Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2014/06/19/uk-bans-teaching-creationism-a.html
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The Religious Education requirement is an odd one. I consider myself quite lucky in that I had extremely good RE teachers who covered all the major world religions, including discussion of their history and the underlying philosophies. It was particularly even-handed, especially as my school was ostensibly a Christian school.
I credit that class with not only encouraging me to question my CofE upbringing but also making me a lot more aware and tolerant (if still sceptical) of other cultures and their religious traditions.
But I definitely get the argument. I’m sure many people weren’t as lucky to have teachers as good as mine.
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I totally agree with this decision. Religious teaching has no place in schools, Schools are made to learn REAL things, and nor the fairy tales of an imaginary friend…
The freedom of religion is out of schools, and this is a very good thing, it should be the same everywhere, especially in USA !!!
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Except the ones that don’t.
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No-one’s stopping anyone’s right to follow their religion. It just shouldn’t be done in schools funded by the tax payer.
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This is great - national news here. They’re also contrasting with the approach in the US.
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I am surprised Creationism isn’t more popular around here. It’s like Maker Faire, for everything.
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In the interests of balance…
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Project Log Day 7: well things went faster than I thought. It looks like I’ll be starting a new project next week. I’ll try to get it right this time.
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What is that?
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Maybe he’ll get back to you after he’s rested…
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There’s not really a “social anthropology curriculum” in the UK, most likely it would fit into the history curriculum. Also, this isn’t so much of a big thing in the UK, as we’ve generally always had separate science and religion classes. It’s only been in relatively recent years that the idea that teaching evolution was somehow incompatible with religion has come over from the US.
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Where did you get that great picture?
Father Ted… A BBC show about some Irish Priest. it was great… about as good as the Vicar of Dibley. By which I mean very good!
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I’ve long said US public schools need a comparative religion primer either as a standalone semester or integrated into a history class.
I doubt education will ever be centralized in the US so it’ll never happen at the federal level, but the coastal states could do this. Probably not in the South, and the Midwest is questionable.
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They’re not the only ones.
My gut reaction on reading this article was a quite unladylike “f*ck yeah!”
If only we could import just one more thing from across the pond. (original typo said “think”, which works well too)
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I never understood the need atheists feel to insult the majority of the world’s people. So, you don’t believe in some sort of god? Good for you. A lot of people do though and I’m not so wise or ‘intellectual’ as to be prepared to go out on a limb and start insulting people who feel differently to myself.
TIL : Someone thought The Vicar of Dibley was good. 
Father Ted wasn’t a BBC show - it was Channel 4.
Anyway…
This is good news - although it’s sad that this was necessary.
Absurdly, I believe that it’s still the law in the UK that there is a collective act of worship every day - although almost all schools don’t bother (mine didn’t, thankfully).
I would say that I look forward to the days when religion is taught in History, but that might be a little inflammatory.
Ah, happy memories of RE class with the teacher with a glass eye and a phobia of oranges.
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Comparative religion was taught in my “world history” class in high school in Minnesota. Creationism was briefly mentioned at the end of the evolution chapter of our biology book and was identified as an article of faith, not a matter of science.
But that was back in the day, in that brief period of time before public education budget gutting and Christian fundamentalist infiltration into school boards.
Anyway, back OT, good show, UK.
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I went to a large Church of England school, with a vicar as headteacher. The only acts of worship I can remember were the christmas and easter services at a church (which parents could opt their children out of if they weren’t christian), about 800 metres away on the other side of the city centre. School assemblys were mildly religious on occasion but were generally secular.
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