[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by GoldHeart

I know Athieism isn't a belief but I'm saying if parents are atheists it doesn't always mean the kids will stay NON religious.

Nothing wrong with teaching Religious Education in schools as long as it's taught properly, when you're being taught in schools unless it's a Catholic school etc I can't imagine them teaching it as "fact" . They never did that when I was at school , it was more a case of this is what it says and you make your minds up .

Even when kids showed disinterest or said they don't believe ,the teacher wouldn't challenge the student ,it was just a response of " well if you don't believe it ok ,I'm just telling you the story " etc .



However I think RE exams were extremely difficult back then , and I wonder what point of view they wanted people to use . Maybe religious studies are different today.

Well like I said 90+% of state schools here are Catholic ethos plus they gave priority to kids who were baptised (which has literally only just been made illegal to do this year) It's a funny one because like i said the schools in Ireland were all set up by the Catholic Church which is why they've got their grip still on there however they're now paid for by tax payers so there's the conflict. Non denominational schools are few and far between so you'd end up having to travel and the kids not wanting to do that because they'll want friends in the area etc etc and logistically it's a nightmare so people were literally baptising their kids to get them into schools and then they had to go to religion class which isn't a fact based class it's further indoctrination. Both my kids are in Secondary school now so the last couple of years I've been putting N/A on the part where it asks what religion they are just to see if anyone would say anything but they haven't

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Well like I said 90+% of state schools here are Catholic ethos plus they gave priority to kids who were baptised (which has literally only just been made illegal to do this year) It's a funny one because like i said the schools in Ireland were all set up by the Catholic Church which is why they've got their grip still on there however they're now paid for by tax payers so there's the conflict. Non denominational schools are few and far between so you'd end up having to travel and the kids not wanting to do that because they'll want friends in the area etc etc and logistically it's a nightmare so people were literally baptising their kids to get them into schools and then they had to go to religion class which isn't a fact based class it's further indoctrination. Both my kids are in Secondary school now so the last couple of years I've been putting N/A on the part where it asks what religion they are just to see if anyone would say anything but they haven't

Well like I said you can't do anything about that if it's a religious school obviously they'll
be teaching things a certain way , I'm forgetting you're in Ireland with alot of Catholic schools plus they have stricter rules.

If you put N/A they might just ask your kids surely?? .

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by GoldHeart

Well like I said you can't do anything about that if it's a religious school obviously they'll
be teaching things a certain way , I'm forgetting you're in Ireland with alot of Catholic schools plus they have stricter rules.

If you put N/A they might just ask your kids surely?? .

No they've never asked my kids.

In regards to Catholic schools, I think in the UK that religious ethos schools are privately run where as here they're state run so every tax payer is funding them no matter what religion they are which is unfair imo state and schools should be separate

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

No they've never asked my kids.

In regards to Catholic schools, I think in the UK that religious ethos schools are privately run where as here they're state run so every tax payer is funding them no matter what religion they are which is unfair imo state and schools should be separate

No there are definitely Catholic state run schools (both primary schools and high-schools) in the UK. Not sure about other faiths. They're outnumbered by non-denominational schools by quite a big margin but they do exist, I think the only real difference between state and private religious ethos schools is that if they're state run, they can't refuse to take people of other religions / no religion and have to cater for them (by allowing them not to go to religious assemblies / church etc. and making alternative arrangements).

Most state schools are technically not non-religious... They're classed as non-denominational Christian (but exclusively have services with Church of England / Church of Scotland leanings). Even these days. There's not a huge focus on it but they do church services and the nativity etc. at Christmas is taught more as "history" than as "myths and legends"... Certainly for the first few years of Primary school at least, my daughter was confused as to why we didn't consider the Baby Jesus stories to be real or literal, when school was teaching them that way (I.e. Jesus WAS the son of God, an angel DID visit them, etc)

[Redway]

Bumpity-bump,

I did say at the time that I liked Catholic Churches just for the whole aesthetic surrounding it but that was the start and end of it. Beyond that and one or two other things I’m not a fan of what Catholics do in the church.