Article on Stuff opens a can of religious and secular worms!

Forums › Off topic › Article on Stuff opens a can of religious and secular worms!

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ... | 12

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1008807 19-Mar-2014 10:43

Geektastic:

Not that I have children (fortunately!) but if I did, I would not want them being taught anything other than that religion is a method developed by early humans to explain things they could not understand.

If that were true it would be on the decrease.

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Vocus

#1008810 19-Mar-2014 10:49

Klipspringer:
Geektastic:

Not that I have children (fortunately!) but if I did, I would not want them being taught anything other than that religion is a method developed by early humans to explain things they could not understand.

If that were true it would be on the decrease.

It IS on the decrease...

Sideface

9355 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1008811 19-Mar-2014 10:49

Klipspringer:
Geektastic: ... religion is a method developed by early humans to explain things they could not understand.

If that were true it would be on the decrease.

Not so.
The more we know, the more we know how many unanswered questions there are :)
Disclosure: I am opposed to religious "education" in state schools.

Sideface

MikeB4

18435 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1008812 19-Mar-2014 10:50

Klipspringer:
KiwiNZ: There are many places which provide religious study if one choses to do so. School class room time and resources should not be used for this. However groups should be able to offer this as an absolutely voluntary activity outside school hours and be able to use the school premises as long as they pay for it.

I think it depends on the school. We should have schools for different religions.

We already have Christian schools. Catholic Schools etc ... In these kinds of schools I don't see anything wrong with the religious instruction which goes along with it. Personally I would send my kids to a Christian school simply because these kinds of schools produce more disciplined, respectful kids ..

Maybe we need some atheist only schools where children can be taught about evolution, how evolution can support alien life on other planets, and how it can deny the possibility of a God! (I may even have to attend because I am still struggling with this one myself) The science of what happened before the big bang etc ... :-P

We are a multicultural very diverse country. I would much rather see multicultural, mulitfaith schools instead of us trying to design a single school system which denies each and every child access to his/her religion. Atheists make up only 2.01% of the worlds faith (If u can call it a faith). The vast majority of the world believes in a God of some sort. Christianity represents one-third of the world's population and is the largest religion, and fastest growing religion on the planet.

NZ is just very secular. We kind of unique I suppose.

Kinda what I am saying. There are religious based schools now so people are free to select these for their kids. The state schools should not teach religion as part of the daily classroom activity.

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1008814 19-Mar-2014 10:51

ubergeeknz:
Klipspringer:
Geektastic:

Not that I have children (fortunately!) but if I did, I would not want them being taught anything other than that religion is a method developed by early humans to explain things they could not understand.

If that were true it would be on the decrease.

It IS on the decrease...

Im talking about all combined religions. Forever on the increase.

Handsomedan

7292 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#1008815 19-Mar-2014 10:52

I think what bugs me is the fact that they call it Religious Education, but it's actually Christian Indoctrination.

Needs to be balanced, unbiased, multi-faceted and taught by a neutral (maybe a card-carrying agnostic?).

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

*Gladly accepting donations...

Coil

6614 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1008816 19-Mar-2014 10:55

Handsomedan: I think what bugs me is the fact that they call it Religious Education, but it's actually Christian Indoctrination.

Needs to be balanced, unbiased, multi-faceted and taught by a neutral (maybe a card-carrying agnostic?).

That i have noticed is more the case, From observations i have seen the "Educators" push it up on the kids and encourage them to go to Sunday school or youth groups and try and get them involved. To some extent pressured upon them. That i see deviates from the identified path of "Educating about a religious belief"

Sharesies kids

Free kids accounts - trade shares and funds (NZ, US) with Sharesies (affiliate link).

MikeB4

18435 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1008817 19-Mar-2014 10:57

I feel the teaching of different belief structure should be along the lines of eg

This is brief and probably not correct but I use it for example only please don't shoot me...

A lesson on the origins of the universe

Teacher; there are this e who subscribe to the bing bang theory for the creation of the universe, the beginning being a singularity that resulted in a 'big bang' event.... blah blah

Pupil; are there any other ideas?

Teacher; yes there are, one is that the universe was created by a deity or god.

Pupil; where and who is this god?

Teacher; you need to discuss those ideas with you parents and they could take you somewhere to learn more of this.

Learning is about opening the mind and the world around us, therefore opposing ideas should not be hidden but discussed in a non emotional non biased basis.

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Vocus

#1008819 19-Mar-2014 10:59

Klipspringer:
ubergeeknz:
Klipspringer:
Geektastic:

Not that I have children (fortunately!) but if I did, I would not want them being taught anything other than that religion is a method developed by early humans to explain things they could not understand.

If that were true it would be on the decrease.

It IS on the decrease...

Im talking about all combined religions. Forever on the increase.

You sir, are incorrect

MikeB4

18435 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1008822 19-Mar-2014 11:03

in the final analysis people should be free to believe what they wish to believe in a peaceful non threatening environment. Also no one should force a belief system on anyone, History and current times is littered with disastrous outcomes of attempts to do so.

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1008823 19-Mar-2014 11:05

ubergeeknz:
Klipspringer:
ubergeeknz:
Klipspringer:
Geektastic:

Not that I have children (fortunately!) but if I did, I would not want them being taught anything other than that religion is a method developed by early humans to explain things they could not understand.

If that were true it would be on the decrease.

It IS on the decrease...

Im talking about all combined religions. Forever on the increase.

You sir, are incorrect

So you use google to support your post and direct me to americanhumanist.org. WOW.

If you searching for your "fact" You will find a few articles on google which support it. Go research it a little bit more and get back to me.

In the western world religion is on the decrease. Its quiet the oppose in the developing world where the vast majority of the worlds population lives.

Jaxson

8042 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1008826 19-Mar-2014 11:08

TimA:

I remember that conversation from the census, whereby if you put down something they didn't believe was a legitimate (by some predefined concept?) faith then you voided the answer.
This meant your view would not be represented because you didn't specifically enter an acceptable answer, which somewhat skews the types of graphs above.
Really you'd want to be looking at the total number of actual census returns minus those who did actually specify an acceptable answer. This would give a clearer answer of where the 'non believers' total.

I just had a quick look for my own interest but it appears not all the data has been released from the 2013.

Christianity no doubt has to deal with the fact that they are the biggest religion world wide mainly due to the fact that they were aligned with the forces who colonised and spread the empire far and wide.
The obvious question is why should one religion get a leg up over others in schools. Sooner or later it's clearly going to cause conflict because 2/3rds of the students are likely to be from other religions, or no religions.

I agree with the moral aspects that are associated with efforts to maintain religious studies, but I don't believe religious studies is the only way (or necessarily the right way either) to teach and underpin this.

ubergeeknz

3344 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Vocus

#1008828 19-Mar-2014 11:09

Klipspringer:
ubergeeknz:
Klipspringer:
ubergeeknz:
Klipspringer:
Geektastic:

Not that I have children (fortunately!) but if I did, I would not want them being taught anything other than that religion is a method developed by early humans to explain things they could not understand.

If that were true it would be on the decrease.

It IS on the decrease...

Im talking about all combined religions. Forever on the increase.

You sir, are incorrect

So you use google to support your post and direct me to americanhumanist.org. WOW.

If you searching for your "fact" You will find a few articles on google which support it. Go research it a little bit more and get back to me.

In the western world religion is on the decrease. Its quiet the oppose in the developing world where the vast majority of the worlds population lives.

It really is a waste of time trying to argue with someone who ignores fact and reason.

Jaxson

8042 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1008830 19-Mar-2014 11:15

KiwiNZ: I feel the teaching of different belief structure should be along the lines of eg

This is brief and probably not correct but I use it for example only please don't shoot me...

A lesson on the origins of the universe

Teacher; there are this e who subscribe to the bing bang theory for the creation of the universe, the beginning being a singularity that resulted in a 'big bang' event.... blah blah

Pupil; are there any other ideas?

Teacher; yes there are, one is that the universe was created by a deity or god.

Pupil; where and who is this god?

Teacher; you need to discuss those ideas with you parents and they could take you somewhere to learn more of this.

Learning is about opening the mind and the world around us, therefore opposing ideas should not be hidden but discussed in a non emotional non biased basis.

By that approach the Scientific explanation should not be taught either, and the whole subject should be wrapped up in 'No one really knows' tape, whilst we move onto spelling, gramma and reading about what 'grazing ones knees' was like - back before the playground was wrapped in spongy rubber padding, all equipment was lowered to a max of 10cm high and we doused ourselves in hand sanitizer every 10 minutes whilst playing a computer game of soccer because no one wanted to use the playing field outside because there was a chance the sun might come out from behind that cloud over there....

MikeB4

18435 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1008856 19-Mar-2014 11:29

Jaxson:
KiwiNZ: I feel the teaching of different belief structure should be along the lines of eg

This is brief and probably not correct but I use it for example only please don't shoot me...

A lesson on the origins of the universe

Teacher; there are this e who subscribe to the bing bang theory for the creation of the universe, the beginning being a singularity that resulted in a 'big bang' event.... blah blah

Pupil; are there any other ideas?

Teacher; yes there are, one is that the universe was created by a deity or god.

Pupil; where and who is this god?

Teacher; you need to discuss those ideas with you parents and they could take you somewhere to learn more of this.

Learning is about opening the mind and the world around us, therefore opposing ideas should not be hidden but discussed in a non emotional non biased basis.

By that approach the Scientific explanation should not be taught either, and the whole subject should be wrapped up in 'No one really knows' tape, whilst we move onto spelling, gramma and reading about what 'grazing ones knees' was like - back before the playground was wrapped in spongy rubber padding, all equipment was lowered to a max of 10cm high and we doused ourselves in hand sanitizer every 10 minutes whilst playing a computer game of soccer because no one wanted to use the playing field outside because there was a chance the sun might come out from behind that cloud over there....

You missed my point, my idea is that all theories should be advised of in a non emotional method and not professing that any are correct or incorrect, what we know about the Universe and it's origins can be summed up in a teaspoon.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ... | 12