tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236152873981220889.post4298157001537002513..comments2023-08-21T09:11:19.517+01:00Comments on Marginal Musings: Are Religious Schools Bad for Society?Tina Beattiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04324786100032395008noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236152873981220889.post-88498210335538844272011-11-07T10:36:36.940+00:002011-11-07T10:36:36.940+00:00@RAnn Many thanks for including me in the Catholic...@<a href="#c251987515409013340" rel="nofollow">RAnn</a> Many thanks for including me in the Catholic Blog Directory.<br /><br />All the best,<br />Tina.Tina Beattiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04324786100032395008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236152873981220889.post-2519875154090133402011-11-05T23:56:55.499+00:002011-11-05T23:56:55.499+00:00Hi, and welcome to the Catholic Blog Directory. I...Hi, and welcome to the Catholic Blog Directory. I'd like to invite y ou to participate in Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival, which is a weekly gathering where Catholic bloggers share their best posts with each other. This week's edition is at http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com/2011/11/id-like-to-welcome-everyone-to-sunday.htmlRAnnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04102249990885174107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236152873981220889.post-34486485506968040302011-10-20T23:28:39.078+01:002011-10-20T23:28:39.078+01:00As a secularist, I have to say that the problem is...As a secularist, I have to say that the problem is state involvement in education. As soon as you see this type of argument appearing, you realise that the state has to take a step back ton avoid taking sides.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236152873981220889.post-66674596277723064342011-10-20T17:37:10.673+01:002011-10-20T17:37:10.673+01:00Thank you, Tina. There is much lazy secularist tal...Thank you, Tina. There is much lazy secularist talk that assumes a view of rationality as necessarily separate from religion rather than as a wisdom best developed from within the major religious traditions. You put the opposing view extremely effectively.Lazarushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09716412032074416331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7236152873981220889.post-301586584435032452011-10-20T12:03:09.417+01:002011-10-20T12:03:09.417+01:00Thank you for this.
One point that I don't t...Thank you for this. <br /><br />One point that I don't think was covered here (nor have I seen it discussed anywhere else) is that of control. <br /><br />I can see how, from a Humanist point of view, the state funding of Faith Schools may cause some discomfort. After all, Faith Schools do not give as much room for Humanism (in all its open-endedness and lack of definition) as Humanists would like. Faith Schools will always prefer one set of dogmas over another set of hadiths (or whatever). However, I suspect that the current state of affairs, where Faith Schools are often funded partly, if not entirely, by the State is actually something Humanists should be very happy with indeed. <br /><br />The British State is very happy with Humanist points of view. It also wants to maintain the status quo. One way of ensuring this is to be one of the principle means of support for faith schools. If a school puts out children that the state doesn't like it can, if it provides funding, threaten to de-fund them. This gives the state enourmous control over state schools. It may be ideologically 'impure' for humanists to accept this but it does mean that there are very few or even no completely independant faith schools in this country. By defunding faith schools the government would pave the way for compltetly independant faith schools to be set up (the demand for faith schools is not going to go away simply because the state doesn't pay for them). These would be schools over which the government would no control beyond forcibly shutting them down and in turn seriously curtailing religious freedom.<br /><br />As far as I know, all attempts to create 'Religion -Free' cities have failed. An important part of all the major religious groups in this country has been education. I believe the current state of affairs favours Humanist concerns far more than religious ones.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com