Should the state be funding the brainwashing of guillible young things into handing over money obtained under deception of making promises, such as if they give money to pay for a building and a man to wear a fancy white coat when they die they will live in a land full of white, white clothing and wings?

Should the state fund any religious schools at all, and should they be banned?

Wasn't Karl Marx right that religion is the poison of the masses?

Cliff

The opium of the masses, I think. No, definitely not, not a penny of taxes should go towards religious schools, outrageous to even think such a thing.

Whilst I recognise the value of religion to people, when I take an objective view here is what religion becomes (in my opinion and not wishing to offend anyone!)

Religion whilst providing benifits to many people has been used as a cover for some of the worst atrocities ever. I personally am unable to reconcile the hypocrisy of most religions with their teachings. Religions is at best a set of beliefs (not TRUTHS) which rely upon faith. Therefore, we as a culture must ask ourselves is an educational insitution the place to be teaching beliefs? My opinion is that it is not. I now recognise that whilst my fellow Christians were telling me that the bible was infallible I had faith that I should believe in the teachings. I found that there are times when established scientific 'fact' did not mesh with biblical scripture. To find the balance I broke it down to the following: Religious doctrine or scripture are matters to be taken on faith, science is generally accepted facts. This way even if Faith and fact did not match up I simply choose to have faith that the bible holds necessary teachings, accepted fact enables me to converse with others about subjects such as natural selection. This had allowed me to take a more objective view. I think many people forget that religion is principally about FAITH not FACT. Schools should not be places where young minds can effectively be forcefed religious beliefs masquerading as facts.

Therefore when chulcoop raises the question of 'Legalised Fraud' here is an answer from a spiritual, but objective person. Religion is about FAITH whereas Fraud is misrepresenting FACT. I should also state that I am not naive so I do recognise that many overly zealous people try to pass beliefs of as FACTS in which it undermines their own religion. To any christian who would like to challenge me ask yourself one question....Should you, and can you ever PROVE that God exists? (If your answer is yes then see John 20:29)

Spirituality continues to evolve, even if the religions refuse to.

I've met so many disillusioned Christians recently. Several were actually screwed up, largely because of the indoctrination (which differed from the teachings of Jesus).

Thus I think funding dogma is wrong. If you want to create a religious school where people can study and question all the religions, then I'd be all for that.

No, the state should NOT fund any religious schools.

Banned? No... but the parents should pay. Although, it's pretty unfair to brainwash your children.

Chulcoop:



No.



No.

I don't know for a fact that religion is *wrong*. Maybe, for all we know, one of them *has* got it right.

The default scientific position is scepticism, not denial. Just because a theory cannot (yet) be proven, does not mean that it is wrong.

To deny something just because you don't agree with it is unscientific (and as bad as the behaviour of those from some religions who claim that *only* they have the "real truth"!)

If you remove all the dogma from the religions, they all say pretty much the same thing.

Graham, please read my previous post. Religion is not about Facts but about Faith. If we KNEW that there was definately life after death would religion have the same importance? I do not deny any religions. I have faith in what I believe whether that come from science or elsewhere. Surely you can see that eductation is not about faith? It is about what is presently held to be fact. If not I respect that view. However, I you do recognise that then does it not follow that Religious Schools are unecessary and therefore should be closed.

Martinnelson:

Yes, I am aware that religion is "not abut about Facts, but Faith", but that simply requires that you believe something *without proof*. It does *not* mean that it is factually incorrect.

We do not *not* know that there is life after death. There has been no proof, nor disproof, of this, therefore we cannot dismiss it simply because it doesn't fit in with our own "beliefs"!

I do not think that the State should fund religious schools, but neither do I think that they should be closed simply because they don't fit in with what you or I may consider to be factually accurate.

My personal opinion is that religion should not have any power in the world at all. No Pope, no established church, no theocracies. However, I'm not against people having religious views, like the little old lady whose main purpose in life is doing things with her local church or the terminally ill patient who wants a bit of comfort in their last days.

As an anarchist, I belive that noone should have authority over others. That means that all should be able to do as they please so long as noone is hurt or exploited. As soon as you try to control someone, you stop being an anarchist. Therefore I can accept that some people may wish to keep their religious beliefs after any future anarchistic revolution (which cannot happen unless there is class consiousness), although if people are class concious, they will feel less attached to their religion anyway.

One thing I really dislike is the forcing of religion or ideology onto a child. Children should be encouraged to find views they are comfortable with.

Red - My one to one tutor for philosophy (my best/worst subject) said I had great understanding but useless at compiling a folder of work). She had four words for ones religious beliefs:

Absence
exclusion
indifference
ignorance

Which one do you relate to Red?

About views I am comfortable with, he's wot I wrote with the help of my tutor. I wrote this in Yr7:- (14yrs)

I have NO religion (my mother always put C of E on forms)until I told her to put none. I am not devout but pious, I understand righteousness, duty (moral responsibility) and godliness. I believe we are a product of time and I am grateful I am allowed forward movement thru the intelligence of the universe until my time expires. I believe my signature remains behind me as I live my life. When time stops for me I can choose union or I can decay.

My girlfriend said I talk crap, she said 'just burn me if I die because I can't stand the thought of worms eating me.

My own view is that while general study of religion in schools is ok (i.e. studying different faiths from a general knowledge point of view) anything more specific then that, or trying to promote one religion over another, does not belong in the education system but at home with the family.

We would not think twice about banning schools which taught socialism, communism or other political ideologies as given truths and all other political systems as erroneous. I see no difference between that idea and schools based on a specific faith. They are both sets of beliefs and while overall study is fine and even necessary - to promote one over the others is lunacy and is likely to lead to social problems and encourage segregation of the community.

Therefore no, there should no state funding of religious schools. There should not be any religious schools in my opinion.

Sadly, religion in schools tends to get tied up with family values, morality and behavioural issues in children - all of which are hot potatoes and all of which the public in general feel strongly about and consider religion at least a partial solution (which it is not in my opinion). Given that, I can't see any party coming up with policies to reduce faith based education. It's a vote loser.

I would probably relate to indifference. I used to be Church of England, but I'm not a very religious person.

what, slightly religious then? LoL

Agnostic. I dont know if there is any god(s) personally.

LoL Rarely written words make me laugh (and laugh) canvas, but ya did with that one. (at the end of the day, night falls ;-()

Karl Marx wasn't right about anything. Yet his 150 year old theories and predictions, none of which came to fruition, are still propagated in colleges and universities as if they were gospel. As for religion, well my view is that some religions are bone fide and spiritually based and others are clearly run by charlatans who want to take peoples money.

I think religion has generally been a positive thing for mankind. Detractors will point to all the bad things done in the name of religion and of course they have a valid point. However I'd say that humanity has generally been enriched by religion.

I certainly enjoy listening to Choral Evensong on Radio three, that programme certainly has atmosphere!

eh?!