Religion in schools

[Vespa]

Michaela School is being sued because it doesn't allow religious prayer in the school. The school has been subjected to violent threats. I'm not religious and can't see the problem with the school's rulings.

What do you think?

[The Tick]

The school has a right to prohibit religious rituals and actions, what's important is that such a rule is applied all across the board I.e. to all faiths. From what I understand of this story, that seems to be the case. So no issues.

[lambrini]

Michaela School is being sued because it doesn't allow religious prayer in the school. The school has been subjected to violent threats. I'm not religious and can't see the problem with the school's rulings.

What do you think?

+1

The reaction from the Muslim community and its appeasers has been disgusting.

Katharine did nothing wrong.

[Zambo]

School is for getting educated, places of worship are for praying. Do it in your own time.

[chelseachelsea]

Michaela School is being sued because it doesn't allow religious prayer in the school. The school has been subjected to violent threats. I'm not religious and can't see the problem with the school's rulings.

What do you think?

+1

The reaction from the Muslim community and its appeasers has been disgusting.

Katharine did nothing wrong.

+2 and the parents have the option to send their kids to a preferred faith school.

[lambrini]

School is for getting educated, places of worship are for praying. Do it in your own time.

Yep. Unfortunately, busy workers employed to carry out or 'coordinate' these things don’t see it that way.

[chelseachelsea]

School is for getting educated, places of worship are for praying. Do it in your own time.

Exactly.
My mother was a devout Catholic and sent me to a Catholic school, my Infants and Junior school was run by Priests and Nuns. Mass and Confession twice a week at 5,6,7, was hard to take/comprehend.

Was a real eye opener at Grammar School, to hear other religions existed. Thankfully my rebellion to going to mass twice a week was accepted by my Mother.

[birdie]

I don't think the school is banning religious pupils, all it's doing is saying that if pupils want to pray they don't do so on school premises.
When I was a secondary school there was only a handful of Catholic pupils, and 1 Jewish girl, we didn't go to assembly but went to the science lab, just happened that the science master was Catholic so it was his classroom, he read a passage from the Scriptures, which was acceptable to the Jewish girl but when it came to the Lord's Prayer and sometimes also a Hail Mary, the Jewish girl went out of the room,

In the days of Holy Days of Obligation there was no problem going to the nearest Catholic Church for 9am Mass, so absentee punishment and everyone got on with it.
I think the legal obligation for schools to hold a Religious Assembly every day, cut down to just once a week, has gone, but I don't think a school is obliged to provide a room for pupils to pray, and as I understand it Islam doesn't decree that you have to pray at set times, only that you have to pray a certain number of times, I stand to be corrected, of course.

It may seem harsh but the school has a right to say whether it allows acts of worship on the premises or not, and if people don't like it they can send their kids to another school, but it seems that the majority have to bow to the demands of the minority, and, apparently, one of the complaints is that the Muslim pupils aren't allowed to bring their prayer mats.

[VeritasVincit]

Currently, all state schools are legally required to provide an act of “collective worship” that is “broadly Christian” every day . However this becoming applied more and more loosely.

I taught at a state comprehensive. We used to have assemblies daily when I started, with a quick prayer, a hymn and a chat. Non-Christians could opt out and go and have a sit somewhere.
In my final years I had older classes. We had an assembly about three mornings a week when it was far from religious and merely an opportunity for a general chat about anything that was going on that day/week. So everyone went whatever their religion, and we had a large number of different faiths.

My group of 15/16 year olds were not the best at getting in school on time, so the ones who did make it wee instructed to move around so they couldn’t be counted.

[Vespa]

I don't mind the court case, it's the inevitable threats of violence that always throw me. What's the point.

[lambrini]

I don't think the school is banning religious pupils, all it's doing is saying that if pupils want to pray they don't do so on school premises.

Yep. It’s as simple as that. The problem with strict forms of religion is that it's all-encompassing. Take Islam for instance: its importance comes before reasoning and understanding. It's more vital than your spouse, your children. Education. Your own free will. Everything.

I studied with a thirty-something married Muslim woman at college. She was a talented, sweet soul in many ways, but seemed naïvely misguided, shackled by her religion. We once argued about the creation of the universe; she genuinely believed that Allah created everything, from the Solar System to animals. Another time, she told me if her children "ever left Islam" that she would "disown" them. How bizarre, I thought. And yet, she could be incredibly funny and kind and empathic, almost like a sister. Unfortunately, her husband forbade her from studying at university, regarding domestic duties as more important (obviously.) Heartbreaking, really.

Anyway, as I said, religious and political ideologies are problematic. They trump everything.

[birdie]

People can follow whatever religion they want to, I don't have a problem with that, what I don't like is how a very small number of people seem to think it's their right to demand facilities not afforded to, on the whole, the majority.
I recall when I took the sprog to the local HE for a course on something or other, a Muslim girl asked if there was a prayer room, on being told there wasn't she demanded that one be provided for her, she was told it wasn't possible and her course was in the evening starting a t 7pm and the rest of the building, bar the room the course was being held in, would be locked up anyway, and no He facility in Barnet, (which isn't in London) had a prayer room.
This was donkeys years ago and possibly Barnet (which isn't in London) provides a prayer rooms in the education system.
My daughter works with Muslims and one thing for sure, non of the shops in the chain has a prayer room, but that doesn't seem to bother the workers there.

[subsub]

The problem with strict forms of religion is that it's all-encompassing.

I studied with a thirty-something married Muslim woman at college. She was a talented, sweet soul in many ways, but seemed naïvely misguided, shackled by her religion. We once argued about the creation of the universe; she genuinely believed that Allah created everything, from the Solar System to animals.

Agreed, Lambers.
Replace 'Allah' with 'God' and that sounds rather like Christianity...

[Sadact7]

What do you think?

I couldn’t give a fucking shit