Monday, December 22, 2008

Faith and School

Ophelia gets it right:

'Faith' and 'school' don't really belong together - they are in tension, at least if 'school' is understood (as it should be) in a modern secular sense. It is possible to have 'schools' that teach any old magic, but such 'schools' aren't schools in the usual sense intended, just as madrassas are not real schools in that sense. 'Faith school' should be seen as a silly and harmful mixing of two projects that ought to be kept strictly separate because if they're not the first will irreparably mess up the second. Children don't (when things are arranged as they should be) go to school to learn how to believe things for no reason on the basis of no evidence; they go to school to learn how not to do that.

I have always found the notion 'Islamic scholar' equally oxymoronic.
Read the whole post for some great comments from Ian McKellen. One nice example:

When asked how religious studies teachers in all schools should explain the stance of Christianity, Judaism and Islam on homosexuality, McKellen said: "They should abandon the teaching of their church, because it is cruel and misplaced."

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