Voicesofyouth

by Jennifer L.

While I accept Alice’s opinion I find I cannot agree with her views regarding religious educations validity as part of a school’s curriculum. I personally think the issue here is not the compulsory religious classes but the content. As Alice stated herself “evidently they come up short when compared to the ‘religious education’ and objective view of all world religions they once promised us.” I think it is clear from this that the subject itself is not the problem but the subject matter.

In my own humble opinion, Religious Education is important, and I feel that in a predominantly catholic country, the study of Catholicism should be given more class time. Ireland has been a “Catholic country” for hundreds of years, and it is, like it or not, an important part of our heritage and the identity of our country. Does this mean I think that it is all we should study in religion? No, then the name of the subject would have to be changed to Catholicism. I do think that other religions and their traditions should be taught, but maybe to a lesser extent (again I would like to urge, this is my opinion as a practicing catholic)

However, later on in her article Alice goes on to write that were taught that dinosaurs didn’t exist, and even more ridiculously that babies are found in fields . . . What? Did I miss that class? I was most certainly not told that! Ever! My religious education in primary school, while only dealing with Catholicism, was a lot more focussed on developing a child’s moral compass, helping them understand themselves as little people and teaching them how the catholic church worked. In fact the only time we ever broached the subject of masturbation was when a nurse was brought into the school to teach us about sexuality, and then it was taught completely separately to religion and in an unbiased way. Alice also expresses the opinion that teaching religion in schools is anti LGBT. I have to say in my opinion this is clearly a much deeper problem, to do with the catholic church and not with educating children about the views of the religion. They are going to find out that the catholic church preaches this and at least in a school we can be sure the churches views are properly represented. After all we don’t allow our children to learn about the birds and the bees by hearsay, why leave something equally important, such as religion, to chance?

Also in response to Alice’s remark that “you’d better get used to being looked at as if everything you think is ridiculous” I would like to say that this was not the case with children of other religions in my school, primary or secondary. In fact in both primary school and secondary school girls of other religions in my class were invited to give us a presentation on their beliefs so we might better understand them. In fact I believe this is a better way to promote understanding than to totally abolish the general teaching of religion, which I think would only cause an even bigger lack of understanding. While I am not contesting that this is how you were treated, I would like to stress that this is not the case in every school.

To be totally honest I would view my religious education up to this point as not perfect, but very beneficial none the less. Religion as a subject has help me to grow as a person, better understand other religions and has educated me on things such as abortion and sexuality. I would like to point out here that I mean educated. I have not been brain washed! While I am personally anti-abortion, as the catholic church teaches, I am most definitely pro LGBT rights, which the catholic church does not teach and is in fact against.

To get to the point, I disagree with Alice, that Religion should not be taught in schools, I simply think the curriculum should be revised. After all you wouldn’t break up with someone at the first sign of trouble, you work at your problems and try to find a solution. I believe we simply need to work to better our children’s relationship with religion rather than separate them completely.

Lastly I would like to say that Catholicism is not a “superstition” for Catholics it is a deep belief and way of life based on years of theological study and history, which cannot be categorised with things such as saluting a magpie to ward off bad luck or stepping over the cracks in the pavement. I would also like to point out that a gay, lesbian etc. way of life is not accepted in the Muslim faith either so the two points (So what if I’d been Muslim? What if I was a Lesbian?) cannot really stand together in a call for a fair and unbiased education of children in regards to religion.

By Alice

Recently, a friend of mine went to our principal and asked to leave religion class, which is compulsory in our school. I managed to get out at the beginning of the school year by pointing out that I’d never been baptised and that religion was wasting my valuable study time. My friend, however, was told that it is a Catholic school, therefore she must attend.
Our school is not catholic. It is funded by the state. We have a ‘catholic ethos’, a priest on the board of management and mass twice a year. But, none the less, we are a state school. They cannot refuse to admit children of other religions. But, religion classes are compulsory for the full five/six years of education. During these classes they preach about god and catholic meaning. Buddhism got mentioned once in 2nd year, evidently they come up short when compared to the ‘religious education’ and objective view of all world religions they once promised us. In our school, religion is a compulsory exam subject in the junior certificate. And last month our Irish (Irish, NOT religion) teacher gave out to the class for not saying our prayers.
So if you walked in the door, and saw a four foot man nailed to a cross staring down at you you’d probably think it was run by the church, right? Well it’s not; it is being paid for by the tax payer, the NON DENOMINATIONAL tax payer. I’ve found that this is the case in many schools around the country. “You pay, we pray”.
So I ask the reader, is it fair that as young people in Ireland we are still being subjected to the controlling, brain washing, backwards ways of the catholic church when we are supposedly being educated? Don’t get me wrong, Catholics can believe what they want, as can any religion, they can practice and pray until they’re blue in the face for all I care, but should they be allowed influence little children from the moment they step in the door? I don’t think so. We live in diverse and multi cultural society, a society full of people of different race, religion and sexual orientation. And yet, the majority of children still have no other option than to go to schools backed by a single religion, and that religion having openly stated its contempt for the LGBT community. Is this the kind of thing young people of today should be taught?
I live in a field, that field is in a bog, that bog is in a town land, that town land is in the sparsely populated, very wet, kind of green county of Mayo. Schooling wise, there aren’t many options. As far as I’m aware, there isn’t a single non denominational school within a 20 mile radius of my home. But there are six that have a ‘catholic ethos’. So I’ve come to the conclusion that if you’re a teenager, scratch that, if you’re a kid of any age in Ireland living outside of Dublin you’re pretty much stuck with the church. Sure, they won’t kick you out, if you’re lucky they won’t even force you into mass, but you’d better get used to being looked at as if everything you think is ridiculous.
When I was a kid my national school was Catholic school too. It was so close to the church, the 6th class kids used to play dares in the church bathroom. I was continuously scoffed at by teachers, the priest used to be left in our classroom for hours on end and tell us whatever he wanted. We were told all kinds of rubbish, dinosaurs didn’t exist, babies are gifts from god found in fields, every time you masturbate god kills a kitten, the usual. We couldn’t question it. He was the priest. End of story.
So what if I’d been Muslim? What if I was a Lesbian? Are kids today in that position? Do they feel that what they do/are makes them a bad person? And all because someone else’s superstition has been given a leading role in their education? I don’t think this is fair.
In countries like France and USA religion and state are kept separate, and people grow up being all the more accepting for it.
It’s the 21st century; it’s time for Ireland to realise that the minds of young people is no place to force varying superstitions as fact. It’s time we all had access to safe, open minded, religion free schools!r