Ted Cantle, writing in the Guardian Comment is Free blog, argues that education policy should move away from religious diversity.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/03/faith-schools-religious-discrimination-boundaries
Instead he believes all schools should move towards a secular ideal where humanism is given pre-eminence. He thinks that religious education leads to communal enmity and hatred in society. He writes that 'The Fair Admissions Campaign has a simple aim – that all state-funded schools in England and Wales should be open equally to all children, without regard to religion or belief.' It is of course a good ideal to seek harmony in the community, but does secular humanism, that does not regard the value of religion or belief, provide the answer? Furthermore, we ought to ask questions about the content of religious education. If we all followed Jesus' teaching to love our enemies, then wars would cease. It is offensive to suggest that such teaching necessarily leads to communal hatred.
The problem is that the secular humanist' dominance in education provision does not respect the faith of individual believers, but seeks to indoctrinate children away from their family or community beliefs. For instance consider the way evolution is forced upon the schools systems, where even the discussion of creation in the school science lessons is forbidden. This is really a form of tyranny against religious believers, and has echoes of the education policies in the former Soviet Union.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/03/faith-schools-religious-discrimination-boundaries
Instead he believes all schools should move towards a secular ideal where humanism is given pre-eminence. He thinks that religious education leads to communal enmity and hatred in society. He writes that 'The Fair Admissions Campaign has a simple aim – that all state-funded schools in England and Wales should be open equally to all children, without regard to religion or belief.' It is of course a good ideal to seek harmony in the community, but does secular humanism, that does not regard the value of religion or belief, provide the answer? Furthermore, we ought to ask questions about the content of religious education. If we all followed Jesus' teaching to love our enemies, then wars would cease. It is offensive to suggest that such teaching necessarily leads to communal hatred.
The problem is that the secular humanist' dominance in education provision does not respect the faith of individual believers, but seeks to indoctrinate children away from their family or community beliefs. For instance consider the way evolution is forced upon the schools systems, where even the discussion of creation in the school science lessons is forbidden. This is really a form of tyranny against religious believers, and has echoes of the education policies in the former Soviet Union.
No comments:
Post a Comment