During a survey a few years ago, I recommended a comparative religion component be included in the Grade 5 Bible class. I believed it would be beneficial for children to understand the differences (and similarities) between Christian denominations and other world religions.
At that time I also suggested delegates from the various faiths do the teaching to ensure they were represented fairly. Perhaps this would have been too difficult to correlate, but I didn’t expect the whole program to be cancelled. Don’t you hate it when you try to do something good and it backfires?
I believe that education increases understanding. In a time when the words “tolerance” and “respect” are waved as banners above us, wouldn’t it be easier to tolerate and respect others’ religious beliefs if we actually tried to understand them through education?
Notice I say “tolerate”, “understand”, and “respect” – not necessarily “accept”. We don’t have to accept or adopt something into our own lives in order to understand it or respect those who believe it.
If the Bible (or religion in general) isn’t taught in school, will it be taught at home? I think there may be some parents who want to teach their children but don’t know what to say because they haven’t received any religious training themselves. It can be confusing with so many differing views out there.
Lately, the loudest view seems to be non-believers screaming “No God – No Religion!” in an attempt to save the rest of us from our folly.
Rest assured there are still plenty of believers. I love it when people tell me of their faith or how a prayer was answered. Keep it up folks! We can continue to believe and study the Bible even without a class at school to help us along.
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