From the Humanist Association - discuss

Segregation in the Anglican Church? What rubbish, you may enjoy attacking people's faith but do not lie please

There is no segregation, as an Anglican I am part of the world wide communion , how can there be segregation if it's world wide?

Perhaps you ought to read the OP again, Alea. It's an anti-religion thread, I thought. Obviously must be wrong.

Why is are the divisions in the Anglican Church still important today. More division, more segregation? A pity.

Piddling Alea- not very respectful that, is it? But this is exactly what is happening now, schools and academies for all kind of religions- Muslim, Jewish, Creationists, and of course the classical CofE (+Wales, Scotland with their own versions- which seems to matter- thank goodness here where I live we have a strong ecumenical movement to get rid of this divisive nonsense between Christians) - are you denying that this is happening all over? As long as we insist on holding on to traditional faith schools, then proliferation of all sorts of other faith schools will ensue.

That is not being anti-religion- but anti division and segregation.

Thank you for reasoned commonsense, Luckygirl
I am very happy with DGS's C of E school as indeed I was when our own DDs went to a (nominally) Cof E school in our village up to the age of 8 when they moved from the village school to Middle School in the neighbouring town. I should add all their friends in the village went to the same school and I saw no evidence of indoctrination. Quality of education, a caring stimulating learning environment and a healthy outlook on life were what appealed to us as parents and it turned out happy, well adjusted children ready for the next stage in their education.
I am becoming uncomfortable with the alarmist prophesies of doom, of ghettos, of the threat of "faith" schools for every piddling denomination or religion and by what I am finding an increasingly "anti-religion" flavour to some arguments on this thread.

Yes it is important Granjura to Anglicans

CofE is the Anglican Church in England, .cofWales is the Anglican Church in Wales, we have our own Arch Bish and our own synod

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Church_Act_1914

The Church in Wales is not established, unlike the Church of England.

Ah yes, sorry, should have added Church of Wales, Church of Scotland- to my long list (may I know what the real difference is between CofE and of Wales- is it really important? = even more confusing and divisive)?

Granjura, no idea what you are in about, I said we have CofWales, RC and state schools here , I did not say the choice was between CofWales or RC

I add - no more than secular equals C of E, or secular equals Sikhism or any other belief system.

Secular schooling does not promote any specific sect - it is non-sectarian - but that does not mean that it is against religion. It means that religion is not relevant to most school subjects.

I repeat again, secular does not equal atheist.

I agree Luckygirl and think if all schools were secular there may be less problems in the future and more tolerance and understanding all round.

I know many people of faith who believe that faith schools are wrong - and I agree with them. This does NOT mean that I think schools should assume atheism as their "creed" - it just means that I believe schools should teach respect for and information about ALL religions (except, as I have said before, those that mutilate babies and children).

The problem with faith schools is that they favour one faith over all the others that they are teaching. A non-aligned school does not (or should not) do that. They are religion-neutral and world religions are taught in the same way as history or geography for instance.

The national curriculum is very clear about the imperative to teach about all religions.

Sorry Annie- posts crossed. I would never presume or assume- which is why I am asking you, and have asked several times already.

Quoting AnnieB:

Hindu families chose the RC school over the state school, Gurkha's children attend the three by choice of their parents, pagans attend the CofWales school, no problems , all schools celebrate the festivals of the faith of their pupils and all children join in - exception being children of JW's , suppose this part of the country is more tolerant than other parts of the UK, the high school has three Muslim teachers , the RC school teachers are nuns and atheists and Christian, the wife of one of our Anglican priest teaches in the RC school

So you believe that Hindu families should have no option but to choose between a CofE and a RC school? Or Pagans for that matter. Or Jews, Jain, Buddists, Sikhs, etc?

and that this amounts to (quote again)

just more tolerance and respect.

They certainy do show massive tolerance, probably because they have little choice, well NO choice at all. How can it be tolerant and respectful to say - those of other Faiths or none just have to be tolerant and respectful of my Faith and just come to our schools and shut up. ?!? Pray tell.

As said by others, rural Wales is quite different to the large cities of multicultural Britain. Do you really expect other large groups of other faiths not to insist on having their own schools- if attending CofE or RC schools means that their FAith and beliefs are undermined, be it explicitely or by default? Truly.

We will either have to give up FAith schools or accept that otherwise we will have segregated schools for every FAith, and in the case several types, CofE, RC, Creationists, etc. Is this really the way forwards to a better, more tolerant and integrated society?

I don't know what the situation is in Scottish schools this century, but 69-70 years ago the only segregated schools were the RC ones. Neither the C of S nor the Scottish Episcopal Church had 'faith' schools. I never met a Catholic until I went to Uni, though we did beat them on the hockey pitch! As Alea says, RE was 'taught' by any member of staff - we had a Maths teacher who seemed rather embarrassed. When I started teaching, I was asked to teach a class about the minor prophets...what? Not my scene and I can't now remember who they were! RE was not an examinable subject. Unlike Alea's school, we did not have weekly visits from any ministers and daily assembly consisted of a hymn and the Lord's Prayer. That was secondary school, but in primary, our teachers somehow drilled Bible stories into us which is how I come to have a fair number of useful quotations.

I think it wrong to assume you know what I think or would think Granjura,

I think that if *Anniebach's children had gone to a school that was a real faith school, a "this is the right faith" school, she would have been horrified.

I think Anniebach believes that secular=atheist. It doesn't. It means that schools for all should teach about all religions, but not in a "worshipping should be this way" style. The schools in her area sound as though they do that - so in their way they are secular schools, not faith schools, in spite of having a faith in their name.

There would be a lot more tolerance and respect if children all mixed at the same type of school. all may be hunkydory in your town ab but that won't be the case everywhere!

@Anniebach - Oh - you say "I am disagreeing here with atheists who wish to impose their will on others." I wondered who deserved that description...
Most atheist people follow the secularist line broadly speaking, feeling that publicly-funded schools should not promote the un-supported ideas held by some groups. 'Faiths', in a word.

Sorry feetlebaum I don't understand your post

No Granjura, just more tolerance and respect

Jen, some live in areas where intergration seems a problem, we have state, RC and CofWales schools, Hindu families chose the RC school over the state school, Gurkha's children attend the three by choice of their parents, pagans attend the CofWales school, no problems , all schools celebrate the festivals of the faith of their pupils and all children join in - exception being children of JW's , suppose this part of the country is more tolerant than other parts of the UK, the high school has three Muslim teachers , the RC school teachers are nuns and atheists and Christian, the wife of one of our Anglican priest teaches in the RC school , where are the ghettoes !

Our mayor who is Anglican has selected his charity this year will be decided between the Muslim immigrants and the victims of the earthquake in Napal .

When the wives of the Gurkha regiments wanted a large hall to put on a dancing display to raise money for the victims in their country the nuns offered their gym .

Tolerance and respect