Should religon be taught in schools?

Hi Debators should religon be taught in Public schools .I am talking about any one - Christian , Hindu , Muslim ,Sikh prayers , chants , disscusions in the assembly or special classes as part of the Course .Or study of holy books as part of a session in school.


Please note--1) i am not reffering to teaching all religons and culture and tolerance as part of explaning generally. 2)Also i am not speaking about about Sunday Schools that teach Bible specifically or Madrasa that teach about Islam

Please tell me your argument in favour or against it .

teaching religion in schools widens the knowledge of young minds that are able to grasp more and better. it should be a part of curriculum. knowledge is always good. you learn what others believe, in various parts of the world and know more about their faith and the ways they seek solace. learning and getting to know others religion is not necessarily following them or imbibing them. knowing someone somewhere eats beef or pork is not necessarily imbibing them. nor is it detrimental to their upbringing.

on the other hand, you learn and realise and become big enough to accept the differences in your friends and neighbours. i have a jewish neighbour, and i am at her house for every religious festival of theirs. and she comes over for diwali and dussehra etc. she tells me about her religion and we discuss ours too. it has left us enriched and we have more respect for each other.

on the whole i do think teaching anything new including religion in schools is a good idea!

Excellent topic. 👏 Had me thinking all day.
We are talking of students chosing from Hinduism, Islam, buddhism.. and so on and then being taught just that one religion right?
I vote for No.
Religion is a very personal aspect of one's character moulded by our upbringing. And it is personal because though every religion is meticulously defined by the holy books, for better or for worse, we have all adopted as our Bible little adaptations of the original tents of faith.
Guided by our lifestyles, locations, circumstances we all have our individual doctrines. Let us take the easiest example of Hinduism. Does not every Hindu household sectored by caste and community have its own nuances. Largely we have the same rules, same code of conduct, but when it comes to everyday practical things.. practices in a Tamilion brahmin house will vary from a Kashmiri Pandit's house. And any study in religion will definitely delve into detail.

This is one aspect of a childs character that I think is best moulded at the parent's anvil. Let the parents be the child's primary grooms of spirituality.

I totally agree with mist here. Religion is very personal thing and when children are young it better be left on parents to teach them about religion. I would never like my children learning religion in schools. Therefore, I think Montessory are very popular these days. They don't teach you anything about religion nor do they celebrate any religious festivals.

Originally posted by: mist

This is one aspect of a childs character that I think is best moulded at the parent's anvil. Let the parents be the child's primary grooms of spirituality.

Well said Mist.

Originally posted by: jasunap

teaching religion in schools widens the knowledge of young minds that are able to grasp more and better. it should be a part of curriculum. knowledge is always good. you learn what others believe, in various parts of the world and know more about their faith and the ways they seek solace. learning and getting to know others religion is not necessarily following them or imbibing them. knowing someone somewhere eats beef or pork is not necessarily imbibing them. nor is it detrimental to their upbringing.

on the other hand, you learn and realise and become big enough to accept the differences in your friends and neighbours. i have a jewish neighbour, and i am at her house for every religious festival of theirs. and she comes over for diwali and dussehra etc. she tells me about her religion and we discuss ours too. it has left us enriched and we have more respect for each other.

on the whole i do think teaching anything new including religion in schools is a good idea!

Hi Jasunap , you didn't get the topic . I posted that we aren't talking about teaching world religons . We are talking about selecting one religon and making it a part of the school . Like some public schools run by Christians have hymns in the morning ( but they don't have slokas or Muslim prayers) . And then there are some Hindu Public schools ( i heard Don Bosco , DAV does this ) , they start by invoking the Gayatri Mantra in the morning . Thats what i meant.😊

in our primary school we said parayers before our dinner, not the way a muslim does, like achristian does, but they didnt force us to do it, if we didnt want to, then that was our choice...in high school we dont do that, we do RE but we learn about differant religions, and thats not wot the topics about.
i think u should, i mean like they did in my primary school, do one religion if they want to, but not tell people to do it if they dont want to

I go to a Catholic school, like years ago they were really strict on just following their religion but now they are very open. Like we do have prayers in the morning, which everyone sort of participates in like they aren't forcing you to pray to their god, like we would pray bu we are praying to the god we believe in and the prayers are pretty general. We also have masses and eucharists around Christmas and Easter but that also we have a choice to participate in.

In my opinion I think that it's okay as long as they don't force anthing on you. I think it's okay when you get in high school or so, because in elementary the child is still young and does not even understand his/her own religion so he might get confused with the other religions.

hey aparna, sorry about that gaffe. thought you meant teaching religion in schools. which i think is a good idea for children to learn stories from all religion. when it comes to prayers and following religions, i think not. that should be done at home. so armed with the basics and the methods the kids will realise that all religions teach the same things like love, compassion, being good, honest, upright and worthy human beings first. and it does not really matter who you call GOD and pray to!