Education and Religion

Choose from the Philosophy Menu Bar ▼ HOME INDEX Justice 6.v.25 The Good Life 20.v.25 Hume & Testimony 3.vi.25 1H25 Reflections 17.vi.25 Nietzsche 1 24.ii.25 Nietzsche 2 11.iii.25 Universal Basic Income 25.iii.25 Hegel 22.iv.25 2024 Wrap-Up 10.x.24 Democracy 14.i.25 Civilisation? 28.i.25 Compulsory Voting? 11.ii.25 Berlin and Freedom 15.x.24 Nussbaum, Sen and Capability 29.x.24 Slavery Reparations 12.xi.24 Rawls 26.xi.24 Assisted Suicide 11.vi.24 Popper and Evolution 20.viii.24 Popper continued 17.ix.24 Berlin and Romanticism 1.x.24 Marx 19.iii.24 Kant and Knowledge 16.iv.24 Kant and Morality 30.iv.24 Education and Religion 14.v.24 Hobbes & Security 23.i.24 From Locke to Mill 6.ii.24 Rousseau: Social Contract 20.ii.24 Rousseau and Education 5.iii.24 AI and Ethics 31.x.23 Aristotle and AI 14.xi.23 Autumn 2023 Review 28.xi.23 Democracy 9.i.24 Private Education 5.ix.23 The Very Elderly 19.ix.23 Justifiable Law-breaking 3.x.23 Moral Authority 17.x.23 The Wells School of Philosophy 14th May 2024, Hare Lane, 1000-1200 hrs: The homework set by David and Margie The issue we would like to address is how we can maintain the integrity of the secular education system in our state schools in the face of increasing cultural, religious and ethnic differences. We have already provided a link to the National Secular Society. You might like to look at their Campaign pages on Secular Education which could be the starting point for our discussion. In brief their stance is : "We campaign for an education system which equally respects the rights and freedoms of pupils, families and teachers of all backgrounds. "We don’t think schools should be organised around religious identities or used to promote religious worldwide views. A third of English and Welsh schools are faith schools. Scottish and Northern Irish schools are still divided on sectarian lines, and religion is still deeply ingrained across the UK’s education systems. Academies and “free schools” have only increased the opportunities for religious groups to gain control of schools. "Our secular approach to education would ensure all publicly funded schools are equally welcoming to all children and their families." We will refer to an interesting development of integrated schools in Northern Ireland in the discussion. Education is a major campaigning issue for Humanists UK too. We have already forwarded to you an email from Humanists UK highlighting a major change in policy that the Government wants to make. This is to allow all publicly-funded faith schools to base 100% of pupil admissions on their religion instead of the 50% at present. So hypothetically Esher Church School, for example, could require all children coming to the school to have a C of E connection. As Humanists UK say "This plan strikes at the very heart of the principle of community and integration that our educational system should support." Humanists UK have a number of other issues with faith schools—such as the school curriculum and inclusive assemblies—which we might want to consider. Their views are set out more fully in the Humanist UK website. Unfortunately we can’t provide a direct link for this: you need to go to “Our campaigns” and then to “Schools and Education”. France In our discussion of Rousseau we touched on his influence on French thinking and the 1789 revolution which led eventually to the separation of state and church and the duty of the state to “provide free, compulsory secular education at all levels”. This is established in the Constitution and enforced rigorously, so much so that the banning of religious symbols in schools has caused friction with the Muslim community. There is discussion whether the state has gone too far. Here is a link to a relevant article: https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-education-systems/france/fundamental-principles-and-national-policies Background To set our discussion of secular education in context you might want also to read the Wikipedia article on Secularism which discusses how this philosophy has been applied throughout the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism