| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Religious meetings at the Natural Cafe | |
| Posted by: | Alan Duffy | |
| Date/Time: | 28/05/07 18:26:00 |
| Julie Matcham said 'I'm not against people's beliefs but against the teaching of fiction as truth.' I'm sure she wasn't intending to be funny but I did laugh when I read this as it smacked so much of the deluded self-justification that came from both sides in Northern Ireland. What she doesn't realise is how much she has in common with the people who did so much to stir up trouble there for so long. The use of provocative language on a sensitive subject was always designed to raise the temperature. Describing people's beliefs as fiction (and therefore by implication your views as the truth) was always the act of the hardline extremist whether they were talking about political or religious matters. She also earlier in the thread was banging on about 'brain-washing' in faith schools. As she didn't reveal any direct experience I presume this is based on prejudice rather than knowledge. As a product of a 'faith' school who emerged with no faith I am proof at least that the regime is ineffective. In fact the reality is, even a few decades ago, there was no brainwashing. I would say that at least half of my contemporaries left school with no belief. The interesting thing is that most seem to have returned to the Church in later life. I found the teaching of religion at school interesting and enjoyable and my lack of faith was not a reaction to being browbeaten. I told my teachers at the time and they respected my views and I remain friends with some until this day. If there was any brainwashing it was the way in which a strong moral code suffused most activities of the school. A clear sense of right and wrong and personal integrity. Although I have no Christian belief, the Christian morality I was taught has continued to be a guide in life. I would quite happily send my children to a faith school although as neither my wife nor I attend Church so we would not get a place locally. I do feel that other state schools suffer from this lack of a single guiding ethos. It is confusing for children to be taught a kind of moral relativism at a young age. The animosity that faith schools seem to engender in this country seems hard to explain. There is no evidence that they cause divisiveness in fact Trevor Phillips the head of the Commission for Racial Equality recently said the broader catchment areas of faith schools were essential to avoid racial ghettoisation. His argument was that if school places are given out solely based on a narrow geographic catchment area then pretty quickly white people move out of areas with large ethnic minority populations because they don't want their children going to schools where they themselves are in the minority. As there is little real evidence for them causing division league table envy must be an explanation for the animosity. Northern Ireland which has the highest proportion of faith schools also gets the best results. I would put this down to a broader involvement of the community with the school. As the success is duplicated in England it seems to me strange that some people want to shut them down but I supposed I shouldn't be surprised at the bizarre extremes that some people's beliefs lead them to. |