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Originally Posted by orangebird
It is in Islam Russ. Believe me. What you think is fundamentalist or extreme here is pretty standard in KSA.
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True in some areas of Islam it can be. The thing is we don't often hear enough for the more moderate areas.
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Originally Posted by Sirius
It was in my school, i was forced to attend RE classes and were forced to attend the morning prayers in the hall. When i was in the forces we were forced to do church parade. Since then i only attend churches ether to see the architecture because it interests me which is something i did whilst in Malta or if its a funeral, wedding or christening.
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I can't comment on the forces as I know little-to-nothing about it but as this is about schools, being 'forced' to attend RE classes doesn't sound as bad when you consider the fact kids are 'forced' to attend all lessons surely? If part of a school's attendance requirement is to be part of an assembly then that would be something all parents would be aware of.
I'll stress this again - religious education does not equate to religious enforcement. Some humanists, secularists (sp?), atheists, anti-religionists etc feel that willing participation in anything connected to religion makes them somehow 'validate' it. Not so.
I went to a Catholic primary and secondary school, in fact the only one in my areas for about 15 miles so they pretty much had a 'monopoly' on it. It was considered a fairly prestigious school to get in to as a result. We had a number of non-Catholics attending, even some from atheist backgrounds. It was part of the school's requirement that all pupils attend assembly but that's all it was. Nobody was forced to sing, pray or anything.
Naturally we had RE. At no point was it ever enforced on us that
THIS IS WHAT YOU MUST BELIEVE!!!. We were taught about all religions. Neither were we told "Ok this is Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism etc but never mind their rubbish, concentrate on the Bible". We had the conventional science classes (Physics, Biology, Chemistry) too.
If there are schools that put their own faith in place of others in lessons then I cannot see how they'd make up anywhere near a significant number. I'm sure this may well have occurred in the past however we are living in times where secularism and indeed other faiths are more widespread and schools would be adjusting to reflect this.
As for keeping any aspect of religion out of schools, I'm sure even the most ardent New Atheist would agree that's a step too far and smacks of double standards. Religion plays far too big a role in the world today (and indeed history) for it to be ignored. There is a LOT of religious misunderstanding and ignorance (I mean that in terms of 'lack of awareness') today and learning about it - which does not mean agreeing with or accepting it - will benefit both atheists and religious types together.
---------- Post added at 08:42 ---------- Previous post was at 08:39 ----------
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Originally Posted by rhyds
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wa...hristi-6991546
No, there's no religious enforcement in RC schools...
How is this different to Muslim faith schools requiring non muslim female teachers to wear headscarves? And how can it still be legal to disbar someone from a job because of their marital status?
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Of course, you're going to want to wait to know the full facts about that before making up your mind right?
If a school has a particular ethos, surely it would make sense for those in authority to be setting an example. We don't know what these 'reasons' were but if a headteacher of a Catholic school was seen to be living in a manner that was contrary to to what the school teaches then I'm sure people would be queuing up to call him/her a hypocrite.