Grannyactivist said:
The school arranged visits to the local synagogue and was visited by the Imam from the mosque in the nearest city. The school also taught about other major world religions and about diverse cultures. All of this teaching took place within an ethos of caring and acceptance, but was underpinned by Christian values.
Here in Australia my son, a high school teacher, does something very similar, and has taken the pupils to synagogues, mosques, Greek orthodox churches and other religious places. He teaches at a catholic school. Such schools are very different now, and catholicism is not pushed very much at all. However, priests and nuns visit year 12 once a year to see if any of them have a 'vocation'. The kids are very honest and open these days, and always say that they are not willing to accept a life without sex. He has never known, in 7 years of teaching, any of his graduates go on to a religious life.
Australia is the second most multicultural country in the world after Israel, and we have people of different cultures all around us. My DIL-to-be is Cantonese, for example. After 31 years here, if I find myself in a white monocultural place I feel uneasy. I was once invited to an Assembly of God church for their Christmas pageant, and could not understand why the whole place felt strange (apart from the religiosity, which was always going to be alien to me). Then I realised that everyone was white anglo-celtic.