Humanism in Schools

Humanist lessons in school religion not compulsory: Brumby

Victorian Premier John Brumby says humanist education lessons taught during religious education time at state schools would not be compulsory.

The State Government is set to approve a curriculum from The Humanist Society of Victoria, which will teach primary school students about atheist principles.

Mr Brumby says like all lessons delivered by faith groups, the course would be voluntary.

“Any material which is prepared would be of a voluntary nature,” he said.

“That is, in our schools at the moment, if students wish to take religious studies that is a voluntary choice it is not a compulsory choice and ditto, any teachings or learnings in this area would also be of a completely voluntary nature with parental approval required.”

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Whilst it is sad that this wasn’t already available, it is still a good step forwards.

Personally, I’d like to see compulsory comparative religion studies taught perhaps at around the start of high school. It would be good for all indoctrinated children to learn that what they’ve been taught isn’t what everyone believes and their parents could be wrong. Doing this in a school environment would also facilitate peer discussion about the issue and I know from experience that this is more likely to lead to questioning and reasoning than attending church or talking with parents.

African children want sex education

Africa: Tell US More – Children Call for Sex Education

Dakar — Children in sub-Saharan Africa want to know more about sex and how to protect themselves from HIV, but taboos surrounding children’s sexuality can mean life-saving information is kept from them, according to an international NGO.

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Studies show that children with access to accurate information tend to delay having sex for the first time. “It is the children who don’t have the information who try to discover what it is all about,” SC-S’s David said.

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Religion also plays a significant role, she said. People are reluctant to talk to children about sexuality in societies where sex outside of marriage is frowned upon.

But Fall said: “One thing is sure – many of them [youths] have a sex life. Another thing is sure – they have problems with their sex lives. Thirdly, they do not have the right information to deal with these problems.”

Source

I’m sure noone is surprised that Religion is playing a part in withholding information on sex to children. Our species relies on sex to survive and we all have sexual urges; it’s a hugely important part of life. Religions like to say theyhelp people live their lives but why are they always hiding from this topic? Not only this, but some Bishops have flat out lied to people by saying that the AIDS virus can pass easily through condoms.

Religions will often demand tolerance and try to promote it, but they are responsible for thousands of deaths because of their intolerance to anything but their irrelevant and harmful dogma. They would rather people die of AIDS than have sex without a condom. People like this not only do not deserve tolerance nor respect, they deserve to be shown for the bigots that they are and be removed from any position of influence.

Leaving health up to prayer

Putting your life situations “in God’s hands” is considered a virtue in most religions. Thankfully most people, whether consciously or not, do not take this literally and still put effort in to fix their problems. Sadly, some really do believe that leaving things in God’s hands is enough and a recent casualty of this dangerous mindset is an infant girl in the United States.

Now even having witnessed their prayers fail, they still believe they are not guilty of negligent homicide because they should have the right to raise their children how they want. Freedom of religion is one thing, but this should be superseded by the human rights of others; in this case, the child’s rights. If an adult chooses to refuse medical help then that is their right, but a child has not yet gained the capacity to make an educated decision for themselves so they must be protected. When the parents are not providing that protection, then someone must step in to provide it for them.

Hopefully justice will prevail as it did when  a court ruled that a four year old girl can be given a life saving blood transfusion by her hospital despite the objections of her parents who are opposed to it based on their beliefs as Jehovah’s Witnesses.

No person should be able to condemn another to death based on their superstitious beliefs. Children should be protected from the religious dogma of their parents at all times.

The price of faith
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It’s okay, Jesus loves you.

Christians are always preaching that “Jesus loves you!” To most people in the western world this can be said with a straight face. But what about to malnourished, abused and tortured children in Africa? Does Jesus love them? He’s certainly not showing it.

The reality is that statements like this are meaningless and saying them to people who truly know suffering is highly offensive

Jesus has a strange way of showing his love