hypochondriac

I think he was referring nationally rather than just a single borough. I'm not sure what you mean by no place? I think we have all agreed that being force-fed religion as fact is totally wrong. However, I would argue that learning about religion is vitally important, since it was and continues to be a large force in our society (both good and bad.)

I agree, although it would have been better had a few of them talked in a calm and firm manner about what she was doing. In general, shouting and swearing at racist idiots makes them worse not better.

I am 100% of this opinion. Great post. I wonder how many people deriding faith schools for brainwashing actually attended a faith school themselves?

Although the person who did say something was also aggressive and used abusive language so that hardly helped matters.

And I will stop replying now

And I would agree with you there. I just don't think it is as widespread as some on here are making out.

I think you have ignored what I have been telling you.

From a historical viewpoint, religion has shaped our society and history for hundreds of years. It made Britain a lot of what it is today (both good and bad) and so I would argue that Christianity is a lot more relevant than paganism. Of course, Anglo Saxon life has its merits as well but as it is impossible to study all of history at school, perhaps some things have more relevance than others?

Or use it as a guide or as inspiration to live a better life, or who realise that as a document it is flawed (as written by flawed human beings) but realise that it has some good in it and some worthwhile lessons to teach us?

I thought that is what most schools did. So it's not really a waste of money then is it? It depends on how the Bibles are utilised.

If more people knew how long most people who hang take to die then they wouldn't think it was cowardly. It's an act of desperation.

I don't think the entire bible is the word of God. Besides, I have already explained to you how many Christians interpret it.

I consider educating yourself about religions, if only from a historical perspective a worthwhile exercise. People may disagree but it's just an opinion.

I'm not arguing that Gove's agenda (if he has one) is in any way correct. All I'm saying is that the Bible is an important literary document and I have no problem with it being studied in schools.

I would say there is little difference, apart from the fact that Christianity is the historical religion of the UK and thus you could argue that studying the bible has more relevance to the UK and its history (in the same way that we study the Tudors for example and not American presidents.)

But could you not say the same thing about every school being given a copy of Pepy's diary? Or Anne Franks? Or Shakespeare? What is the difference if you are studying it from a purely historical and literary perspective?

Never happened at mine. I don't think that was standard practice at all religious schools. We certainly had assemblies at special occasions such as Palm Sunday and christmas (only the christmas one was the entire service compulsory) but it was understood that this was a religious school and as such even though who did not believe in God were required to respect the service and the religious ritual. Many people from my school had no interest in religion but they respected the religious ceremony and attended the christmas assembly as the school required them to. I don't agree with you that it brainwashed any of them in any way.

That wasn't the case at my Catholic schools. I'm not sure what assemblies have to do with anything, what did yours contain? At my school we were taught about Christianity and about evolution. Nobody forced God as a fact onto anyone. The majority of people I still know from school do not believe in God so clearly any brainwashing you believe may have been going on did not have much effect. I went to a private school btw, and it is possible that the state school system presents the existence of God as a fact. If so then I agree that that should not happen.

That didn't happen at either my Catholic Primary or Secondary school (and I am not a Catholic.) I think you are generalising about very specific instances.

I'm not sure that all christians use the Bible as an explicit set of instructions telling you what to do. Rather, some read it and take whatever inspiration they choose from it that they believe helps them to lead a decent life. That's certainly how quite a few people in my life have used it. I don't agree with anyone that explicitly follows everything that is written in the bible and I don't think that that is what all Christians do.

The other side of the coin to that is that I went to a Catholic School, suffered none of the abuse you mentioned (there were a handful of muslims there too) and your right to your religious views were totally respected.

If they are studying the historical and literary importance of the document then I believe it has value. After all, no one would complain if the same amount of money was spent distributing Pepy's diary for instance.

Keep casting your line. I'm not biting

Can get a fair amount of drinking time then.