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Religious Education At School.

Here we go again, i’m about to upset a lot of people. I have heard a lot of people in the media, and in the phone in shows. And even socialist thinkers on social media like myself, and government ministers. Saying we should stop teaching religion in schools, and stopping faith schools.

So as someone who has never really conformed, i want it on record, that i think it’s madness and would be hypocritical. Having lived at a time, when from the age of five up to eleven, being taught to be a Christian in the classroom. Then from the age of eleven to fifteen, we would sing hymns and say prayers at assembly before the school day started. Then we would take turns reading the days lesson while standing on stage in front of a lectern, in front of the whole school.

The reason why i became a non conformist, was because my religious teacher in those years after the age of eleven, a Mr Harvey said to us “feel free to question anything you don’t understand” and like a good student i obliged. Nothing seem to fit in my head about a God above, or as i use to say a man in the sky. But the stories told in the bible, did stir a part of me, which made me think what great lessons it teaches us to be better people. And along with a mother who encouraged me and my siblings to be nicer people. Even if you slip sometimes.

But even though i ended up not believing in a God, i never forgot those lessons my mother and the bible taught me. So i looked far deeper and found my own beliefs. You could say i failed my religious education lessons, though i came top of the class twice in the exams out of five. So you would probably think i would want this religion teaching in schools stopped. If you do, you couldn’t be so wrong, it never harmed me once, or the fellow students i went to school with, there was never any pressure like say English and Maths. It also taught me to think for myself, and to not be brainwashed. And being a non believer, i made a positive decision to not baptise my two children, but to let them grow up to believe what they find to be right for themselves. And i never once told them to not have religious studies that might guide them on the right path. It’s their own choice. And to end religious teachings in school, for political reasons especially, can only be a bad move for our future children. They don’t have to end up believers, but the life lessons they will learn are precious,and never forget Jesus or Mohammed or even Buddha were socialists wink. Colin Baker 2008.