Should Atheism Be Taught in School?

In an borough of the United Kingdom, educators have decided to included Atheism as part of the school's teaching curriculum. Should this be taught in schools?

relijournal.com...

lesson #1: Don't beleive in God... ok we're done.

atheism isnt any kind of concept, it just the absence of belief in god. whats to teach?

I can't imagine why this would be done. God has neither been proved nor disproved so I can't begin imagine what they will tell the kids. I cringe at the thought. Leave God out of the classroom.

Yeah, that's all kids at a young age need to learn about from school: nothing. Okay well there is one thing, confusion, because they will also teach faiths alongside this, so...

There is a God.
There is no god.
There are many Gods.
There is no god.

Child: EENIE MEANIE MINEY MOE....!

Wonderful lesson right there. Way to go, "educators."

Educators have agreed to continue to teach about the main six religions in the world (Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism) but the lessons will also include this new part too.

Yes. If you're allowed to learn about all of the religions, from a factual/historical standpoint without getting "preached" to about a specific one, you should be allowed to hear about the scientific viewpoint from a factual standpoint.

We can all tell where you stand on this, given the link you provided. Letting 'our' kids learn about the horrible and demonic blasphemers shouldn't be allowed in school. You don't even need to follow the rules of ATS and provide your own opinion and add substance to your post, it's OK.

Atheism is a theistic (religious) belief. Therefore there should be no indoctrination into any belief.

No, no, no!! Keep your sh!tty arguments out of schools. Science, history, math, English, etc. should be taught in school. Even mythology should be taught in school as it is important to certain parts of history such as Roman history but NO religion, no atheism.

Keep both of that crap out of the school. The last thing we need are our kids debating about a topic that is absolutely pointless because it's a personal thing - you believe, then you believe, you don't, then you don't. It is THAT simple.

We should refocus on the importance of math and science, legitimate debates than waste-of-time topics like atheism vs religion.

Originally posted by DesertDweller
Atheism is a theistic (religious) belief. Therefore there should be no indoctrination into any belief.

Theism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists.[1][2] In a more specific sense, theism refers to a doctrine concerning the nature of a monotheistic God and God's relationship to the universe.[3][4]

en.wikipedia.org...

A - theism is the absence of theism. It's in the name! Do you just make these things up?

School should be reading, writing and math and hard sciences. Everything else is pretty much an opinion, and has no place in public school.

'Theology' should be taught, as an elective!

If you teach one religion, then you must teach them all!

Originally posted by jessejamesxx
A - theism is the absence of theism. It's in the name! Do you just make these things up?

edit on 8-4-2011 by jessejamesxx because: (no reason given)

Don't mean to be a stickler, but technically, it's not the "absence" of theism. That would just be no belief in any god. Atheism is a belief that God does not exist. I know it's just semantics, but there is a difference.

reply to post by scojak
- No belief in any god.
- God does not exist.

Atheism isn't the belief that "God" doesn't exist. It's that there are no gods or higher powers. To me, that equals "No belief in any god". It's not targeted at the Christian/Islamic/Judaic god, it's all of them.. any other mythological entities as well.

It is semantics, and in my opinion, not really worth arguing about.

Originally posted by jessejamesxx
Atheism isn't the belief that "God" doesn't exist. It's that there are no gods or higher powers.

That's fine. I was merely talking about the difference between "the absence of a belief in God" and "the belief of the absence of God", not the definition of God.

reply to post by scojak

"the absence of a belief in God"
"the belief of the absence of God"

Anyhow, the definition of humanism is as follows;

Philosophy . a variety of ethical theory and practice that emphasizes reason, scientific inquiry, and human fulfillment in the natural world and often rejects the importance of belief in god.

Which isn't the same thing as the "belief of the absence of God"

Originally posted by jessejamesxx
humanism rejects the importance of belief in god. Which isn't the same thing as the "belief of the absence of God"

Once again, that's fine. I was merely talking about the difference between your definition of "a-theism" as "the absence of theism" or "the absence of a belief in God" and the actual definition of atheism as "the belief of the absence of God"...or gods or higher powers...not the definition of humanism.

Originally posted by AdamsMurmur
Yeah, that's all kids at a young age need to learn about from school: nothing.

Okay well there is one thing, confusion, because they will also teach faiths alongside this, so...

There is a God.
There is no god.
There are many Gods.
There is no god.

Child: EENIE MEANIE MINEY MOE....!

Wonderful lesson right there. Way to go, "educators."

edit on 8/4/11 by AdamsMurmur because: (no reason given)

Is that not the very nature of life? There is not really any right or wrong, just what your experience tells you is correct?

Perhaps this is the best lesson to teach our children, life is not always fair or equal. If we all grew up trying to understand each others point of view would the world be a better place right now?

The only way to teach Atheism is to not teach religion... DUH!

God beliefs nor non-belief of God - - - belongs in any school.

Unless it is an elective class on religion and non-belief.

Is this some kind of way to keep God in schools? By adding a counter?

It's easy without theism atheism wouldn't exist.

Atheism has become a thing when people decided that religious absurdities should be confronted instead of subjected to.

Christians just cant understand the no belief in religion has to be filled by something. Atheists are just fine with the concept of no religion or being with supreme power.