Atheism to be Taught in School

windword
reply to post by Grimpachi

 

In a historic move that will cheer Richard Dawkins, atheists in Ireland have secured the right to teach the republic's primary schoolchildren that God doesn't exist.

I doubt that this means that children will taught that there is no God.

edit on 27-9-2013 by windword because: (no reason given)

Thats exactly what they'll be taught.

There's really nothing wrong with this from my point of view. I think all major beliefs or lack of should be taught in specific classes so that students can hear both sides and make their own logical decision on what they believe. It's one side of the coin. Theism is the other. I don't see how you can teach one and ignore the other. Let everyone know what the options are. Nothing wrong with that.

Nephalim

windword
reply to post by Grimpachi

 

In a historic move that will cheer Richard Dawkins, atheists in Ireland have secured the right to teach the republic's primary schoolchildren that God doesn't exist.

I doubt that this means that children will taught that there is no God.

edit on 27-9-2013 by windword because: (no reason given)

Thats exactly what they'll be taught.

I'm not sure if you think that is a good thing or a bad thing...

Again personal beliefs play a big part here and imparting one's own beliefs onto another is morally wrong without an equal opposing view.
You should not teach a child that there is a "GOD" without proof... Belief and "faith" are no place for learning.
You should teach them that there are groups of individuals that believe in a greater being other than themselves.
You should also teach the child that this entity these people worship hold a level of technology or consciousness that seem to us like magic or miraculous.

Personally, I have no problems with children being taught that there is no "GOD" being as currently represented by the various religions.
There is no evidence that there is a "GOD" being as portrayed; saying otherwise is pure speculation and lies.

Belief is not fact.

Again, I have no problem with people having hope in life after death... It's a common hope through-out our entire history and it has always been governed by some "GOD" entity; which dictates your level of enjoyment in said after-life.

Thats exactly what they'll be taught.

So is it that you have a problem with the idea that children will grow up without believing that a "GOD" entity is watching their every step?

People need to be taught to be humble, to be honest, to care for others. They should be taught to honor their parents, respect those in authority. To be patient and kind. To put others interests above their own. Be taught it takes courage and strength to be mild. Arrogance, pride, impatience, and selfishness are defects, and are not noble traits to possess. They need to be taught to love one another.

They should not be taught nationalism. It is one of the world's great blights.

If atheism has this as its aim then it should be lauded. If not, then it too will fail mankind, and leave those who take refuge in it disappointed.

reply to post by Broom


Atheism doesn't have an "aim". It just is what it is, a lack of belief in a God.

reply to post by Sookiechacha


If it has no aim, then it is pointless, and a waste of time.

What about the right to let the parents and their childrens decides if they want to learn about atheism or religion?

Better yet, why not do instead a course (like math and history) about ethics, morality, philosophy, and religion. A course that will explain from the beginning every forms of thoughts, that is Buddhism, Christianism, Muslim, Judeism, Atheism, Golden Rule, Philosophy, Ethics; and let the children make up their mind about what they want to follow. Much easier, and much less controversies. Freedom of Will, not one single path imposed. Expose all sides, let the children choose by himself.

Grimpachi
Well it was going to happen somewhere but I didn't expect this. I honestly don't have a opinion on the matter but it made me laugh and shake my head when I read it.

Is this good or bad I can't say but I am pretty sure the church doesn't like it.

Mods please move if need be.

I can say. It's bad. It's clearly bad. Just as clearly bad as forcing kids to learn creationism. The school should be a neutral place. If they're going to teach religion (which IMHO is just fine, and is an important factor in understanding the world and its inhabitants) they should teach about all religions, equally. Or at least the most common handful of them.

What this decision amounts to, instead, is atheists blocking the religion of others, or even a neutral view, from being taught in schools, only to have their religion (atheism) taught instead.


Awesome job with the continued massive hypocrisy, Militant Atheists.


Those guys really are almost every bit as bad as fundamentalist christians, in terms of cramming their view down everyone else' throats-- and they sadly can't even recognize it. Denial is a pretty powerful force, I guess....

Freeborn
reply to post by Grimpachi

 

They are not being taught that the atheist view is correct but rather it is part of an attempt to give children a broader understanding of various belief systems and not just the Roman Catholic dogma that has dominated Ireland's education system.

The source article gives a far more detailed explanation of the plans and the reasoning.

www.theguardian.com...

Anything that encourages children to question and think for themselves is a positive in my opinion.

reply to post by rickymouse

 

I think Dawkins is as narrow minded in his beliefs as many Theists are, but I don't see how this equates to him trying to portray himself as 'God'?

edit on 27/9/13 by Freeborn because: spelling

Quite agree with you mate.

But i'd go further. IMO, all kids ought to be taught religion from the agnostic standpoint.

Unbiased teaching is going to always be more open and honest, and you can't get more unbiased in a belief system than taking the agnostic stance.

There's nothing wrong with saying "I don't know, but i'm working on it."

One of the reasons I dont like religion is because it brought forth something even worse: Anti-Religion. These people are dumb as it gets. How do you teach "A-theism"? Other than "I dont believe in God", A-theism has no teaching and there is nothing to learn from it.

I hope this is just a poorly written piece of reporting and not the truth. Teach them that god doesn't exist? Really? That's as ludicrous as teaching that god does exist.

Stick to exposing them to many viewpoints and teaching them to think for themselves. There's the better bet.

Broom
reply to post by Sookiechacha

 

If it has no aim, then it is pointless, and a waste of time.

We atheists are used to being told that our existence is pointless and a waste of time without god, but we don't think so. Then, to add insult to injury, our meaningless life will be punished in an eternity of torment, simply because your god created us without a belief or a purpose.

I'm not sure why schools, at least public schools, don't constrain their curriculum to the basics and leave the rest to parents and other extra-curricular institutions that parents allow their children to be exposed to. I don't want to see children taught anything about matters that are subjective from a public entity. It's a personal matter and needs to stay that way.

BrokenCircles
Regardless of the subject/topic, schoolchildren should be taught facts, not opinions.

Teaching them opinions can lead to unnecessary confusion.

Have you ever tried to discuss opinions with a child that comes from an education system that only teaches facts?

There's a reason why children can't think for themselves, its because no one lets them. It actually took me years to work out that I was an Atheist, and it for several years in school I just felt like I was nuisance, like I was unwelcome or annoying. My parents forced me to go to Church for years as well. Didn't help me at all. Sincerely, I'd ask you to reconsider.

Debate and opinion are important parts of education. You would have to actually stop teaching history for your statement to stand.

reply to post by Pinke

Pinke

Have you ever tried to discuss opinions with a child that comes from an education system that only teaches facts?

no

Pinke

There's a reason why children can't think for themselves, its because no one lets them.

....which is why they should be allowed to form their own opinions.

reply to post by CirqueDeTruth

CirqueDeTruth

Do you think children should just parrot back facts? Or be encourage to formulate opinions and then discuss them with one another, mediated in a classroom setting?

Or should they just learn and parrot the facts at school and told not to discuss opinions until they get home to their parents?

Doesn't really matter. What 'should be' and what 'is', are rarely the same thing....


I had a Spanish class during each of my 4 years in High School. I didn't actually try, and I didn't really care. I even ended up taking the 3rd year twice.(but that's beside the point)

My point is that I managed to pass 3 years of Spanish, yet I probably know less than 20 words.(and that's including from uno to diez. lol). After passing 3 years of it, you'd think I'd at least know one complete sentence, but nope...... Something just aint quite right about that.

CirqueDeTruth

Seems to me that children should be taught early on how to discuss differing opinions and ideas, without resorting to fighting, name calling and confusion. We should be teaching kids how to think, not what to think. Critical thinking.

The problem with that is that it can't really be avoided at the home. Most kids are just gonna believe whatever their parents tell them.

Visitor2012
reply to post by Grimpachi

 

No man, scientist or preacher has ever found out what we are or where we come from. Nobody yet knows what life, existence or God is, neither the purpose of it all. We have theories, ideas, hypothesis. So this school, equally ignorant about the origins of man or the Universe, think they should tell children which idea is and isn't the truth? How absurd.

Absolutely agree with this. In fact, when taken to it's logical conclusion atheism as a proposition of some kind represents the very height of ignorance. That it (atheism) wants to burn and throw away the wisdom of the ages and the knowledge it may contain, while offering nothing but a very strong assumption based in no information and no knowledge doesn't help matters, when what we really need, especially now, is to find the roots and origins and sacred knowledge by which we might discover our true place and our true nature and in so doing come straight into an inheritance created for our own enjoyment, from the very origin of all creation. Imagine losing that heritage even if only as a latent possibility or potentia, without access to the means by which to re-discover it again.. forever lost in a materialist-monist and seperative "thingness" of existence, all because of "a strong, contemptuous bias prior to investigation, which is a surefire way to keep a person in everlasting ignorance." (Herbert Spencer, Scientist, paraphrased).

Religion is no longer anything to fear, but a staunch and militant atheism sure is because it's based and founded on ignorance which presumes to know something and which seeks to kill and destroy something of which is has no understanding nor even the desire to understand.

I honor people's right to label themselves an atheist (even though I think that's an absurd folly), but to actively TEACH it, as some sort of noble pursuit is kind of abhorrent but for reasons that would never occur to the atheist, even in a million years.


Best Regards,

NAM

reply to post by greencmp

Are they not the same thing then?

reply to post by NewAgeMan


The broom disagres vehemently. You speak from the experience of only one single narow-minded, and very limited mind. He who trusts in himself is a fool.

Sookiechacha

Broom
reply to post by Sookiechacha

 

If it has no aim, then it is pointless, and a waste of time.

We atheists are used to being told that our existence is pointless and a waste of time without god, but we don't think so. Then, to add insult to injury, our meaningless life will be punished in an eternity of torment, simply because your god created us without a belief or a purpose.

Your response deals not with the axiom of the statement it responds to.

ETA: You may consider yourself wise, but you know not of God. If a mere imperfect wicked man abhors burning his child as pinishment, how can God be of lesser morale? It is not possible,. This pagan teaching you refer to, upheld by secret societies, and the occult, is not found in the healthful words of truth.