# Religious Education **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 1, 2010, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218 "2010-09-01T01:53:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/41 "2010-09-02T01:23:39Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > > [@Cisco](#): > > > > Theoretically, I think religious studies should be required in several grades throughout public education. It is culturally important, and promotes understanding between peoples of the world. > > Having been subjected to religious studies for a number of years, I found them to be a massive waste of time. Most people I know say the same thing about math, science, literature, grammar, history, civics . . . and yet everybody is still “subjected to” those in school. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/42 "2010-09-02T01:57:54Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Prove it: how does a secular understanding of Martin Luther King, Jr. suffer by only focusing on the secular aspects of his motivation? I don’t believe you can separate King’s motivation into neat little categories of secular or religious. Even if you could, if you know nothing of the **Reverend** Martin Luther King, Jr.'s religious motivations then you do not have a very good understanding of the man. > [@](#): > > Anything worth doing can be justified using purely secular arguments. Something like Shahadah is irrelevant to real life, unless you’re trying to catalogue every pointless thing religious people do because they’re religious. Okay, I think we’re coming at this from two different places. When I do historical research I’m not trying to “justify” anything. Ultimately I’m trying to answer the question why. Why do people do what they do? If I exclude religious motivations then I’m not doing a very good idea of answering why. > [@](#): > > Having been subjected to religious studies for a number of years, I found them to be a massive waste of time. People say the same thing about literature, mathematics, and music class. It’s not a particularly compelling argument that we shouldn’t have those classes. IF all those religious studies were a waste of your time then you were probably the reason they were a waste. ---
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/43 "2010-09-02T09:49:22Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Having been subjected to religious studies for a number of years, I found them to be a massive waste of time. The difficulty is knowing what was a waste of time. I am a math/sci/IT geek. Suddenly many subjects that I considered a waste of time for me in the past (history, religion and geography in particular) have now become central to my current research and next book. I am astounded what I can dredge up from school, many decades later. What I really appreciate is that I had a smattering of all of them, and now that they are unexpectedly critical to me, I can draw on the foundations set at school. No-one knows what they will use for the rest of their life. No school can set a curriculum according to what a student will use. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/44 "2010-09-02T11:11:57Z")
I think there should be a lot of religious education. But not for its religious value or from a religious POV. I would want my children to have a thorough grounding in Christianity, Islam, Norse, and Greco-Roman. And, if time, religions from further East. Because they are central to European history. All religions carry the same message: be your best. They just differ on the details. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/45 "2010-09-03T13:41:39Z")
My German friend told me they taught the bible in their public schools, but were also much more skeptical about it than in America. Much of Europe is far more non-religious than America. My guess is that in an open format, where everyone is encouraged to ask questions, it’s a better format to learn about such characters. In America, much of their religious education comes from clergyman whom has taught us it is not proper to ask certain questions. While I don’t think those religious persons are all that important to learn about, but if one does, I think it would be quite enlightening for all that took an interest in religion and their characters, to finally meet their opposition in an open discussion with the likes of Robert G. Ingersoll, E. Haldeman Julius, Joseph McCabe, Bertrand Russell and many other great freethinkers who had plenty to say. They weren’t scared of anybody and put on quite a show to boot! > [@Chronos](#): > > Moses, fictional? Legendary, I’ll buy. And his exploits were almost certainly exaggerated. But it still seems pretty likely to me that there was a real man named Moses who led the Hebrew people around the time of the exodus from Egypt. It would seem pretty likely to me as well, that if such a person led such an exodus of people on this scale, there would have been plenty of archaeological evidence left behind. I don’t think there is. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/46 "2010-09-03T13:58:33Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > My German friend told me they taught the bible in their public schools, but were also much more skeptical about it than in America. Much of Europe is far more non-religious than America. > > My guess is that in an open format, where everyone is encouraged to ask questions, it’s a better format to learn about such characters. In America, much of their religious education comes from clergyman whom has taught us it is not proper to ask certain questions. > > While I don’t think those religious persons are all that important to learn about, but if one does, I think it would be quite enlightening for all that took an interest in religion and their characters, to finally meet their opposition in an open discussion with the likes of Robert G. Ingersoll, E. Haldeman Julius, Joseph McCabe, Bertrand Russell and many other great freethinkers who had plenty to say. They weren’t scared of anybody and put on quite a show to boot! The problem is that one needs the tools to even understand what " the likes of Robert G. Ingersoll, E. Haldeman Julius, Joseph McCabe, Bertrand Russell and many other great freethinkers who had plenty to say", are saying. All of these people knew, for example, what the stories contained in the Bible _were_. IMO the goal of education in religions (as opposed to religious education) ought to be to enable children to at least be intelligent and knowledgable followers of such a debate. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/47 "2010-09-03T14:26:50Z")
Well, obviously, every educated person should understand the difference between homoiousios and homoousios, and understand how to identify the good, right-thinking people who believe the one, and the horrible infidels who believe the other. It is just that important. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/48 "2010-09-03T15:04:27Z")
> [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](#): > > Why are we just limiting it to the Abrahamic religions? Why not other religions like Wicca (Do what ye will an it harm none) or whatever? Because Wicca is a stupid, recently made up religion that has virtually no influence on anything current, let alone historical. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/49 "2010-09-03T15:12:58Z")
I’m an atheist and I know more about the Bible than most of my more religious acquaintances. I think it helps to know things such as that there are two different accounts of creation that differ in order, that various religions have different versions of the 10 Commandments so posting it on the wall requires the govt to ‘endorse’ one religion right off the bat, that Friday night and Saturday football violate the 10 Commandments, so maybe you should rethink making them the basis for US law, and that the Old Testament (or just plain Bible to Jews) was written by several different authors. It might also be good to know that Jesus was not packing a gun, was pissed off at the banks too, and probaby did not have blond hair and blue eyes despite those murals in LDS churches. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/50 "2010-09-03T15:12:59Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > > [@Grumman](#): > > > > I’d want my kids to be able to recognise that these stories aren’t true, and to know how to avoid getting in fights with anyone that thinks otherwise. Apart from that, it’s no more important than any other pop culture. > > Yep. I taught my kids about Mars, Hera, Jesus, Mohamed, etc. If they ever make it onto Jeopardy I’d hate to see them get slaughtered in the religion category. Funny you should mention that. I’m a jeopardy junky, and I often wonder if it is fair that so many questions are about the Judeo-Christian religion. They will even put a biblical question in Final Jeopardy, which can make or break the game for almost anyone. It’s not at all unusual for someone who is obviously an immigrant from a non-Christian country playing, although they do tend to be pretty up on their bible stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/51 "2010-09-03T17:56:32Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > > [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](#): > > > > Why are we just limiting it to the Abrahamic religions? Why not other religions like Wicca (Do what ye will an it harm none) or whatever? > > Because Wicca is a stupid, recently made up religion that has virtually no influence on anything current, let alone historical. Was calling Wicca stupid really necessary? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/52 "2010-09-03T19:35:35Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > I’d want my kids to be able to recognise that these stories aren’t true, and to know how to avoid getting in fights with anyone that thinks otherwise. Apart from that, it’s no more important than any other pop culture. You do realize that the world’s great religions are more than just pop culture, right? They inform politics, laws, morals, and have dramatic effects on geopolitical relationships. No matter how you feel about the existence of God or Nirvana, you probably do your children a disservice by implying that they are unimportant. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/53 "2010-09-04T02:40:50Z")
You know you would think someone would have written a “Religion for Atheists” book. I see a market. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/54 "2010-09-04T03:57:51Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > You know you would think someone would have written a “Religion for Atheists” book. I see a market. Check out _Religious Literacy_ by Stephen Prothero. It’s not “for” atheists anymore than it’s for anyone else, but it is absolutely not exclusive to any group, either. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/55 "2010-09-04T05:07:32Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > > [@DanBlather](#): > > > > Because Wicca is a stupid, recently made up religion that has virtually no influence on anything current, let alone historical. > > Was calling Wicca stupid really necessary? No, I guess not come to think of it. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/56 "2010-09-04T05:32:10Z")
Man, I’m feeling so detached from this conversation… religion is a compulsory subject in schools… I’ve got years of religious education behind me. I can give brief descriptions of the beliefs of every major religion in the world, just like I can do with major geographic features of the world. It’s just data. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/57 "2010-09-04T19:42:53Z")
> [@GHO57](#): > > Man, I’m feeling so detached from this conversation… religion is a compulsory subject in schools… I’ve got years of religious education behind me. I can give brief descriptions of the beliefs of every major religion in the world, just like I can do with major geographic features of the world. It’s just data. But you’re probably being taught by people who have little or no religious conviction. ---
**Author:** ![kevlaw](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kevlaw/32/2281_2.png) [@kevlaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevlaw)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/58 "2010-09-04T20:16:03Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I’m an atheist. If I had children, I’d teach them the basics of all of the major religions and the different sects within the Big 3. But I’d teach them _about_ those religions, not that those religions are true or correct. I believe you need to know _about_ them to have a basic understanding of Western civilization. I am an atheist and i do have children. When my kids were little i often read them bible stories at bedtime so they have a passing knowledge of the main characters. But now that they are old enough to think critically… Fuggedaboutit. I can’t even get them to watch Cool Hand Luke! I can’t decide whether mine is a success story or a failure. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/59 "2010-09-04T21:36:58Z")
I went to public schools in the 50s. We had a class in religious history. We leaned about Zoroastrianism, Islam, Judaism ,and others as a part of history. You can not ignore religions, especially since they are causing so much grief to the world in their competition for accumulating followers and trying to influence governments. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218/60 "2010-09-11T02:48:30Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > [Things like the four noble truths, the five pillars, and immaculate conception have shaped the way people think. The what? You’ve lost me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-education/552218.md?page=4)