Religion in Public Schools

Is anyone else surprised by the prevalence of religious promotion in public schools? I work in a public school and many of the assemblies have Christian undertones. Also I was incredibly surprised that Catholic schools were funded by the government.

I'm sure if you are Christian you may or may not mind this, but as an atheist I wouldn't want this pushed on my children.

There is no separation of church and state here so it doesn't surprise me at all.

It was surprising when I first realised how much christianity was prevalent in regular state schools, but that's just because in the US we have gone so far the other way in the last 30-40 years.  The UK is a "Christian" country.  The Queen is also the head of the Church of England.  Looking at it that way, it doesn't seem weird now.  And the government helps to fund all religious schools, jewish, muslim, catholic as well as non-religious schools.  If parents had a problem with the curriculum at their local state schools, there are government funded schools with a different focus.  There may not be demand in less populated areas, but I know in London, schools offering a non-traditional focus are very common and free.  Homeschooling is also an option if you wanted to avoid the religious aspect of education in the UK.

I think in theory schools are supposed to teach various elements of all religions, regardless of denomination.    In that way, kids can make up their own minds to choose whatever they want when they get old enough.  In practice, I'm not sure that happens.  That said, parental and family influence on these things probably weighs more than being taught something in school.  Says the girl who has lots of friends who grew up in UK schools... and are now "heathens"    (I class myself as this and its a light hearted joke)

My ex had a son who lived with us and I remember he had RME (Religious and Moral Education, which may just be a Scotland thing) and it covered all types of religions.

I'm not religious, and in the US I very much think it does not belong in schools for anything other than learning about history/culture, but that's because it's a very different animal in the US, to me anyway. Plus, we do (in theory, though not in practice really) have separation of church and state.

The fact that there was religion in schools in the UK didn't bother me, because while there is not a separation of church and state in the UK, people still seem to very much keep their religions as a separate part of their lives. I mean, aside from the sectarian nonsense (which is hardly about religion anymore and more so just a bunch of dolts who go on hating each other out of tradition), people don't let it define them the way many do in the US.

It just seemed much less loaded. But this is only my perception and experience in one part of the UK. I'm not sure what happens elsewhere!

This is another depends on where you live things.  My friend's village in Scotland had the Catholic school and the Protestant school for primary and they were (are, but not as much) pretty serious about it.

This probably isn't a big deal if you are in London, or South-East England.

My husband's son had religious education in his primary school in West Yorkshire. (He is 20 now.) He learned about different religions, although the school was slightly more Christian-based in its teaching.  Even though hubby is an atheist, he thinks it is important to learn about the different religions as much as other subjects so that one can make an informed decision to join, or not.

I was raised in a strict Catholic family and am "nothing" now - not an atheist, nor a believer. Step-son asked me once about Catholicism and church and I asked him if he wanted to go to a Mass, or any other church services just to see what they are like. He said "no", that he was just had a few questions.

I don't care if religious studies are part of the curriculum in public schools as long as all religions/spiritualities are presented equally in the subject matter, including the option of atheism.

I do think it is a good idea to have RE (religious education) which teaches the major world religions and that is not something that I ever remember learning about in the US when I was in school. When it is the study of something, I can say, great, learn about it from a third person point of view. It's the praying, hymn singing and Christian messages that are pushed during assemblies that I get a bit fed up with.

But to be fair, it does just seem to be such a part of life here, even though a lot of people seem to be agnostic or atheist, or if they are religious, they don't seem to push it on people much like I'm accustomed to in the states.

This bothered me a lot when my kids were in state schools in the UK.  Don't know if its still the rule, but you could opt out of assembly and RE.  I decided that the kids would rather go along with what the others were doing rather than having to go and sit in another room.  I don't think they learned much about other religions let alone Christianity  but they turned out OK.

I was raised Catholic and I'm now an Atheist or a non-believer. I went to public school in the States and we learned about world religions when we were 12. I think it's important to learn about religions for historical/cultural purposes. I'm generally ok with religion being taught in schools as long as the educators aren't pushing one over the other and I'm ok with it as long as they're not teaching Creationism over science. 

I also remember when I was in high school, the kids who went to CCD or Sunday School had a distinct advantage over the students who didn't when it came to discussing biblical allusions in literature. So, if there were classes where students studied religious (Christian or otherwise) texts as literature, I would be ok with that because I think it helps to have that background knowledge for English courses.

I was kind of surprised how many were funded by the government, I don't know why, I really shouldn't have been. I was raised Christian and went to a Christian school for one year, and let me tell you it was by far the worst year of my education up to that point. I saw on a documentary where the UK has taken on some of the USA's Christian Academy ideas (which is where I went for a year) and it is a horrible way to teach children. The children grade their own work, the work is mostly about the Bible, it's just like.. um, where is the actual teaching? There is none.

Just.. garbage, and nothing that will actually help you in the real world. I am now an Agnostic if you couldn't tell. But.. I am ok with religion in school, ONLY if it's being taught for historical purposes. But it is really not needed in schools at all beyond the point of a history class. If you want your kids to learn about your religion, take them to church. Keep it out of the school. 

I was kind of surprised how many were funded by the government, I don't know why, I really shouldn't have been. I was raised Christian and went to a Christian school for one year, and let me tell you it was by far the worst year of my education up to that point. I saw on a documentary where the UK has taken on some of the USA's Christian Academy ideas (which is where I went for a year) and it is a horrible way to teach children. The children grade their own work, the work is mostly about the Bible, it's just like.. um, where is the actual teaching? There is none.

Much lower level of actual religion in UK schools. The curriculum is set nationally for all schools, so the typical amount of religion in a CofE school will be about one prayer in assembly at the start of the day and maybe one church service at the end of term. Only teaching about the bible wouldn't be allowed, probably even when homeschooling...

Well, for one thing that's only true for England and Wales, Scotland doesn't have a strict national curriculum in the same way. Also, with the current government's stupid academy and free school crap, those schools don't have to adhere to the national curriculum, and many of them have been found to be teaching creationism and religious text literalism, which is technically against their charters.

Just.. garbage, and nothing that will actually help you in the real world.

Is the Bible just garbage? And are tenets of Christianity (and other religions) useless in the "real world".

In the day of the quick buck wouldn't a little "love thy neighbor" go a long way?

There's nothing useful in the bible or any other religious text that isn't also present in secular ethics and philosophy. All the supernatural stuff is useless.