Letters to NSS Newsline September 2007

One reason that there is a rise in the number of children taking Religious Education GCSEs is partly due to the fee-paying school in Hereford that my son attends.

I received a quite open and up front letter from the headmaster last year informing me that the taking of RE at GCSE was to become compulsory, one of the reasons for this being that "There have been some concerns from pupils, staff and parents that RS becomes optional from the Third year".

Despite a strongly worded letter from myself my son has been forced to take GCSE Religious Studies. This means that he has had to drop another subject, in his case History.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that a majority of pupils, staff and parents were "concerned" enough to want to force others to study a particular subject. I would like to think that the vast majority of people, believers and un-believers, would be happy that the option was still there if their children wanted to avail themselves of it.

It is probably more plausible that a "Head of Religious Studies" and a religious "Headmaster" might want to halt the rapidly declining numbers of pupils wishing to take this subject to exam level.

I would be interested to know if any others have had similar experiences and if anyone knows if a private school is allowed to force pupils to take religious examinations.

Andrew Davies

Two Christian churches in Taunton (C of E and Baptist) have banned the use of their premises for teaching yoga to toddlers because the respective ministers claim yoga is 'unchristian' and teaches Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. I have been attending remedial yoga classes for several years and always thought these were to help with my breathing and flexibility rather than indoctrinate me into Eastern mysticism. Preventing little children from enjoying a bit of exercise with their Mums is just another example of the triumph of bigotry over humanity and common sense. What could toddlers possibly understand of such religious differences anyway? And wasn't Jesus supposed to have said 'Suffer the little children to come unto me?' (Not a chance mate, if they're coming for yoga classes.)

Although the whole thing is so ludicrous, most people's response is naturally enough to laugh. There is a serious side to it. If these ridiculous, deluded god-botherers were ever to obtain more power, things would get far nastier than simply banning yoga classes. Back in the fifteenth century, their predecessors were burning 'heretics' at the stake, and their Islamic equivalents today stone adulteresses and indulge in suicide bombings. Hopefully, some good will come out of this story by alerting people to the intolerance embedded even in the so-called nice, liberal, sanitised C of E and convert a few more of them to atheism.

Diana Foweraker

Terry Sanderson states (Newsline last week), "Religious education is not essential." This is particularly true for our primary school children. As a primary school teacher, I teach RE to 8 and 9 year olds. While I think that RE should be available as an option at secondary schools, it should not be taught at primary level. At secondary level, religion can be examined critically, "in all its violent, corrupt glory". This is not appropriate with younger children.

While we should continue to fight against the proliferation of faith schools, we should focus far more of our energies on abolishing compulsory RE and the ridiculous (also compulsory) Daily Act of Collective Worship from all non-faith schools. Most people have no idea that there is often as much religious content in the timetable of a non-faith primary school as there is at a sect/faith primary school.

Belinda Forbes

I see no good in teaching Religious Education in Schools – a subtle form of indoctrinating the young. In its place I would like to have the 'History of Religion' throughout the centuries. Written without bias and listing chronologically the number of disasters brought upon mankind it could prove helpful for all ages.

Kyvelie Papas