I think that faith schools (of any faith) put the faith of the parents above the free will of the student - and that doesn't just go for kids who choose atheism, it goes just as much for the child of Christian parents who has decided to convert to Islam and yet who is sent to the Christian assembly.
You're assuming all parents are very authoritarian, and all children are very weak. There's no way my parents would have tried to force me to follow their beliefs or lack thereof, and there's no way I would have agreed to if they did (unless I happened to have the same opinions as them anyway). Maybe you're right and most families do work like that, but it just seems so weird to me.
I think school needs to be a place where children aren't forced to engage with any faith, but where they can engage to their chosen degree with any faith...
I think it's reasonable to assume that this 'chosen degree' might for some include communal acts of worship.
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dancing_serpent
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-10 10:31 pm (UTC)You're assuming all parents are very authoritarian, and all children are very weak. There's no way my parents would have tried to force me to follow their beliefs or lack thereof, and there's no way I would have agreed to if they did (unless I happened to have the same opinions as them anyway). Maybe you're right and most families do work like that, but it just seems so weird to me.
I think school needs to be a place where children aren't forced to engage with any faith, but where they can engage to their chosen degree with any faith...
I think it's reasonable to assume that this 'chosen degree' might for some include communal acts of worship.