DanMoir

Hi All

I'm the mother of a 11 year old living in England. Son has a school homework on religious studies, where he needs to find info about life(!) from people living in different countries. These are the questions:
1. "Life has no meaning."
2. "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever."
3. "All religions are different paths up the same mountain."

Don't have any friends in Canada, would be great if any one can share their views. Thx

caretaker

Those aren't questions. Is it a multiple choice question and we're supposed to pick a,b, or c? There should be an option for none of the above since those 3 aren't applicable - if a teacher sent something this ambiguous and poorly thought out as homework I hope they don't intend to grade it.
If he has to supply an opinion from Canada about the meaning of life from a religous standpoint I suggest asking the churches; you could e-mail all the big ones, son fills up the paper and everybody's happy.

DanMoir

Yes, they aren't questions, apologise for my wrong choice of word! Views requiredon these 3 Quotes..

Tirytory

You know Canada is a first world country in much the same way the UK/US are.... You won't find any differing views over here particularly...

Maybe choose another country if you really want to go for a different view...India perhaps?

Tirytory

And just to throw my twopenneth in . Religion really has no place in secular education.

scot47

But people have to learn about religion

Teaandtoday5

Learning about religion in 'religious studies' class is one thing, but in early primary school my kids got way too much religion (almost exclusively Christianity) taught as fact rather than 'some people believe'. I heard way too much about baby cheeses when they were in primary one.

dbd33

Where I live, in the season, machinery runs late into the night all week but there's silence on Sunday. Where I live girls are educated for two fewer years than boys. Where I live it's usual to get around by horse and cart as motorised vehicles are the work of the Devil; that's common enough that the roads are built to accomodate horse drawn vehicles. One finds much the same in Pennsylvania.

I suggest that there's nowhere in the UK where a significant minority of the population lead such proscribed lives. (Granted though that I don't know the North, Bradford, Birmingham, Manchester or Newcastle might be like that). Shit, all of Ontario has positive discrimination in education in favour of one specific religion; society here is way more primitive than the UK.

christmasoompa

Sorry, but as per Site Rule 10, thread closed - please contact Site Admin for permission, thx.

christmasoompa

OK, I messaged Sue about the thread and she said it's ok.

OP, please just contact her for any future questions/research type threads before posting, thx.

As you were peeps!

Sally Redux

No they don't.

not2old

indeed they don't

As to why Religion (to each their own) all in the name of summat unknown, that many folks live by, kill & die by it.

Anyhow, back to that OP multiple choice. Why OP did you not include the point 4, which is 'none of the above'

iaink

How is a kid supposed to interpret all the conflicts that are going on around them if they have no idea what the various religions are? How do they understand why that woman has a hajib or, why that guy has a turban, or why that slow moving oldsmobile has a fish symbol on the back?

Im not saying schools should be alligned with any particular faith, but like it or not faith is important to many people, and certainly a part of the societies we live in and the wider world, so leaving kids ignorant of what peoples beliefs are is doing them no favours in preparing them for life.

As for the OP... The answer is very much going to depend on which particular canadian you ask, its a very multicultural society ranging for aetheists to all the religious extremes. There are old school christian enclaves that dbd mentioned (Mennonites, who drive horse drawn carriages) hasidic jews, large muslim communities, large chinese communities, you name it, we have it. I d say that the many christian church denominations are better attended here compared to the UK, and that people are more out there and comfortable being seen to have faith, saying grace at meals and that sort of thing, but there are also lots of atheists too. There is no such thing as a "Canadian" outlook.

Personally I probably align closest with the third statement. I dont believe in God, but Ive no problem with those that do, it can be a great source of strength and comfort at times. It can also be an excuse for mindless bigotry, but history has shown that attempts to remove god from society generally end up with as much bloodshed and nastyness as attempts to impose a particualar religous view on a society. People will be people. Faith is a convenient scapegoat for conflict that would happen anyway under different circumstances for equally tenuous reasons, that just how politics is. In my view God was created by humanity as a way for people to deal with the vagiaries of life before we understood how things work better. We should have moved on from there, but we havent yet.

Certainly life has a meaning, if only in the effect that our interactions with others leave (or can leave) a lasting impression on other lives. We may just be here due to the random interaction of molecules over billions of years, but we are somehow sentient beings who are discovering how our universe works, so lets enjoy that knowledge for what it is and try and use it in a constructive way and pass on what we have learned to future generations for them to build on. Life now is mindboggolingly different to how it was 100 years ago, as it would have been to those 100 years before then. I cant begin to image what it will be like and the technology at our disposal 100 years from now. Change is the only constant.

Option two leaves me cold. If there is a God ive seen no evidence of him taking an interest, so Ive no interest in glorifying "his" name.(dont get me started on sexism in religion!) Live life in the now, and do the right thing because its the right thing, not because of some promise of "heaven" or threat of "hell" if you dont. We are here, conscious and understanding for an infinitesimally short period of time in the cosmic scheme of things, so enjoy it while you can, and hand it it on to the next generation in better shape than you received it. Personally I'm afraid we a blowing that big time in the the name of short term gain.

BristolUK

The Distance Game

Tirytory

Why?

My son in our UK non religious school would come home citing the Lords Prayer and telling me he was going to heaven when he died. I think explaining different religions and their meaning and impact should be left to parents. Kids are better off learning their times tables in school.

Op this might not go the way you wish...