A Survey for Ethics Class

Should the major religious beliefs of the world be taught in public schools at the same time as evolution to provide students with alternative beliefs?

 

It should be offered as an elective.

 

Major religious beliefs throughout the world were taught to me when I was in high school. I think it can definitely benefit students as far as developing culture and a better understanding of other people. I only support it if the information is presented as strictly informational though, especially in public schools.



The information provided to me in high school was in a culture section of a geography class.

 

Honestly, no.

I wouldn't even trust half of the church pastors I've seen to give a good viewpoint of what Christianity really is, let alone some random teacher. I'm sure the same could be said for every other religion. I did have a world religion class in HS. It was an elective class. I didn't get much out of it though, but that was mostly due to my hardened heart.

 

I need a clarification though

What do you mean by "taught"? Do you mean actually teach the beliefs as facts? Or teach the history of the religions and how they were formed, and teach the basis of the religions in an unbiased manner?

 

I'll have to agree with Fitz on this one and say no. I belive our public schools need to focus on the basics like math, science and the arts. Leave the personal beliefs to Mom & Dad.

 

No,that's why we have separation of church and state. I prefer my children to be taught Religion so they attend Catholic School.

 

I voted yes, but the stripped down facts only. No depth because that's when lack of understanding, mis-interpretation and more begins to occur.

 

I vote no. I have nothing against religion, I dont use religion, but people just go overboard with it in my opinion. I think it should be up to the student to decide, like me, I dont believe in religion, but that didn't stop me from taking religion courses in College. I wanted to learn, the majority of the world believes in something, I thought it pretty important for me to know the basics at a minimum.

 

I barely trust the public schools to teach Political Science objectively. I wouldn't trust them to teach anything concerning religion.

 

As long as the class is offered as more of a history class, and all major religions are given equal time and an unbiased view, then I have no problem with it.

 

Kind of the way I see it as well but will add that it should be an elective class and not required .

 

This seems to be a very reasonable class, probably given as an elective. If you were studying a world cultures class, you would have to include the religion of said culture. It's not a matter of teaching other religions, as it is showing that many other religions exist thru out the world.

 

It has been my experience with any educational facility that when Religion becomes involved there is no such thing as unbiased or objective thinking.

 

college professors seem to be able to do it

 

I mean teach a basic view of the religion in an unbiased manner, favoring no religion over another, so they can better understand the culture and the backbone of that religion.

 

No they don't. I have undergrad, grad, and doctoral education in religion. There's a reason I walked away from a Ph.D. and being a professor to go into healthcare. I haven't met a professor in a decade of academic training that kept their personal beliefs, politics, etc out of their courses. Whether through lectures or required texts.

It would be much less so in public schools. For that reason, my daughter is in a private school that has high academic standards but also teaches the basics of Christianity. Anything beyond that I am qualified to teach her.

 

The head of the religious studies program at Iowa State University is an atheist and spends his time in classes teaching against religion. Since evolution and big bang are "scientific theories" in that they have some data and evidence used to back their theory, are taught in school, is teaching only one point of view the best way to develop a student's mind into being able to critically analyze the information and deduce the best result for themselves? Albert Einstein said "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

 

Is that not the same as with the atheist educators? I've already heard from some of those educators that those who believe in a religion are "backwards", "uneducated", "stupid", "idiots". Without knowledge of the other side of the spectrum, there can be no middle ground to find a solution.