However, substitute praying to a Christian god by kids who have no background in Christianity and it was somehow acceptable. What they are doing with chaplains in school is a prime example of this.

It was considered acceptable. I don't think it still is.

It is not an easy issue, but if you watched any of the 'Jesus Camp' doco, that Malik posted links for, you will see the problem of delusional parents, inflicting harm on their kids, by brainwashing them with ridiculous belief systems.

Some of the parents chose to 'home school' their kids, because they could not bear the thought of them learning about alternatives to creationism, or any education that did not include jesus as it's primary focus.

At some point, these parents cross the line into what I, for one, would categorise as child abuse, of a profound psychological nature.

This abuse currently must be accepted on the grounds of 'Freedom of Religion', and 'Parents' Rights'

My contention is that the abusive neglect of 'Childrens' Rights', gets totally left out of the debate, and personally, I believe that those rights should be paramount, when discussing Education.

The Swedish government has announced plans to clamp down hard on religious education. It will soon become illegal even for private faith schools to teach religious doctrines as if they were true. In an interesting twist on the American experience, prayer will remain legal in schools - after all, it has no truth value. But everything that takes place on the curriculum's time will have to be secular. "Pupils must be protected from every sort of fundamentalism," said the minister for schools, Jan Björklund.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/oct/18/godshonesttruth

Well I think it is nice to see some sense being brought into the area at last, maybe we will see this in Australia some day.
The sooner the better.

I hope they allow them to mock and ridicule the more glaringly obscene beliefs of the major religions, it is a worthwhile thing to do, as well as a lot of fun.

Everything but free time one would assume.

Creationism and ID are explicitly banned but so is proselytising even in religious education classes. The Qur'an may not be taught as if it is true even in Muslim independent schools, nor may the Bible in Christian schools.

Yes please!

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24247034-2,00.html

mozzaok wrote on Aug 27^th, 2008 at 3:06pm:



I can't help but feel that Sweden will not benefit from this move. They are just replacing one set of traditional morality with another.

Religion and culture are so intertwined. There is no harm in telling kids that a fat old guy in a big red suit comes down the chimney every Christmas to deliver presents. If fact, he can be used as a scape goat if something is amiss with the presents 

Kids are pretty sharp when it comes to performing their own reality checks. It's a shame that moderate religion has to suffer as a result of the extremists.

Sorry to hear that mozzaok.