Religion Should Be Taught In Public Schools.... WHAT?!?!?!?

Yes, you heard it, more like read it, I believe Religion should be taught in public schools.
Before people start assuming I am implying students should be indoctrinated to receive the dogmas of the respective religion as truths, no. In fact, I believe teaching religion would prevent from brainwashing and add another intellectual defense against the such.

This is my proposition:
Teach the major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc.
Teach the history of each religion. Teach how it came to be. Teach what they accept as truth and why and how that acceptance came to be. Teach from the perspective of outside looking in.

There will be a fine line between teaching and preaching (brain washing), and it's sad there is a possibility that only a handful of people will be able to fit the job description. This is partly due to society's sensitive, and sometimes volatile, outlook on religion which is due to a lack of competence on the matter that is perpetuated by this culture of prideful ignorance. I am part of that culture of personality, but I do not want anymore of this, for myself and others.

Religion is, and always been, a big part of mankind and society, whether positive or negative. Why should we deter new generations the opportunity that previous generations on a macro level deferred, which is to learn from a pragmatic, unbiased perspective?

Thoughts?

yeah let's teach kids that ignorance is the way of the future. brilliant!

Originally posted by Donahue
yeah let's teach kids that ignorance is the way of the future. brilliant!

The post said nothing along these lines. It would be wise, to read the entire post, to see what the OP meant.

I think it's a really great idea, but unfortunately it's kind of unrealistic to think that someone could teach people about religion without having some kind of bias. Sad truth.

Originally posted by DelayedChristmas
This is my proposition:
Teach the major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc.
Teach the history of each religion. Teach how it came to be. Teach what they accept as truth and why and how that acceptance came to be. Teach from the perspective of outside looking in.

To what end?
That is a lot of wasted development time.

If kids want to learn about Religion, then they should be directed to ask their parents.

OP-Agreed, 'teaching' the different religions will actually show them how they are similar, ie christians and muslims, and how they differ ....uhm, ....don't have much. Seriously though, I was raised to respect all religions, whether I agreed or not, and to make up my own mind. This is only done through education....If a child only experience one set of beliefs, that is what they will choose and reject all else because they know no different....However, if a child is taught why a catholic believes what they believe and their history against a Taoist and their history, they might find greater contentment in life.

Originally posted by Sovaka

Originally posted by DelayedChristmas
This is my proposition:
Teach the major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc.
Teach the history of each religion. Teach how it came to be. Teach what they accept as truth and why and how that acceptance came to be. Teach from the perspective of outside looking in.

To what end?
That is a lot of wasted development time.

If kids want to learn about Religion, then they should be directed to ask their parents.

Really, more bloodshed has been caused by religious wars than anything else....How is learning about this stuff a waste of time....and what makes their parents the 'go to source'?

Originally posted by missflowers
I think it's a really great idea, but unfortunately it's kind of unrealistic to think that someone could teach people about religion without having some kind of bias. Sad truth.

edit on 19-12-2012 by missflowers because: reasons

Sorry, I have faith in a power above me, i don't adhere to an orthodox organization, I have learned that there is good and bad in all groups, and seriously, they aren't that far apart......I think that is the real lesson, that a religion is focused on making the people better, ie, Jews, don't eat pork, because back in the day it was a diseased product and through religion, most effective way to save the people from disease.

There are a lot of people that have the same ideals that have faith but not orthodox.

Everyone has heard the story of three blind men feeling a part of an elephant......That is how I see God, each society has a different take on it....doesn't mean they are totally right or totally wrong....it is a matter of perspective and associating a higher power with what man can associate with.

reply to post by pointr97


If you don't learn about it, then you have no bias as to create war based on mythology.
Enough wars are started by immediate history alone, let alone religious beliefs.

Originally posted by Sovaka
reply to post by pointr97

 

If you don't learn about it, then you have no bias as to create war based on mythology.
Enough wars are started by immediate history alone, let alone religious beliefs.

I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about....If you don't learn about it....so you are saying that youth will not learn about religion if not taught in school?

Originally posted by missflowers
I think it's a really great idea, but unfortunately it's kind of unrealistic to think that someone could teach people about religion without having some kind of bias. Sad truth.

edit on 19-12-2012 by missflowers because: reasons

Yeah, I mentioned in my post that there may be only a select few competent to teach this topic. It doesn't have to be that way, though. Maybe we are suffering the repercussions of past brain washed generations, but who doesn't love a good fight?

reply to post by pointr97


I'm saying there is more than enough being taught in school, some of which is useless.

If kids want to or if parents want their kids to know about religion, then it is up to them to provide the information.

There is ZERO reason to teach it in schools.

will edit later

The problem is, with No Child Left Behind and all the "teaching to the test" that's going on, there's no room for any humanities subjects such as this. Our kids are so far behind in the basics that they don't have time for these subject. Their math and science levels are so low, they could use additional years in these subjects then what they already have. Diversion into less "important" subjects will only put them further behind.

Until education is fixed, there's no room or justification for options like this. Until they fix the horrendous problems out there, we can't add anything else to the mix.

When the schools learn that overloading the administrator end of education isn't working and put more people in the classroom to reduce class sizes, spend the educational funding on books instead of office space for assistants to the assistant to the secretary of the assistant director below the assistant superintendent. It's outright ridiculous. Some school districts have an administrator for every 4 teachers. Can you imagine??

I remember the days when there was one superintendent, a secretary and maybe two or three more people at a district office. There was a principal, a secretary and a counselor in a school, sometimes an assistant if it was a large school and that was it. The rest were teachers, teacher aids and support staff (custodians, cooks, bus drivers). It wasn't overloaded with administrators and actual education took place.

If we were back in that situation, then the major religions could be addressed. Oh wait, they were back then. I remember discussing them in high school social studies. We did explore all the major religions and we were in a tiny little rural school in the bible belt. It was ok because we knew that we are looking at them from a subjective standpoint, to understand them, to study them, not to adhere to them.

We just can't do that these days because there aren't enough teachers because there's not enough money to pay them due to all the money being spoken for already by the 38 administrators where there used to be 4 or 5.

I look forward to the day when the pendulum swings back the other way and we're able to educate our children again instead of doing little more than prepare them to take a single multiple choice test then turn them loose in the world.

Originally posted by Sovaka
reply to post by pointr97

 

I'm saying there is more than enough being taught in school, some of which is useless.

If kids want to or if parents want their kids to know about religion, then it is up to them to provide the information.

There is ZERO reason to teach it in schools.

I'm sorry, but totally disagree, ignorance of our societal differences is what cause conflict.....If more christians knew that muslims considered christians a wayward brother in history, we might not see them as such an enemy....of if we were taught what christians did during the crusades to the muslims, we might be a bit more ashamed of our actions and not so quick to attack them. Ignorance of religious differences is worse than an ignorance of gravity standing on the edge of a tall building, that ignorance will only effect you.

You guys ever heard of comparative religion, comparative mythology, comparative mysticism, religious studies? Yeah those subjects should be taught in high school. People are ignorant of these fields and that is a big, big, BIG problem.

www.sfgate.com...

Originally posted by pointr97
I'm sorry, but totally disagree, ignorance of our societal differences is what cause conflict.....If more christians knew that muslims considered christians a wayward brother in history, we might not see them as such an enemy....of if we were taught what christians did during the crusades to the muslims, we might be a bit more ashamed of our actions and not so quick to attack them. Ignorance of religious differences is worse than an ignorance of gravity standing on the edge of a tall building, that ignorance will only effect you.

This shows just how ignorant you are on the subject.
It isn't religious teachings (or lack thereof) that causes these tensions.

The reason why the Western world sees Muslims as enemies is because that is how the Government and their Media arms want them to be portrayed.

I should hope that you have seen many many articles around the web that actually show Christians, Islamics and Muslims all embracing each other as a people and respecting their different opinions and beliefs.

It is not for the lack of education... Is it due to the demonizing by the Western Governments and Media.

Originally posted by L8RT8RZ
The problem is, with No Child Left Behind and all the "teaching to the test" that's going on, there's no room for any humanities subjects such as this. Our kids are so far behind in the basics that they don't have time for these subject. Their math and science levels are so low, they could use additional years in these subjects then what they already have. Diversion into less "important" subjects will only put them further behind.

Until education is fixed, there's no room or justification for options like this. Until they fix the horrendous problems out there, we can't add anything else to the mix.

When the schools learn that overloading the administrator end of education isn't working and put more people in the classroom to reduce class sizes, spend the educational funding on books instead of office space for assistants to the assistant to the secretary of the assistant director below the assistant superintendent. It's outright ridiculous. Some school districts have an administrator for every 4 teachers. Can you imagine??

I remember the days when there was one superintendent, a secretary and maybe two or three more people at a district office. There was a principal, a secretary and a counselor in a school, sometimes an assistant if it was a large school and that was it. The rest were teachers, teacher aids and support staff (custodians, cooks, bus drivers). It wasn't overloaded with administrators and actual education took place.

If we were back in that situation, then the major religions could be addressed. Oh wait, they were back then. I remember discussing them in high school social studies. We did explore all the major religions and we were in a tiny little rural school in the bible belt. It was ok because we knew that we are looking at them from a subjective standpoint, to understand them, to study them, not to adhere to them.

We just can't do that these days because there aren't enough teachers because there's not enough money to pay them due to all the money being spoken for already by the 38 administrators where there used to be 4 or 5.

I look forward to the day when the pendulum swings back the other way and we're able to educate our children again instead of doing little more than prepare them to take a single multiple choice test then turn them loose in the world.

You may be right about that, if not, totally correct about the issue. Academic levels are at an all time low. I see why bombarding the students that are not wanting to learn.

What's interesting is that you say "Until THEY fix the horrendous problems out there, we can't add anything else to the mix."

Who's they and why isn't it you? Or me?

Originally posted by Sovaka

Originally posted by pointr97
I'm sorry, but totally disagree, ignorance of our societal differences is what cause conflict.....If more christians knew that muslims considered christians a wayward brother in history, we might not see them as such an enemy....of if we were taught what christians did during the crusades to the muslims, we might be a bit more ashamed of our actions and not so quick to attack them. Ignorance of religious differences is worse than an ignorance of gravity standing on the edge of a tall building, that ignorance will only effect you.

This shows just how ignorant you are on the subject.
It isn't religious teachings (or lack thereof) that causes these tensions.

The reason why the Western world sees Muslims as enemies is because that is how the Government and their Media arms want them to be portrayed.

I should hope that you have seen many many articles around the web that actually show Christians, Islamics and Muslims all embracing each other as a people and respecting their different opinions and beliefs.

It is not for the lack of education... Is it due to the demonizing by the Western Governments and Media.

edit on 19/12/2012 by Sovaka because: Syntax

This tactic of demonizing the opposition would not even be feasible if people were not just educated, but intelligent and wise on the matters, which I hope a pragmatic, outside looking in perspective taught in school on sensitive subjects like religion would help. This type of perspective would then carry on to the faltering foundations of the traditions we hold dear today, which would open doors to things we dream about, like Free Energy, water fueled cars, etc.

reply to post by Sovaka


You're right. People are going to believe what they are most exposed to. There's continual demonizing of Islam in the media, from the pulpit, in the public at large. People don't WANT to know about other people or their beliefs, they just want to hate and the hate is propogated through the media and other outlets over and over and over.

The media needs to be held accountable. The hatred that comes from pulpits needs to be held accountable. The ignorance of the public at large needs to be held accountable.

The media is for reporting news, not giving opinions. The pulpit is for guidance and teaching of what Christ did, not demonizing anyone and everyone else. The public... well, the public needs a serious brain transplant.