Why is it that we spent a whole year on Christianity and half a year on other religions?

[omnom]

In my school, in Year 7, we spent the whole of the school year learning about Christianity in Religious Studies. We then in the following year covered two religions in the year, therefore making it half a year on each religion.
Aren't all of the religions equal and shouldn't we have equal time spent on each? What's so special about Christianity other than it's the religion of the UK? We should learn about all of them, not just our country's own religion.

omnom

[gadgetgeek]

Makes a nice change. My son knows so much about the Sikh faith, which is a great religion, but no mention of Christianity. Then again my son doesn't believe but those type of views and outlook on life never make a subject!!!

[omnom]

I'd swap with your son any day! I'm sick of hearing about it, every lesson somehow Buddhism or Islam can relate to Christianity somehow.

omnom

[Mosaic]

Depends on the school. If it has the magic initials CE or RC in its name, it kinda indicates where the folks are coming from. If it's got anything like al-isla in the name, you can expect different again, If a state non-denominational school, get mater and pater to take it up with the headteacher, as all faith and belief systems should be given equal weight, as well as non-faith based notions of ethical behaviour.

[mollykins]

umm i was about to say but then i realised you're in year seven but it might be a similar reason.

i'm doing gcse's and on the question papers it says stuff like 'what are the different views of the role of women in the house' in your answer refer to christianity and one other religion. this would mean you'd have to study christianity the most, and another religion for each topic that has oposite views.

[craft1948]

well maybe you hit the nail on the head when you said 'it's the religion of the UK'....

[gadgetgeek]

At the end of the day, if you are religious etc, all faiths state we all worship one God. Not the most exciting of subjects regardless of an individuals faith, Then again we are constantly told its a diverse multi cultural society yahdy dahdy dah. I dont care about what religon, race or someone is. Its their personality that counts.

[omnom]

True, moore890, religion is the base for all conflicts and wars. I mean look at Hitler and the Holocaust. All of those Jews, homosexuals, gypsies and blacks died all because of that one man and his Nazi clan. Religion does do bad things to people when they take it to the extreme.

omnom

[Mosaic]

Did Hitler have religious views?
Not sure - but it is certainly the case millions of people have been killed through religious in-fighting, and wars between religions.

[omnom]

craft1948, it may be the religion of the UK, and we may indeed live in the UK, but what if we were to move, and all we knew about was Christianity? All religions should be given equal status, no matter how important it is to the country.

omnom

[sophie_1003]

Nothings changed then, when I was in school we 'did' Christianity and Hinduism, and had questions very similar to Molly's on the GCSE paper, everyone took the subject as a bit of a joke at my school, not many people did the full GCSE but everyone had to do the 'short course'.

[DC_FC]

I was quite glad teh way my RE lessons were done, didnt really focus on 1 religion

[saxy_jag]

Looking back to my own RE lessons in the 1970s, it was pretty similar, except we covered Judaism and Buddhism and spent a lot of time learning about the bible rather than other religions.

Funnily enough, the teachers didn't once address the thoughts/rights/beliefs of the atheist.

[tamborine]

woddya mean move? This country is investing in you by educating you - not for other countries to benefit.

[theshedman]

Hi omnom, you said to craft about what if we were to move and all we knew about was christianity. Well many years ago I worked in Saudi Arabia and the only religion taught or allowed to be practised anywhere was Islam. From that I would say at least our schools are teaching something of other religions which is a lot more than some countries do and we allowed to worship which ever we choose to.