reply to post by Yarcofin
I would argue that teaching about religions which are still practiced in modernity would be more important than teaching about dead religions.
Partially because the children will be growing up in a world side-by-side with people who DO practice religion, and regardless of how silly you or
they may think religion is, the reality is that it will shape their world. 9/11 was carried out by religious fundamentalists. Don't you think it
important for students to understand not just the political, but the religious motivations behind such an atrocity?
Not to mention that, again, many of the currently practiced religions have been around to shape the human experience since antiquity. Understanding
their beliefs is a key part of understanding historical events which were perpetuated for religious reasons, or guided by the beliefs of religious
adherents.
dave420:
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It's very easy. I had classes called 'Religious Education' that taught what each major religion believed. None of it was phrased as fact - simply
"Christians believe in Christ... blah blah..." "Jewish folks don't..." etc. Nothing scary.
Unfortunately, I'm not as optimistic. I've seen too many horror stories of biology/science teachers basically preach the gospel in the classroom
while uttering Evolution only in disdain. If we have problems separating education from indoctrination in a science classroom (where religion has NO
place), then I remain dubious as to how effective we'll be able to keep it out of a class which deals with studying religion. Especially if the
teacher is a fundamentalist believer in one of the religions they are supposed to be objectively teaching.