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Should all religious accessories be banned in schools?

  • 50% are saying yes
  • 50% are saying no

comments from readers

niceguy
30 July 2008
no

It would add to current frictions, although ideally I would like it.

Carl Jones
30 July 2008
yes

Bit of a NS none starter...yaaawn.

Serosch
30 July 2008
yes

Also those religions classified as races need to reclassified as religions.

Gerishnakov
30 July 2008
no

To acknowledge any item on a person as religious gives it presence in schools. What students choose to wear should be judged on how it affects theirs and others' learning environment, not on whether it shows their personal faith.

sdv
30 July 2008
yes

The question is the wrong way round - why should religious accessories be allowed in educational institutions ? Does the accessory and its ideological baggage obstruct the child from understanding differences ?

swatantra nandanwar
30 July 2008
yes

Yes. Children should come into schools with an open and questioning mind and not be indoctrinated. Parents can do the indoctrinating at home if they so wish. Therefore any religious trinkets, and jewelry, headscarves should be left at Reception, and picked up at the end of school.

nawawimohamad
31 July 2008
no

It must be inculcated in school. Religion teaches us to be good human beings. How do you suppose to change the hedonistic way of life currently sweeping all societies.?

slettuce
31 July 2008
yes

Basic health and safety, as well as the risk of her being mugged these days and brutally stabbed and kicked to death by her class mates. A pointless case that proves people will fight anything if they are moaning minnies. Does not prove your faith, just pettiness.

Frank Amies
31 July 2008
yes

All religious education does is cause divisions within society. A much better idea would be to teach ethics.

Iain
31 July 2008
yes

It should be all or nothing, and I feel nothing opens up time in a busy term from teaching things that are of actual value. However if religion must be taught, can I nominate Christopher Hitchens as Minister for Education?

phantom
31 July 2008
yes

Religion should be practised in the church/temple/mosque or at home - not in a place of learning


31 July 2008
yes

Yes, and any other "extras" such as make-up and ear rings. Teachers should also set an example by being smartly turned out and all children should wear a school uniform.

Alan Briggs

katyrick
31 July 2008
yes

Schools should be inclusive, not divisive. Religious schooling outside normal teaching hours should be exempt from the ban. Unless we, as human beings work together, a process that does not come easily and needs to be taught, we'll never achieve the cooperation needed to tackle Global Warming, watet and food shortages etc.

Ron753
31 July 2008
yes

I f it is necessary to have some rules, they should be applied to everybody equally.

arrow
01 August 2008
yes

all religion should be baned in schools.

dollygreen
01 August 2008
no

Why does it have to be all or nothing? To some people it really matters. e.g. wearing a cross or what-have-you, and to some it doesn't affect their daily life because their own particular faith works for them in that way, and of course some people aren't religious or just don't go in for symbols at all.

At my oul school we merely had to be a bit sensible, like you couldn't wear enormous things that could catch on something and rip your ear off, and of course you had to take off ALL jewellery (or whatever you want to call it) for sports, unless it was one of those tiny piercing studs that wouldn't present any kind of danger.

I think this is just yet another case of people with reponsibility, understandably, afraid of being sued in this take-'em-to-the-cleaners culture of ours, where local authorities get sued for someone tripping over a paving stone when they should've been looking where they were going, and taking responsibility for their own lives. And children's playgrounds turning into the empty shells of the ones we used to enjoy. And we've only got ourselves to blame.

Forlornehope
01 August 2008
no

If a Sikh can wear his turban when fighting for the crown it is at least somewhat churlish to deny his daughter the right to wear a simple bracelet at school

eleyas
01 August 2008
no

no restriction on civil and relegious rights

suell
01 August 2008
no

No - we already allow the hijab (but not burkha) and so have set a reasonable precedent based on common sense and win-win compromises

gnuneo
01 August 2008
no

leave it up to the bloody kids to decide themselves - let THEM decide if it is "too divisive", or if they want the freedom to express their own opinions. Who the hell are WE to decide for them? Did YOU appreciate being ordered around with your opinions ignored? So why do it to the next generation?

http://www.educationfutures.org/Respect.htm
http://www.teachers.tv/video/3480

ade
02 August 2008
yes

Schools should be as free of religious orthodoxy as churches are of free thought.

Jon
02 August 2008
yes

Religion has no part to play in the British Education system. This is a secular state and all relions should be banned from state education. Any religious accessories should be kept in private and not allowed within the public domain.

brimac
02 August 2008
yes

It has been tried and tested in France. Let's learn from them.

Richard L
03 August 2008
no

Faith is a private matter, as are the accessories required.

george
03 August 2008
no

I think no, because this wearing for example the headscarf, is the women's personal beliefs, and you cannot take that away from, just because they are different. All people whatever their faith, colour and beliefs should be valued. It is the true meaning of society and democracy.

scientific earthling
04 August 2008
yes

Evolution instils in each of us discriminatory behaviour. Intelligence gives us the ability to modify these instincts. Religion is a result of evolution. It exists because we do not use our intelligence. Religious accessories are tools used to say "I am better than you because I believe in this"

smallishbonnie
04 August 2008
no

Should all religious accessories be banned in schools? I say no they should not be band from any school, as they were ok when I went to school. And I turned out ok, so they should not be band.

Joe Feld
04 August 2008
no

As long as they are not offensive or likely to cause practical problems, religious accessories are part of religious freedom.

Jimmy Bob
04 August 2008
yes

Yes

Its time to build a more overtly secular state.

Richard Tagart
04 August 2008
yes

If non-religious accessories are banned, then there can be no special treatment for religious accessories.

jwaggott
04 August 2008
no

There is no dividing line between 'religious accessories' and 'secular accessories'. If religious accessories were banned you'd have to ban all jewellery; secular 'accessories' cause just as much offence as Atheism's acolytes suggest religious items do.

Boadicea
04 August 2008
yes

Schools ought to be secular. I am against religious schools - they are divisive. Religion should only be taught by churches, synagogues, mosques etc. out of school hours, as in France.

DCarins
04 August 2008
yes

One person's trinket is another person's "religious accessory". You allow symbols from one religion, and then crackpots claim that their new "religion" insists on never washing, or smoking cannabis or slaughtering vigins... it opens up a whole can of worms.

Leave bigotry, superstition and ignorance to the bigoted, superstitious and the ignorant. The state should be secular.

manos
04 August 2008
no

from a neutral point of view I ask: what constitutes a religious accessory? how do you define the boundaries? extreme display of religion is not acceptable but little ornamentation is personal choice.

tinalouise
05 August 2008
no

...to each their own :)

nigele1
05 August 2008
no

Why make the ornamentation the issue? By focussing on the ornamentation of a religion, debate and engagement gets shut off.

littlesailorjo
06 August 2008
yes

There should be no privileges simply for having religion. Further more, it creates peer pressure amongst coreligionists who might otherwise choose not to wear these things. Especially worrying in the case of veils.

tonysidaway
06 August 2008
yes

yes

On balance, they're a liability.

npgdavies
07 August 2008
yes

The choice is about as pleasant as "hanging or shooting, sir?"

katyrick
08 August 2008
no

Definitely not! but a Socialist, who clearly fights for the peoples interests would . Such a change might not win the next election but would provide a party voters could enthuse about and a base for the future.

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