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Originally Posted by Chris T
Actually, starting a little closer to home, I think Christians would cause less conflict if they understood their own religion at all. Taking the Crusades, as a classic example, there is absolutely no justification in the Bible for what occurred. But then there is absolutely no justification in the Bible for a lot of things Popes have proclaimed. Similarly 'Christians' blowing up each other in Northern Ireland, or rioting or fighting against Muslims in Beirut, East Timor or wherever.
Beyond that, yep, a little understanding would be very useful. However I would be interested to see your evidence for the failure of faith-based schools to deliver a sufficiently rounded religious education.
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I think you have outlined a couple of problems here. One is that Religion, while not directly causing conflict is often used as the excuse.
The second is about quality of Religious education. I can't comment on Church schools, as I have not been to one, but I remember from my own RE lessons in school, that for the first four years, we were taught by a catholic who taught us that the bible was the truth and nothing about other religions. In my fifth year (my final year of RE), we had a Jewish RE teacher*. He taught us about ALL the major religions, as well as to question what we were taught. It sounds like some of the schools in Bury are following the "the Bible is the truth, anything contradictory is heresy and will not be discussed" method followed by the catholic RE teacher I had.
BTW, I know not all catholics are like that.
Interestingly, my mum (although not religious as such) joined an RE class in her local CofE church when she was a teenager, and the Vicar taught them about all religions as well, and actively encouraged them to find their own religion whether CofE or not.
* He never actually discussed his own faith, so I could be wrong