Out of the mouths of babes ........

Oreo

Nothing is wrong with that Joseanne and there is no big outcry in this country to change anything. Just the OP and a couple of others on this thread that don’t want any religious themes in schools.

I have no objection to children being taught about different religions in school. What I do object to is religious worship in state schools - which is totally different.

^Not Christian-bashing at all - just concerned about children being given true information, as in "Christians believe that Jesus came back to life", rather than "Jesus came back to life.^"
Yes, good point Luckygirl and I guess it depends on the context and on the individual delivering the lesson and the tone. Was it the Art teacher, or the Vicar or the over stretched "do it all" class teacher who might not have had time to preface every comment with "Christians believe"?
My grandfather was a clergyman and in church would always use the pronoun "we believe" because his large congregation came voluntarily. During school visits he didn't envelope the children with the word "we" but used to say, "The scriptures teach that and it would be a good idea to re enact and follow."

My decidedly non-religious dd and SiL were only too pleased that their 2 elder Gdcs were eligible for the local C of E primary and are very pleased with it - it’s a highly rated and very happy school.
Of course there is a certain emphasis on C of E aspects but that is surely only to be expected. In any case much of what they learn - Bible stories etc. - is - to me, anyway - part of general knowledge.

I don’t know about anybody else, but the fairly mild C of E variety of religion was part of every day school life for me in the 1950s and 1960s - morning assembly with prayers etc. - as it was for dh, and neither of us has ever felt that we were ‘brainwashed’ - once we could think for ourselves we made our own minds up about faith, or lack of it.

It was different for Catholics, I dare say - some of the things I’ve been told by an Irish Catholic friend are enough to make one’s hair stand on end.

I rejected religion at the age of 8 and have not seen or heard anything since then that has made me doubt that it was the correct decision.

If there's one thing that rattles my cage is the complaint of Christian bashing and the plea that it was all foretold.... "Look at me, I'm a martyr and I pity you 💖 "

Not Christian-bashing at all - just concerned about children being given true information, as in "Christians believe that Jesus came back to life", rather than "Jesus came back to life."

And also that the state does not support any particular religion in terms of funding schools. I would be equally concerned if the state were funding schools with a particular political leaning.

I think you are wrong Fleur about being unable to withdraw children from RE in primary schools.
I understood this to be a "right".
I've just done some googling on this and it seems I'm right.
Here's a straightforward piece:

schoolleaders.thekeysupport.com/curriculum-and-learning/curriculum-guidance-all-phases/structuring-curriculum/requests-withdraw-pupil-re/

I agree Joseanne 👏🏻👏🏻

But everything is wrapped in religious themes ....
The palatable stuff like family values, love, forgiveness, justice etc
Then the grim stuff that Luckygirl mentioned like murder, war, fighting.
I always find children quite accepting of this.

The usual Christian bashing. Don’t worry, we expect it and it was all predicted long ago. It makes me sad that people miss the wonderful message and hope for all mankind.

Nothing is wrong with that Joseanne and there is no big outcry in this country to change anything. Just the OP and a couple of others on this thread that don’t want any religious themes in schools.

So can a school still heavily promote a Christian ethos .. love your neighbour as yourself without being a church school? Or would that still offend? What would be wrong say with following Christ's values and teachings, (if you get what I mean.)

Callistemon21

Oreo

They usually have good standards Mollygo and also discipline.

But not always.

That’s why I used the word usually

Luckygirl3
They get subsidised by the church.

I already pointed that out in an earlier post at 13.05
Some faith schools receive funding from the church as well as from the state.

Oreo

They usually have good standards Mollygo and also discipline.

But not always.

Mollygo

The strangest (IMO) aspect of this is that the best high school where DD lives is a church school and the ‘queue’ to get in is amazing. People who don’t attend church, or who chose to send their child to the local state primary rather than the local CofE primary start attending church the year before they fill in the application. Even CEO Christians often make more effort in order to stand more chance of a place.

They get subsidised by the church.

They usually have good standards Mollygo and also discipline.

The strangest (IMO) aspect of this is that the best high school where DD lives is a church school and the ‘queue’ to get in is amazing. People who don’t attend church, or who chose to send their child to the local state primary rather than the local CofE primary start attending church the year before they fill in the application. Even CEO Christians often make more effort in order to stand more chance of a place.

Please Oreo, stop this nonsense. Where on earth did I say this? What I said is that state funded schools should not be religious, and the Curriculum not linked to religion, especially not one, and even more so, one denomination of one which has so many.

Things are changing, and fast.

And no, I don't.

So you don’t want this to be a Christian country hey? Well lucky you live in France then.
If this was a big issue here then things would change.
It isn’t.

I did post a thread to this effect after the results of the last census.

Numbers of respondents ticking 'Christian' was very low at last census. And I did ask how many of those who ticked 'Christian', many for cultural reasons, rather than religious ones, would still do so if that meant they would have to pay a Church Tax to support the running of their Church/denomination. I do believe numbers would drop like a stone.

As our local Vicar used to say on Christmas service 'so lovely to see you here today- would be nice to see you some other Sundays!'

this is still a Christian country

Less than half the respondents in the last census ticked the Christian box, closely followed by no religion.

This alone is a good enough reason to stop state funding for Cof E schools.

Smileless2012

Presumably at Christmas the story of the birth of Jesus is told so is makes sense that the story of his death and resurrection is told at Easter, or is the only focus to be Easter eggs and the Easter bunny.

Both Christmas and Easter as festivals predate Christianity. Easter eggs are about new life, which is interpreted in different ways by Christian believers and other people. Some focus on the joy of spring and new life; Christians focus on the resurrection that they believe in. But essentially they have the same message - new life - and both are equally valid. All that happened is that Christianity nicked the festival for their own - and sometimes look down on others who stay true to its original meaning.

*Joseph went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus^
I know I should take it seriously but I couldn’t help thinking that I went to Pilates hoping for the body of Jane Fonda.*

Oreo

Why should you have to drive them there?
Obvious innit?
If you feel so strongly about something then you go the extra mile.Literally.
I’m nowhere near Leicester.
You have to accept this is still a Christian country which is why there are lots of C of E village schools.

How else would have they got there? Angel wings?

It is still a Christian country. although figures show that there is a huge decline in numbers attending Church and with real religious beliefs, rather than 'cultural' Christians. CofE village schools belong to the past, as the vast majortiy attending them are not Christians, not CofE, and of other Christian denominations, other faiths and mostly, none.

Just like it is a total nonsense that CofE should be the only religious people in the Lords.

Education is for all, and religion should have no part in it- unless, as Lucky says, it is to get a better understanding of other Faiths (and the alternatives, Humanism, Atheism- and their own moral framework).