore does no suppress, rather enhance spiritualism)
However, I stand by the point that thoughts and feelings are personal, therefore religion is a entirely personal affair and school should be carefully about teaching it. Moreover, a subject called life philosophy or ethics and moral would be a good alternative.
In response to Mika
Hi!!! I think that the teaching of religion as I can see in Italy is a waste of time.
When I was at High School during religion hours we studied for other subjects!!
But if we see it from another point of view in theory the idea is not so bad.. The religion hours should be a sort of way to compare the different points of view of the various religions and traditions.
Yes, your words are true Andrea, religion class should be a forum for expressing religious views, however one should not have to protect or prove one's belief. Religion is like love; trust in some greater power that no man neither can nor wants to explain (surely there are some scientist who can, and want to)
What would love be with a list of registered psychological symptoms, making it possible to treat it medically?
Belief is what it is or isn't. It can neither be discussed nor explained. Attempts can be made in describing it, but the understanding of someone's belief just isn't possible with differing upbringing,culture,language or experience.
/Mika
In response to Mika
I think that religion at schools could be a moment in which the teacher explains all the religions, suggests discussion about the difference and equality between them. In this way we can understand and feel more close to different culture.
Unfortunately I never had this type of religion's lesson, the teacher always spoke only about the Christian religion.I think that Catechism exists in the parish if one wants to learn the Christian religion. At schools especially now with many students of different cult I think that it would be better to explain all the religion, with their festivities, their values and sins. It could be a way to join the students, to integrate foreign students explaining our values and to make us know their culture.
Today the society involves people from different country and therefore with different religions. But how should the school act? I will discuss if religion should be a school subject or not.
One could argue that religion should not be a part of the school system because it is easy that the main religion in the country would take a big part in the teaching because it is there the teacher have probably the best knowledge. Also it could be a problem in countries, like Sweden, there religion not at all have such a big part. Many people in Sweden are atheist, they don’t believe in any religion. How would the school do this type of teaching and also should the school teach about atheist are also good questions.
On the other hand we can see that children from religious families and children from non-believing families both can make up their own opinion and not just believe in the way the family that they came from believes. Also religion is a big part in the world and therefore to understand each other better, both then we talk business and also human to human, it is very important to understand why someone believes in such way. Much have to do with the countries culture and in the culture Religion is one very big part that guides many people in life. Knowledge is important on the way to understanding each other. In countries like Sweden, there religions not has such a big part, it is even more important to have the knowledge about what a religion is and what a specific religion stands for to understand the people how live with this religion. If we don’t have the knowledge or understanding we would have a really big problem in communication.
According to how important it is to understand each other, especially in the world of globalization that takes place today is the understanding of religion very important and therefore something that the School should teach us.
Hi guys, nice to blog with you!!
The matter you introduced is, definetely, not so easy to be discussed in a few words. However, I'll try to explain my opinion as much clearly as possible.
Historically, many thinkers (especially during the so-called "Scientific Revolution era") started to consider religion as an "instrumentum regni" , useful to keep the peoples in a state of ignorance; we can think about Machiavelli or Spinoza, just to cite two names. They were living in a society where the whole scolastic system was managed by the Church and supposed to avoid some delicate subjects.
Nowadays, the system is totally different but, especially in my country, the influence of Catolic Church in our lifes is yet strong... I mean... not only in the education system, but also within many other political and social aspects. What can you expect from a State which has ben "confessional" till 1984 (date of concordat's revision) ?
I think Catolic religion and public powers have to stay separate, without reciprocal influence, especially within the istruction system.
It could be more formative for a student that a public school gives him a complete awardness of all world religions ( I agree with my friend Andrea upon this point) rather than introduce only one way to consider the problems. The world is various and rich of different ways of live.
Personally, during religion class, I was often quite bored because a problem or a matter of discussion was intoduced to me only from one point of view!!!
This is the italian situation. I live in a country were the traditional power of the Church is strnger than in the rest of the world and I know that we can considered physiologic this state of things.
I'd like to know more about your country and the relationship between the scholastic system and the religious institutions.
In response to Mika...
I think that you're right when you write that the spiritual part of religion can't be taught at school.
But it could be an interesting subject if the teacher talks about the religions' history and the cultural differences between peoples that believe in different religions.
I'm not a believer but I think that the knowledge of certain part of religions could be very helpful for students and for people in general.
In response to Mika,
In Italian schools, usually there is one hour of catholic religion at week. This lesson is optional and is a good opportunity to talk about general topics such as racism, imigration, war, ecc. we agree with you that religion is a personal affair, in fact in our experiece we didn't talk about our personal beliefs at school.
we think that this lesson would be better if it gave general knowledge of all religions. this way in the future children would have the opportunity to choose their personal belief without the influence of their families.
Talking about all religions, would make integration of foreign students easier.
What is the situation in your country like? Is there teaching of religion in schools? what is the the main religion?
recently in Italy there was a discussion about religion symbols at school like the crucifix. we don't agree with it. we think that public schools must be "neutral". what do you think about it?
bye,
Silvia, Maria e Cristina.
In response to Mika
Hi Mika! We are Matteo and Marinella from Italy.
The teaching of religion in schools is a controversial topic;
but in Italy it has been discussed only in the last years, because in the past it was generally accepted also because anyone can choose freely if attending the religion
lessons or not. But the lessons, instead of being an opportunity for comparing different
approaches to religion in the global sense of this theme, were often only a
monothematic discussion about Catholic Religion or sometimes about our own exeperiences.
The discussion involves actually not only classroom lessons but also symbols and activities, which are connected with Catholic Religion.
Immigration of people from different countries, particularly from Africa
and Middle Orient, which have often a strong religious feeling, has underlined this issue and the answer has been the one of
removing from schools all symbols and activities involved with religion (for example
Christmas school plays). We think that it's right to protect School secularity, but it
would be interesting to mantain all these activities without connecting them with religious
festivities but making them becoming an important chance for integration
which seems to be so difficult in our Country.
Answer to Francesco.
Hi Francesco, how are you? I’m Isabelle from Sweden! I read what you wrote about religion and it being taught in school. I agree with you, school is an area of science, not an institution of spiritualism and I definitely think religion and public powers have to stay separate. Politic is public while religion is personal and something people should keep to themselves.
Church has been a big part of the Swedish society if you look back in time. It’s not so much anymore, but we are still studying religion in school. When you are younger you learn about Jesus and the bible through stories and animated movies. It’s not until you get up to high school you’ll study the other religions in the world. It is actually not much religion studies through the Swedish school system at all.
Even if I’m not religious I do find religion interesting. As long as the religion teaching is focused to give knowledge and not to force the pupils to believe, then I really think it is important to know about the world’s different religions. It gives you a deeper comprehension of other cultures and the ability to understand, as you said; the worlds various and rich of different ways of living.
In response to Matteo and Marinella.
Hi all, I´m Sofi from Sweden (now living in London). It has been interesting to follow your discussion here. The differences between Sweden and Italy seem to be that in Sweden we teach all religions and in Italy you focus only on the Catholic faith. Am I right?
There has been a discussion in Sweden about ceremonies connected to the Christian faith. Every semester schools used to have ceremonies in church before Christmas or summer vacation. This included psalms and Christmas songs and plays about the birth of Jesus. Muslim children have sometimes not been allowed by their parents to attend these ceremonies and some argue that all connection to the church discriminates these children. It is a difficult topic since I believe tradition is important and like Matteo and Marinella I believe it would be good if these traditions could be kept.
I also feel that if I moved to a Muslim country I would not expect them to change their school system because I was uncomfortable going to a mosque. I would accept their tradition but maybe not attend the ceremony. At the same time I feel for those kids that end up outside the school traditions. It is very difficult to judge what is right and wrong here.
Regarding the teaching I think the religion classes are very important. We all need to know how other people believe and why they do so. Religion is very connected to language and culture and in order to understand other cultures we need a religious understanding. Especially in the society today when there are many religious conflicts and it is easy to believe media´s version of the truth about the Catholic church or Muslims.
I must say I have not the same opinion about religious education in the Swedish school,
I actually did remember talking about different believes in the fifth grade, about Buddhism, Hinduism, the old mythology of Thor and Odins, and about Luther, and the Lutheran church.
I totally agree with you Sofi about the importance of understanding other culture and their religion.
Gianni said
“But it could be an interesting subject if the teacher talks about the religions' history and the cultural differences between peoples that believe in different religions”
I think this is actually what is suppose to be taught in schools, in order to understand, as Sofi said, other cultures in our multicultural society, understand history, and understand the origin of our ethic and moral actions.
I think it is highly important to be a part of today’s education, not that we should teach and promote one faith but give knowledge and understanding.
Many people do discuss if religion should be taught because its thoughts of and theories of life cannot be verified as certain and that more scientific “things” should be taught. But, everything that is taught in school are theories, even thoughts of the creation of the earth is a theory. The Big Bang, for example, has been taught as a theory in correlation to the bibles description, even if the person responsible for it wrote it as an explanation of the bible.
I think it is important to teach the students to be able to be objective and not force them to a truth that is someone else, whether it is forcing someone to atheism, Hinduism, Christianity or other mythology.
The importance is giving knowledge about different religions, its history, its culture and believes.
Hi everyone, and thank you for some really interesting comments about the religious education in schools!
I think that religion is a very important subject to be taught in schools today, and I think that all schools should teach a little bit about all of the religions. If you then want to know more about a certain religious view, than you can do that on your own, on you spear time.
Through knowledge about different religions you get respect for different cultures and understanding for how other people act and think. But at the same time, if you use the tool in a wrong way it can work in the opposite direction. I think you can look at religious education as a very powerful weapon. If turned towards love and understanding it can do a lot of good for many people around the world, but if you turn it towards intolerance, indoctrination and separation it will become quite dangerous.
What I mean is that to me it is not a question of IF there should be religious education in schools; it is more a question of HOW the education is carried out and what the main point of the intention is.
I am having a problem with my own view on this topic… I want all schools to be a place where you get the chance to learn about all the different religions in an objective way. But how do we deal with the problem that some religions preaching things that are against human rights, against the law or creating hate and discrimination against certain persons because of their sexual preferences or their choice of life. Can someone give me a comment on how to deal with this
In response to Camilla
I do agree with you about the importance of not promoting one faith, there should be up to every person to decide in what or in who to believe. And the schools should create opportunities for the students to find their own view of life.
But when it comes to how life started and where we come from in the beginning of time, I am convinced that the theory of evolution must be the way to explain that. But that will happen in the classes of science and not to be mixed up with religion.
I get really scared when a (former) candidate to the post as vice president for the US believes that the woman was made from a rib from Adam and that dinosaurs lived on earth 4000 years ago…
Hi everyone!
I have read thru this forum and hope I can give you my view of the teaching of religion in school because I am a teacher of religion. I work in a multi cultural school and in my classes I got children between 12 and 14 years old an they are, Christians (catholic, ortodox and protestant), muslims, hindu and buddhist. I have not yet ad a Jew in class but I think it is just a matter of time. I try to give them an idea of the history of religion. I go back to the very beginning, to the ancient african, american and european religions. I want to make them see how alike the different religions are. How they explain the birth of the world and the beginning of man kind.
Then I continue with their religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity have all the same beginning. The Exodus is the beginning of all three of them. Then I try to explain to them with the help of the Moske, church and synsgog in the neiborhood that the idea of each religion is practicly the same with some differences. Most of the difference between the religions, man has made up after Jesus´and Muhammeds death.
I usually explain the hoístorical parts and then we discuss the different religions idea. What is their morals? What does the religion want? What is good and bad?
I try to give them some input of all the major religions in the world. Hopefully they leave my class a little bit more informed and tolerant.
Hi everyone!
I agree with the teaching of religion in schools as a way to learn about different religions.
Whether we want it or not, religion is an integral component of our culture and since nowadays at least in Italy classes have become really multicultural, the teaching of different religions could be very useful for integration.
I think that religion hour could be positive.
More than other matters it could be an important chance of dialogue and reflection about universal values.
On this subject, the teaching of only Catholic religion in my opinion stress in the negative a division between Catholic and all others indistinctly.
Instead students getting to know different religions could be found common aspects and values to share.
For example, there is a 'Golden Rule' that say 'Do not do to others what you wouldn't want others to do to you' that is present in many religions.
In response to Emilia
I think that the answer to your question is that children are taught Swedish law and equal rights along with religion so tha tthey know what is accepted in Sweden. I remember having a discussion about those things in school.
Interesting discussion!
Religion has an important place in school, to prevent prejudices and fear for other cultures. I live in a small town where it take time for people to accept different cultures. The school is the right place to learn and understand the different values and traditions of religions.
The teacher's task is to inform the students not lead them to a specific religion. A professional teacher knows how to avoid influnce his/her students.
In response to Mika
Hey mate!
I fully understand your arguments that school should not interfere with our personal beliefs.
In Belgium, where I have lived for more than 10 years, children are free from school every Wednesday afternoon for "religious instruction". This way, the parents can decide where to send their children for religious education (the nuns, the mosque or the synagogue). Many children just go home though (and parents have to solve the problem of who will take care of their children that afternoon). In Belgian schools they teach "Ethics", not "Religion", just as you suggest.
When I went to school in Sweden in the 70s, we weren't taught "Religion" but "Christianity". For the final year before graduation, we had to choose between "Philosophy" and "Psychology" (a rather strange choice)! I am glad that this has changed.
In a multicultural society like Sweden, I think that it is utterly important that all students leave school with a good understanding of all the world religions (plus Buddhism, if this is not a religion, as you say, Mika).
For an enhanced cohesion of our society, I also think that it would be wise to give days off from school during the Moslem holiday of Eid al Fitr (end of the fasting month of Ramadan) and the Jewish Yom Kippur (the day of Atonement). This would also be an excellent opportunity for every school to focus on that religion, in line with classes given before Christmas and Easter (the Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox way).
Someone in the forum mentioned that some Muslim parents didn't allow their children in church at the end of the term. In my perfect world, those parents and the head master who accepted this should have been forced into religion class!!! :-) You must in fact embrace Judaism and Christianity in order to be a Muslim, so going to church can never be a problem for a Muslim! World politics in the Middle East make this matter complicated, and extremists would perhaps say something different. However, this is the mainstream belief!
Another aspect which should be addressed is the maturity of children, which varies of course. Personally I would have appreciated a crash course in religion at the age of 30 instead of 13.
Conclusion
Education on different religions: yes. Education in order to influence the students' individual spirituality: no.
All the best,
Stefan
In response to Gunilla
Hi Gunilla! I like very much your approach to teaching religion in school. I think that all education systems should follow it, mainly nowadays because of globalisation and immigration. By this way, we can guarantee an equal respect for students with different cultural and religious heritage. Besides, I think that it is suitable to the purpose of school, which should provide the basics of different fields of knowledge along with the education on the fundamental principles, like the respect for every culture.
The education system shouldn’t have any influence on ideological or religious feelings of students. Everyone has the right to develop an independent thought on life, through personal experiences.
I think that if we start from this point of view, the teaching of religion in schools won’t be a problem any more. We have to think of it as a matter that can be taught only with an historical, philosophical and scientific method.
Therefore, its subject could be the study of the history of religion, the comparative study of religion, the relationships with the State, and so on… without introducing anything that could interfere with the individual religious choices.
In this way, the teaching of religion could become one of the preferred instruments that could provide full understanding of the meaning of “reciprocal respect”, which is the base for a pacific and ordered cohabitation; and it could become one of the most favoured matters of students because of its attractive and fascination.
Even a country like Italy, where there is a high influence of Catholic Church on this theme, a reform should be adopted because of the crucial role of the school in a multicultural and secular State on encouraging the dialogue between different religions for real integration.
A central part of this discussion, which I believe has been left out, is the relation between religion and society. Religions are not based on a scientific method, which all the other school subjects are. This gives school an excellent opportunity to stress this difference. Science is a method based on scepticism; this is why science appears paradigmatic. Religions, on the other hand, are based on the lack of scepticism. This knowledge together with knowledge about different religions gives the students ability to value and reflect. I also believe that it is important to show how versatile the influence of religions is, and why it has appeared stronger and weaker in different times. It is also important to discuss why our society is more secular today, and that it still is based on values grounded in different religions; we are still socialized into different religious notions. The school subject religion is so much more than just the different religions.
In response to Jörgen
I agree, we in most western countries live in a secular religious society. But in many countries around the world people do not. The state desides how and what they should believe in. Which religions they are aloud to participate in.
We also have to remember that about nine hundred years ago, before we became Chritians, we also had a secular society. I completetly diffrent one from today, with other values than the Christian. Even if we are secular, much of our "conscience" come from our religious beliefe.
Almost every time a people become sceptic about their religion another one takes its place. In this secular world of today it is science.
In response to Jörgen
Hi!
I agree with you when you say that “religion” is not based on a scientific method. It involves a personal approach about the faith: believing or not in “something” that you can’t see or touch, believing or not in the life after the life, also by following the notions given by a specific religion… These are private thoughts, which can’t be neither judged nor taught.
On the contrary, I think that “the teaching of religion (in school)” should be based on a scientific method.
If the meaning of the teaching of religion in school was still to influence the individual idea about the sense of life (maybe, by examining it by the viewpoint of only one specific religion), well, I think that it couldn’t be included into the public education system. I think, this is the aim of religious institutions, who can more properly provide it outside the school.
Just because “religion” is not a science, we must give to its “teaching” a suitable purpose that is conform to those of a public school. School should be based on a scientific method and should give the basics of the values of life without interfering with individual ideological choices, mainly in a secular State, who should be impartial towards different religions and guarantee the dialogue between them, also by starting from the school.
Therefore, I think that “the teaching of religion” can be kept in school, only if it is considered by a scientific, historical, and philosophical approach.
Then the content of this kind of school-matter could be the study of the history of religion, the comparative study of religion, the relationships with the State, the analysis of the role of religion in different times on society, and so on… So, the same, I think, you have highlighted as the main subjects of the discussion and that can give the students ability to value and reflect.
Hi, my name is Sara Beck from Sweden. I will be writing about the teaching of religion in schools and here is a summary on my ideas.
During history the role of the subject Religion has undergone a change. It has changed from being a subject where students were taught about Christianity and the Bible, to a subject that instead helps the pupils develop their ability to understand and reflect over oneself, one’s life and surroundings and develop a preparedness for acting with responsibility.
One of the aims of the subject is to give the pupils a deeper understanding regarding the Swedish society and its values which are based on Christian traditions. At the same time the Swedish education act clearly states that the education has to be scientific and not based on belief. When writing the education act there were many discussions regarding the words “in accordance with the ethics borne by Christian tradition”. But this is merely a way of confirming what values should be reflected, and in no way that Christianity should be prominent.
Religion is an important subject as students learn about different cultures and traditions. Pupils can through their new knowledge develop their respect, tolerance and faith in equal value of people.
On the other hand, the subject may also deepen the insight on differences between cultures and religions, which could instead lead to contempt. It is essential that the teacher is a good leader and can answer to ideas that doesn’t comply with common values but at the same time allow discussions in order to hear different views.
It is also good for pupils to understand the relationship between society and religion throughout different periods in history, as well as different places around the world. Religious beliefs, or rather, differences in beliefs have played a major role in conflicts throughout the world and still does.
The teaching of religion in schools should be equally distributed between the major world religions. It should not be focused mainly on the home-counties official religion, because school is a place for objective learning.
By introducing all students to all religions and also to atheism the sense of feeling discriminated should be avoided. This also gives a good insight in other peoples lives and what values they have and how those affect the way they are.
I also think that cultural teaching should be integrated in the subject as religion and culture both affect the way people lead their lives. We live in a globalize world so it is important to understand other people. For example, some Muslim women do not want to shake hands with males although that is the common western way to great one another. Perhaps a greater knowledge would lead to greater tolerance and perhaps facilitate integration.
Personal belief should not be discussed. The subject should only provide the students with relevant information so that if they feel inspired they could explore their religion of choice further on their free time, by for example joining a religious organisation.
I agree that schools should not be interfere with the students own spiritualism but focus on teaching facts about religions, its history and the differences between them.
The teachers job is to teach objectively,and let the students have their own beliefs.
I believe it's important to learn about the worlds different religions to be able to understand how religion effects different society's. Just because religion is very connected with culture.
And as said before the teaching of religion leads to greater understanding and tolerance among people.
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