RE Should It Be Taught
 

Well it isnt taught in France so should it be taught here

Fantastic idea to debate there Mutya.

This should be in "Serious Debates" - the mods will move it, I'm sure.

No, because I don't believe in any of that rubbish at all.

It's like learning something that may or may not be true.

What's the point?

Yes, because it helps you to understand other cultures

but if it wasnt taught would there be more racism

I defintely think so. It teaches you about new cultures from a young age and it was one of my favourite subjects in primary school. Its certainly a useful subject, and very well help people choose their own path of faith.

And if they teach the theory of evolution and the big bang - why not other theories about how we came to be? It only seems fair!

I think it definitely should be taught.

I develops compassion and empathy, and broadens awareness of other cultures.

how?

R.E. isn't just about religion now. It's mainly philosophy and ethics from year 9 onwards and covers topics such as abortion and euthanasia. R.E. gives us a better understanding of the world around us and could give us good guidance if we had life issues or other problems.

Wheres sunshine surely he has some ideas considering hes french

Nope, I'm not interested in it, I'm Atheist, well i have been for a few months, so RE doesn't really intrest me.

i do prefer the ethics topics to the philosophy

Religious Studies should be compulsary up until year 11 and then an option at A Level.

It has always been my favourite subject since I started studying it.
It opens your mind so much at A Level.

Religious Studies as lower levels give you the opportunity to view other cultures and other religions.
Religions is such huge part of everyone's life now whether they realise it or not. Being ignorant of other's beliefs is awful and RE gives you this chance to see how other people live their lives and why they believe in what they believe. With countries being multi-cultural now, and the numbers of people with different religions to the country is increased, it is so important that we are all aware of different religions.

At A Level, it is based on Philosophy of Religion and the Ethics, but other religions are included when looking at life after death for example.
The Philosophy side of it gives you the chance to see why were are here and gives you a wider knowledge of different philosphers views on life. Some believe that what we were seeing is all an illusion and only when we are smart enough to realise that what we are seeing is an illusion can we really see the perfect world.
It's so interesting and gives you an insight into the "meaning of life".

When you are look at the ethic side, every day there is an example of ethics and once again it's important that people are aware of these things. Like abortion, euthanasia, the current situation with the Mum who wants her daughter to have her womb taken away. Human rights, different people's views on abortion and there are different judgements such as utilitarianism, determinism, situtationists, absolutists, all of these have different views on abortion.

Religious Studies also helps you to understand on a deeper level what you believe in.

Currently at my school is is being taught from year 7 until year 9, then it become an option at GCSE, then of course an option at A Level, but from next year onwards they are not going to be offering it at A Level and I will be arranging a meeting with our principal because I feel so strongly that A Level should at least be an option at A Level.
I honestly would not have known what to do if I couldn't have done it at A Level.

I definitely thinkt that RE should be taught and feel it should be compulsary.
I, myself, am not a strong believer in God and don't go to church etc, you do not have to be a religious person to enjoy RE.

it is isnt it

Not in my school, I explained it a bit further down in my post if you read on :)

I think it should be taught, not only does it teach about religion, it is also about morals and ethics, and there are a lot of interesting discussions and debates over things like abortion, marriage, euthanasia, drugs etc. It can educate people on things like that as well as just religion. At least that's how it is here, I'm not sure how it is taught anywhere else and if it is only about religion or not. I think it helps you to be more open-minded about things, at least it helped me to.

I'm not even that religious, I don't pray often, I rarely go to church, but I enjoyed the subject.

Maybe it should be offered as an optional subject as well as not everyone is interested in religion.

I don't think it would change matters of racism. But there would probably be more ignorance demonstrated, such as one calling another one's beliefs "rubbish" just because they personally don't believe in them.

well aint that against the law

Depends on your religion my religion is catholic so we have to do RE.

No, I don't think so.
I don't think my school are acting illegaly.

R.E. is compulsory for all schools in the UK, so any school not doing it will probably get into trouble. I'm doing R.E. GCSE long course. It's really fun!

I go to a private school so that will probably make some difference.
My school do actually teach RE, it's not like people aren't educated in the subject.
I don't think it's changed in 3 years, but when I was in the 3rd year, I was given the option of whether to take RE as GCSE or not, the same as everyone else in my year.
Then again there was the option of taking it for A Level.

I do religion. I am doing it for my leaving cert. it's a great subject and its not all about gob and heaven. We learn about other cultures, religions and about myths, legends. Its brilliant.

Most RE lessons at school the class have very heated discussions on different life situations and we have a good laugh. The teacher is brilliant and likes a good gossip with the girls so it's quite a relaxed lesson really.

Most people make out that RE is an easy subject which annoys me.

RE is fairly easy most of the time, to get a good grade you have to give your side of the argument, describe the other side of the arguement and conclude the work. I'm predicted an 'A' for RE.