[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Anaesthesia

See. I am adopted, and my parents had to promise to have me baptised, which they did. My late father always believed in the value in talking; I was well versed in philosophy from a very young age, we frequently talked about reality and superstition, and faith. And I 100% believe in the power of faith.

So in place of teaching sectarian religion, could we not just put philosophy on the curriculum? 30 years on I still regularly ponder cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am...yet there is real strength in a shared energy of faith.

I think kids would benefit greatly from being shown how to think for themselves.

There was obviously never any pressure on me to indoctrinate my children into a religion, yet I have encouraged them to be spiritual. And above all, to THINK.

It's worked with one of them, the other is a complete idiot :P

..your dad sounds a bit like mine was Anaesthesia, he always used to say things like 'there are many truths', because if I had a strong opinion n something..he would give me another 'truth' or a few other truths, in the different ways and perspectives that things can be looked at, which are all needed to form opinions, I personally think/if that makes sense..and yes, talking/communication was the most important thing to him and I think of anyone that I have ever known in my life...(obviously I could be biased here..)...he was the least judgemental and without prejudice person....dads are great, eh...

..anyays, philosophy is taught in school, not only in entire lessons but also stretching across other lessons as well and very much in RE lessons...but things like Art..?...paintings and art works are discussed..what are they thinking in that painting/what were the artist's thoughts/what do you think and are what are you seeing.../feelings emotions etc and many things that are then applied to themselves and their own friendships/environment/any problems they may have etc....so there is very much philosophy in schools, right from primary school....

...on the topic of banning religion in schools, I personally don't generally believe in 'ban' or 'taboo' as an answer to anything..because it's all information and people/children should have access to information and especially in schools, which will give a balance of information/of different religions and cultures....with a worry of indoctrination, well surely without that balance offered in school, indoctrination could be more likely to happen, if a child was only offered one influence, the family home one...there again, it's all offering information for children to make educated and informed decisions in their lives, is all...maybe some schools do indoctrinate but very many don't...we tend to fear things that we don't understand/as humans, so taking an understanding away in banning, would just for me increase fears/increase prejudice/increase intolerance..rather than it be a solution to anything....

...the burqa...yes, I think that school uniform policy for children should be applied to all and that's something that is agreed by a parent in a home/school agreement when they make their school choice...the school also obviously has to make it clear in their policy that it's not an acceptable code of dress...