With so much conflict going on in the world I think we have a duty to understand other religions and cultures. Also, lots of kids get no religious knowledge or debate, so could never make an informed choice of their own. If you want to follow your own religion, that's a different thing and should be done outside school hours, but general studying of religion is essential, I think.

If families relocate to another country a bit of research into how the schools operate wouldn't go amiss :shrug:

Essential why?

I think Ireland should adopt the approach Catholic primary schools have taken they follow the catholic ethos in school time and touch on different faiths and those of non faith to promote diversity, communion and confirmation lessons are taken outside of school hours, I really don't see why this couldn't work in Irish schools.

primary Schools in Britain you mean? Honestly I just don't believe Religion (any religion) has any place in the education system at all

Well it might just save you from having your head whipped off or blown up, seriously though , I think kids should be taught about religions ,at least then they can decide what path they want to follow, if they want to follow any

I disagree, while religion exists, it's important to know and learn about other faiths as it is part of understanding cultural differences and living together in peace, ignorance of other faiths causes more problems than it fixes


And yes I meant in the UK, auto correct on iPad is so annoying

I'm sure they'll see all that stuff on the news...

What do you mean decide what path to follow? Kids are in school to get an education

ask yourself this

if no parent breathed a word about religion to their children and there were no religious schools

what would quickly happen to religion?

Both my daughters are in secondary school, and both have to take the compulsory RE GCSE, i think it's good for them as it teaches them religions from around the world, as well as Buddhism (which is a philosophy not a religion), they're both enjoying it and the exam is based more on personal opinion than a right or wrong answer, which is what religion is....it's a personal opinion.

Missionary's (people not the position :hee:

Yeah it's considered part of social studies and is useful if you go on to do a degree in social care or social work

I meant that people who knew the Quran in the hostage cases were freed, and their life spared but I was being a bit flippant :hehe: I mean kids could chose whether or what religion they were interested in or chose not to believe,if they knew what different religions entailed .

I'm possibly one of the few who finds religion fascinating:laugh:*waits for the **** storm*

If Religion was taught as a proper subject rather than an indoctrination exercise then how would people decide which one was right? I'm actually quite curious to know that actually lol

They would just be taught what different religions believe and follow , some kids might say "What a load of tosh" and be an atheist /agnostic , some kids might be interested in a certain religion and want to follow it ,I always found Religious education interesting at school, but I know others didn't , like LT:hehe:

Me too Rubymoo :wavey:

Yes but how would they decide which religion was the correct one though?

Well whichever religion they chose would be the right one for them.

So there's no one true religion then? So why have religions at all if any of them will do?

Because a lot of trouble in the world comes down to differences in religious thought. If you understand why there are differences you've got a better handle on the situation. I don't mean kids should be indoctrinated, but given the facts. And like I said before, if you don't know anything about a religion how can you come to the conclusion that you don't believe it?

Well I obviously think Christianity is the true religion , but others believe their choice of religion is , that is why there is conflict, I don't however hold anything against anyone of a different religion or even those who don't believe .

Then make sociology or politics compulsory subjects? :shrug:

Seems to me the more religious people get the less tolerant they become of other religions. I like your sig btw, didn't know you were an Orwell fan.

What a great subject RE was. 50 minutes of watching DVD's every lesson.