Religious Education

Now here's a fun one!!!

Back in the dark and shadowy days when Ethan attended school, he always complained about having to do RE (Religious Education), he could never quite understand why he had to learn about it, attend church and celebrate various mainly christian occasions.

When we first discussed HE together, I was not surprised that one of his questions was 'will I still have to do RE?'.
Nor was I surprised at his reaction when I told him 'not quite in the same way as you do at school.'

Now, don't get me wrong, I do understand and appreciate that it is important for everyone to have a good working knowledge of how all the mainstream religions operate, their histories and respective festivals and celebrations. Not only to increase Ethans' individual general knowledge of such things but also to instill in him a healthy respect for worldwide cultural diversity.

However, we are not a religious family. My husband is an atheist, none of my children have been baptised, and I have my own personal views when it comes to religion. So, for instance, how on earth does one even start trying to explain something like this...?

Now, the purist christians among you will no doubt see this entire post as absolute heresy. And quite possibly you are correct in one way, but I am a woman of facts. I know things and do on occasion feel the need to impart what I know to others. Where my sons education is concerned, I do not feel the need to impart to him something which may be acceptable, but could also be deemed completely inaccurate.

I am no scholar on the subject, and so only feel comfortable passing on the facts of what I know to be true; annual dates and festivals and the appropriate reasons behind them etc. Also, I am not here to indoctrinate or force beliefs upon my children, there will be plenty of time for them to make up their own minds about that in the future.

So for now, we are concentrating on the very basics of everything.

The different names, different celebrations etc. Which I have no doubt will eventually lead straight onto different world wars. Funny that!

Loz