It already is, or am I the only one that was introduced to Greek and Roman Mythology in school?
Religions should be touched on , not taught as such. It's up to the parents to bring their children up as they see fit in this regard. Religion isn't something to learn , it's a belief system. You believe , or you don't. If you are taught it at an early age , you will probably believe in it until you are better informed , or not. Kids believe in Santa for a while , until they know better. As for teach all religions ? Wicca , Druidism ? can you see them being on the national curriculum ?
Absolutely not! It has no place in an intellectual environment. Education is very important & shouldn't be full of superstitious nonsense.
I think is still material for knowledge then it should be taught...but there is a priority:
-History is to fix it focusing on modern days (in Italy we study until World War 2 at max)
-Applied Psychology have to be taught from middle school (as a tool to live)
-Science has to be expanded (focus on teaching the Scientific Thinking that provides the ability to understand what is true or false, opposite on Religious Thinking that makes you accept everything like a dogma)
-and in High School even something that teaches you how to do important concrete things (pay bills, taxes, jobs, etc)
Avoiding to talk about we need urgently a complete school reform (abolish multichoice test, change school hours, the whole approach to students (avoid standards), etc)
There absolutely should be separation of church and state. It is in our constitution for very important reasons. Churches that have the belief that religion should be taught in schools have historically had their own schools. I believe Catholics and Lutherans are a prime example. Some Lutherans fled their countries because they didn't like the way their countries were told to preach their particular religion. They came for the freedom to have their own and brought the ideas of schools with them. People don't realize that much of the "God" stuff was added to our national sense in about 1950 under Eisenhower. " Under God," was added to our pledge at that time. It was at the same time that "In God we trust," was added to our coins and currency. I still go to church, but would bulk if much more is added. If we add the Bible to our curriculum, we would then have to accept literature from all religions. If we want to know about that as adults, we are welcome to get it at our local library. "Godly," is what some people think is good behavior. Many Godly people are bigoted and narrow minded. People can have good morals, no matter what church they go to or not..
No. Not at all, not even as a "What if" if Parents want to indoctrinate their children into a religion that forces them to behave out of fear of a horrible afterlife, then I suppose that is up to them, although I seriously consider religion to be child abuse. Teaching a child to uncritically accept their religious lies is teaching them not to think. They are teaching them that belief, without evidence, is acceptable. This damages the child's ability to reason. Add to that teaching the child that normal behavior is sinful, and that the sinful are hell bound, and you get a clear pattern of psychological abuse. if it is to be taught in schools for ANY reason, it should be taught under Mythology, like the Greek and Roman gods.
A class as an overview of all of the world's religion would be a good choice, but focusing on any one religion would not be acceptable. It would violate the separation of church and state.
If a school district or board chooses this path, they would need to teach ALL the religions, all the various non-religious beliefs too. Equal time, but this would be impossible.
I am firm in thinking any or all religious instruction should be coming from the home.
When I was in Public School, our County Board, (I am thinking through some members or the Chair's affiliation with a church), we had regular Christian only instruction, pretty fundamentalist at that. The students of the Jehovah's Witness faith sat out in the hallway during the lesson.
No. Schools should teach students to question everything.
Including religions. However, unless you teach about those religions they can't learn to question them. Where it becomes an issue is when you have teachers who only teach about a single religion and teach it as fact.
No, religion shouldn't be taught in school. Unless you intend to teach every religion on the face of the planet. Religion, if it is taught, should be left to parents not the schools.