http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ework.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Actually I did once.

Reading that article brought back memories of the first time I picked up my lads R.E. School Book.
To say I was infuriated would be an understatement.
Out of about 12 pages or more there was just one on christianity,maybe one or two on another but the vast majority were on Islam.
My blood was still boiling when I picked up the phone...eventually i was put through to the R.E. teacher.
To cut a long story short I told her where she could stick her religious bull****...Yes..and Islam.

It didn't take it further,my lad told me he would be dropping R.E. the next term.

So, you are obviously of the opinion that your son should remain ignorant of what underpins the behaviour, lifestyle and practices of Muslims.
If you are arguing that the school was trying to radicalise him, then - of course - that's a different matter, but if the RE curriculum is typical of what most schools teach nowadays, then I doubt that was the case.
Religious Education is intended to play a leading role in their pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
Generally the schools locally are working hard to encourage community cohesion by breaking down pre-conception and prejudice, with groups of pupils visiting both the local mosques and churches to learn what unites them and what divides them. (Visits to the Jewish Museum and other "places of worship" are often on offer too.)
There's no indoctrination, but they learn a great deal about the society in which they are growing up, and all the shared values they have in common.. The more we understand Islam, along with all the other religions and beliefs, the more likely we are to eradicate the misunderstandings, prejudices and perceived problems that sometimes beset us.
Similarly the RE syllabus raises awareness of issues as important as the Holocaust, Apartheid and the Civil Rights Movement, and the important moral issues that we face as we grow up, (such as abortion, gender, sexuality, euthanaesia, genetic engineering, inequality, democracy, etc. etc.).
Most of these important topics are not covered elsewhere in the curriculum.
"At the heart of Lancashire's syllabus is the quest to understand what it is to be human. By learning about and from religion we can become more open minded, respectful and achieve greater self-awareness. The skills and attitudes developed though RE can thus make a significant contribution to promoting British Values and developing community cohesion."
Of course you are permitted to withdraw your child from the "compulsory" RE element of the curriculum, but if you do, then it's very important that you yourself educate your child in all the important areas that RE covers.

What I wrote occurred 20 years ago.
My lad is now 32 and he gets along fine without understanding Islam.

It is not the point of not [wanting to] understanding Islam.
I personally don't care for any religious belief but there is so much emphasis on understanding a certain religion that shouldn't effect any non muslims life whatsoever that there shouldn't be a need to understand Islam.

I understand what Ayaan Hirsi Ali is saying...

https://youtu.be/p5vCnRSz2Zk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So we're supposed to be celebrating you being abusive towards your son's teacher and your lad's ignorance?

Congratulations, if that's what you're looking for.

I wouldn't mind betting that other parents who are Agnostic or Atheist had the nerve or freedom to challenge against their child being taught any religion.

Some centuries ago ones head would have been chopped off,Let's hope we don't go back to that era.


https://youtu.be/iBV3eqvQPJs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Does any Christian need to know about Islam. Its followers mainly want to kill Christians, and do so on a fairly regular basis. Before you shout me down about this being only a small percentage of that faith, I'll just add that the more moderate followers of "the religion of peace" unerringly fail to condemn atrocities committed by their more radical brothers and sisters. IMHO of course.

There is nothing wrong with teaching about Islam, when that much of the curriculum is biased towards Islam, you're not teaching, you're preaching. Why can't they spend as much time teaching Christianity, God knows the youth of today know very little about it. I smell the left wing/loony/ PC brigade having another executive decision for all our benefits.

There are no gods......


Up the Clarets..........

Prepare to be abused for this. Islam is off limits from any and all criticism and negative reaction.

I went to a catholic school. RE was just an essay writing class more than anything else.

One day we was asked to write an essay about whether catholic priests should get married or not. When I pointed out “it might stop them interfering with my peers” the teacher put a red cycle round it and commented “be careful how you word this in the exam”

The OP is incredibly stupid even by this board's standards but, sadly, so, so predictable.
So ignorant, so frightened. Just what we need.

Heaton's Gloves wrote:Does any Christian need to know about Islam. Its followers mainly want to kill Christians, and do so on a fairly regular basis. Before you shout me down about this being only a small percentage of that faith, I'll just add that the more moderate followers of "the religion of peace" unerringly fail to condemn atrocities committed by their more radical brothers and sisters. IMHO of course.

If you believe it’s follwers mainly want to kill Christians then surely you would want to learn about it?

ClaretMoffitt wrote:...Islam is off limits from any and all criticism and negative reaction.

You keep saying this...on threads where loads of people are criticising Islam. Don't you realise how stupid that makes you look?

Good heavens no, that would involve actually doing something constructive by getting off his arse and reading or, even worse, discussing the subject rather than yelling and then boasting very proudly on a football forum about swearing at his kid's teacher and showing him/her what's what.
Way to go, proud parenting at its finest..............

Dazzler wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ework.html

Actually I did once.

Reading that article brought back memories of the first time I picked up my lads R.E. School Book.
To say I was infuriated would be an understatement.
Out of about 12 pages or more there was just one on christianity,maybe one or two on another but the vast majority were on Islam.
My blood was still boiling when I picked up the phone...eventually i was put through to the R.E. teacher.
To cut a long story short I told her where she could stick her religious bull****...Yes..and Islam.

It didn't take it further,my lad told me he would be dropping R.E. the next term.

Understanding other religions is education and knowledge that allows one to make better judgements in life, about other people, in work and on one's own beliefs. In fact, your post demonstrates the downside of a lack of education and rational thought.

Did you take your son to church or Sunday School and discuss christianity with him, or did you expect the school to do that. Telephoning the teacher to be abusive wasn't clever and didn't achieve anything. I don't think you've dazzled anyone with your post.

My RE lessons were generally quite boring and as a result I didn't pay much, if any, attention to it.

As for learning about religions, it helps explain all the aggro in the world today.

Centuries of fighting either other religions or factions in their own has eventually led to where we are today.
Politics has also got us here, after WW1, 2 and the during the cold war the Christian west did a lot to aggravate the Muslims, mainly with how the West carved up the middle east and dropped Israel in there without a thought to the consequences.

It's all worth learning about where possible.
You probably don't need to know all the ins and outs about each religion, just the basics at school.

Seems like a pretty sound assessment activity to me: learn about a subject (the step-dad claims to have no issue with that) and the use key points from what you have learnt in a way to explain it to others. The language the kids would be expected to use would also embed their English skills.

Good teaching strategy and embedding those all important Fundamental British Values and Prevent (thanks Ofsted)

I studied RE at A-level because it was an easy pass really. We spent the vast majority of the time studying Buddhism.

I always find it funny when non Christians take offence about what is taught in re. More so when they take offence after only part of the curriculum.

What you will find is that Christians are the ones who want to learn about Islam. They also know that 're is not about converting to faiths, but more about how society has been shaped by beliefs etc.

Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism.

Stick it all up your ******* arses.

The "I bet I can post something more ignorant than the previous poster" thread is now open for entries

And in the unlikely event any of you are being serious, then what is wrong in learning about the worlds religions?

Find it hard to believe anyone can get upset about the contents of an RE lesson. As long as the kids know it's all fiction anyway it doesn't matter, it was basically an hour a week relaxing when I was at school.

As far wanting to learn about other beliefs... I've read a bit about veganism to try and understand it, somehow I managed to do that without becoming a nutter myself. In fact, I've just finished a load of pig in bread so happy days. I've also read about Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and others but I still prefer to believe science.

What the teachers should say is

"Right Christians, Muslims, Jews, and the rest of it. All its done is cause millions of deaths and its a load of old ********.

Now that that's sorted please get your Science books out and turn to the page marked 'evolution'"

Sadly, more people have died because of their religious beliefs than for any other reason.

Religions exist, it's a fact. They've had a massive impact on the human race, whether for good or bad, that's also a fact. To not want your son to learn about this important part of human history, whether you believe or not (and I personally don't), is frankly astonishing!

People defending religion... Ok.

Right, let's have a think of this.

I turn up on the street tomorrow, I tell people this;

"You must come to worship me, believe and do everything I say and give me a percentage of your income. If you don't, you will suffer, your kids will get cancer and your parents will go blind"

What would happen?

You wouldn't get the 2nd ******* paragraph out before you'd be in the clink.

extortion
ɪkˈstɔːʃ(ə)n,ɛkˈstɔːʃ(ə)n/Submit
noun
the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats.
"he used bribery and extortion to build himself a huge, art-stuffed mansion"
synonyms: demanding money with menaces, exaction, extraction, blackmail; shakedown
"he was arrested on a charge of extortion"

***

Sound familiar?

Turn that note around and 1)swop muslim for 2) christian then 3) get out your tin hats

Well, an argument about teaching about world religions in schools is absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with your point.

OP sounds like a real ****

starting_11 wrote:People defending religion... Ok.

Right, let's have a think of this.

I turn up on the street tomorrow, I tell people this;

"You must come to worship me, believe and do everything I say and give me a percentage of your income. If you don't, you will suffer, your kids will get cancer and your parents will go blind"

What would happen?

You wouldn't get the 2nd ******* paragraph out before you'd be in the clink.

It's not defending religion, it's defending the point that people should learn about religions. Teaching people about religions isn't endorsing them, but it's valuable in understanding why the world is the way it is. There's lots of parts of history I wouldn't defend but believe people should learn about.

Ah yes, best learn as to why someone is doing something completely irrational instead of just thinking "what the actual **** are you doing?"

Yes, isn't that really, really, really obvious?

The fact that 90% of the world is a complete ******* shithole and a complete no go area has to do with religion. Usually it's just the one but also others are guilty too.

It is, but that is exactly why you have to teach kids about them.

I get that its not popular, but all of them have had a massive effect on history and our social framework.

It would be like not teaching them about World War I and II

starting_11 wrote:The fact that 90% of the world is a complete ******* shithole and a complete no go area has to do with religion. Usually it's just the one but also others are guilty too.

And assuming that is true how can people possibly know it without learning about religion?

starting_11 wrote:The fact that 90% of the world is a complete ******* shithole and a complete no go area has to do with religion. Usually it's just the one but also others are guilty too.

With each post you make you appear to expose the ridiculousness of your position.
If religions do all the bad things that you say, (and many would agree with you), then clearly being educated about them is essential if we are ever to progress.
As someone posted earlier, we study religions, ethics and morals for pretty much the same reason that we study history. [We may find Nazism and Stalinism repugnant, but its only by studying them that we can learn the lessons of the past and apply them to our current thinking].

I don't need to be beheaded by some ******* idiot in Iraq to know I wouldn't much care for it.

nil_desperandum wrote:With each post you make you appear to expose the ridiculousness of your position.
If religions do all the bad things that you say, (and many would agree with you), then clearly being educated about them is essential if we are ever to progress.
As someone posted earlier, we study religions, ethics and morals for pretty much the same reason that we study history. [We may find Nazism and Stalinism repugnant, but its only by studying them that we can learn the lessons of the past and apply them to our current thinking].

My, my. We ARE a bunch of understanding luvvies today aren't we.

Didn't realise that these people are a backward bunch of ******* savages that are completely misunderstood by me.

I'll learn to understand them in future.

There is no issue with learning about other religions. It is a very good idea so people understand the world around them. This is very different from being asked at school to write a letter about converting.

starting_11 wrote:I don't need to be beheaded by some ******* idiot in Iraq to know I wouldn't much care for it.

I don't think anyone reading this thread is in much danger of this tbh.
We are where we are now, and in a multi-cultural society it should be absolutely central to our education policy that we teach children the importance of social, moral, and cultural issues, and promote tolerance and British values to the upcoming generation.

Starting_11 isn't coming out of this very well.

nil_desperandum wrote:Generally the schools locally are working hard to encourage community cohesion by breaking down pre-conception and prejudice, with groups of pupils visiting both the local mosques and churches to learn what unites them and what divides them. (Visits to the Jewish Museum and other "places of worship" are often on offer too.)

I am sorry to say that I will think you will find that their are only 2 secondary schools in the area that are still actively engaged in the initiative and doing projects together Marsden Heights and Blessed Trinity - the others have turned their backs on it for whatever reason. These 2 schools and their pupils do get a lot out of it though

starting_11 wrote:My, my. We ARE a bunch of understanding luvvies today aren't we.

Didn't realise that these people are a backward bunch of ******* savages that are completely misunderstood by me.

I'll learn to understand them in future.

Except your posts suggest that you actually won't, because you don't want to learn or understand.
Herein lies one of the reasons why RE is so important in schools, since there are still parents who would otherwise only provide their children with a very distorted view of the society we live in.

Yay its Friday and we have a tasty thread to keep our minds occupied over the International Break.

Like all things in life, you get out what you put in. I'm no great believer of religion, but I quite enjoyed RE at school and was quite good at it. It was one hour a week that didn't really require any hard thinking, more a reflective look at oneself compared to other religions.

It certainly helped my history lessons when it came to understanding why wars began and why people fought so hard for their rights. It also makes you question the logic of the people of those times using today's standard's of understanding and tolerance.

Education is power.

It's quite ironic that a group of people who each week travel to a modern temple, and are expected to pay a large (fixed) portion of their wage, to fund the lifestyle of their already wealthy God's, would criticise a group of people who each week go to a temple where they donate what they can (usually the poor pay less and the rich more) to fund programmes which help those who are worse off and need most help.

Heaton's Gloves wrote:Does any Christian need to know about Islam. Its followers mainly want to kill Christians, and do so on a fairly regular basis. Before you shout me down about this being only a small percentage of that faith, I'll just add that the more moderate followers of "the religion of peace" unerringly fail to condemn atrocities committed by their more radical brothers and sisters. IMHO of course.

It may be in your humble opinion, doesn't stop it being wrong. https://muslimscondemn.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

UpTheBeehole wrote:Starting_11 isn't coming out of this very well.

Well luckily for me, you've more chance of me answering to "the man upstairs" than you... so what?

starting_11 wrote:The fact that 90% of the world is a complete ******* shithole and a complete no go area has to do with religion. Usually it's just the one but also others are guilty too.

You must be about 11 and 3/4.
It isn't religion that causes conflict.
It's hypocrites purporting to be religious.
Every religion Christian, Muslim or Jew preaches respect for other religions and non believers.
The more radical any practitioner is the less religious he is. These Jihadists aren't true Muslims, just confused young men blagged by self interested Clerics.
Pakistanis and others who carry out 'honour killings' are deluded. Nothing in the Koran supports their ideology unless you twist texts completely out of context.
The Reverend Ian Paisley. Such a devout Christian he was. People cause wars, not religions.

I have faith in God, if you choose not to that's your choice, I don't want you to burn in hell as a consequence, because that would be a very unchristian thought. Either way, you should respect everyones right to choose their life path.