Well, today my six year old niece was baptised, a little late in the piece but that's another story. Whether she'll see this favourably only time (and hopefully some misguidance from me) will tell. Her friendly neigbouhood priest and the Catholic school she attends have assured her this is the only way to heaven, wherever that is. That a school dares to teach such claptrap to children appalls me.
Until my niece went to a Catholic school I was quite ignorant as to how religion was taught in these places. Yes, yes, I know they're Catholic but they teach religion as fact!!!This goes for all private religious schools, be they Christian, Muslim, Jewish etc. Why is this allowed to happen? The perceived left-wing bias in our secular public schools causes much hand-wringing in both the conservative commentariat and the public at large.
It seems to me that it is acceptable to teach religion but politics or philosophy would be harmful as they are too young to understand these subjects. Well, I guess children don’t need to understand the Bible, Koran, Torah or other religious texts, they just need to believe it. Could it be that these texts don’t stand up to rigorous scrutiny by young, questioning minds?
I can but hope that my beautiful, intelligent little niece will develop an inquiring mind and question all that is shoved down her throat. If in the end she decides that there is a god, so be it. All I ask is that she be given every opportunity to see the other side, so to speak.