church and state

[motherhubbard]

How do you feel about school teachers who talk to and question their students about their religion. Does the age of the student matter? Does the context matter?

[Gladys]

Teachers, under the banner of education, should be able to talk to students of any age on any subject. The mass media and other children already have free rein. Parents, whose influence can and should swamp a teacher’s, ought to monitor and react to all significant influences on their children.

[papayahed]

Timely topic!

One of my professor will try to tie things to the bible. She doesn't push her beliefs at all but it's very obvious she's christian. It irks me a little.

I don't mind talk about religion but when it comes to promoting one over the other I think that belongs in the home. Around here everybody is christian and it's so ingrained that I think people just expect to hear about religion however I'll bet anything that if a non christian teacher mentioned their religion that teacher would be ran out of town.

[Hurricane]

Talking to students about religion and having discussion about it is fine and probably beneficial for students, but the second it becomes pushing one thing over another it becomes a negative influence.
I don't think talking about religion has a place in schools until at least late middle or high school, though, since for a lot of people it's a very touchy subject and it's hard for kids to do it without making it personal before then.

[The Comedian]

Talking about religion is fine and good. Preaching for or against a religion, is not fine and good.

[Homers_child]

I think its fine if it ties into something that is being taught.

In my past English class, a lot of the material we were reading had references to Christianity, it only made sense if the teacher talked about those references and the viewpoints of that religion. And yes, she told us that she's Christian and told us stories about her experiences. I wasn't offended one bit because it was relevant.

The one thing I liked about my English teacher, when it came to the references to religion was that she would never call on someone who didn't raise their hand. I don't know if she did it on purpose, but it was wise anyway, because I would have been upset if she assumed everyone in the class was Christian and was aware of these references. Because I sure wasn't. ;)

I don't think that a teacher should ever question a student about the student's beliefs though. That crosses any sort of line. I know I would not want to share my personal beliefs, which are very different than the majority, with immature classmates.

[Zee.]

I hate it when people start to push their beliefs on to me. Makes me want to pull out my giant headphones and drown their brain washing out

[Drkshadow03]

Depends what age. That can really backfire if you personalize and everyone is Christian, and you have one Jewish or Muslim or Hindu kid in the class who may feel ostracized.

However, I support teaching religious belief and practices as part of history classes in high school. Not as complicated theology or to indoctrinate, but when you learn about the rise of Islam, it is useful to learn the basic principles and beliefs of Muslim faith, ditto Judaism as part of studying the history of the Ancient Near East, and Christianity as part of learning about Rome. As long as you present it as this is what X believe and it's part of a history lesson I see no problem and in fact I see more benefits from it.

[Shalot]

I hate getting those chain emails about how this country has gone to hell because they took the word God out of the Pledge of Allegience or another one about the commandments hung up in some courthouse somewhere. The people who forward those emails around are the same people who'd probably be just fine with some teacher talking about religion in class as long as it was Christian, and by Christian I mean, the right kind of Christianity. But then again, I say that because I was sheltered and the only thing I ever heard about was Catholicism with particular emphasis on a few things that don't matter, and that has turned me into this person who hears the word "christian" and wants to stab myself in the ears with a crucifix so that I don't have to hear it anymore. So I guess as long as the teacher wasn't trying to indocrinate I guess it'd be okay.

[blazeofglory]

Talking about religions in schools is not bad at all if teachers do not indoctrinate students with gibberish ideas, for small children are likened to fertile grounds any seeds sown therein will sprout into ideas or faiths and that will grow strongly in future.
You know the world is getting in-securer and it is owing mainly to fundamentalists today. This in fact demands of educators to be really cautious while imparting students.