Paganism in schools?

[Nikita]

Hey guys, This is for the people that live in the UK. Please sign this petition and pass it on.. it is to the minister to ask him to let paganism be taught in our schools as well as christanism..

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Study-Paganism/

thanks

[[Enlightenment]]

Great stuff! I've signed

[Dolphin]

I don't see why it couldn't be taught as part of comparative religion.

When I lived in the UK, comparative religion was all Hinduism, (we never did anything about christianity) because we had a teacher who had lived in India. I'd have welcomed something a little different - hard to work out why the class was called Comparative RE when we were only doing one topic!

[Sercee]

I've had people tell me about their Comp RE classes like that before. It seems that teachers are too likely to omit religions if they don't agree with them. I think you'd need an agnostic to teach one of them (or someone who's proven that they're non biased before), not someone who is already dedicated to a religion.

If I was in the UK I'd totally sign that!

[Eretik]

What do you define as Paganism, as per the teaching of? Wicca? Other forms of Paganism? Which ones? Explain the history, teachings of many pagan cultures? Teach only Neopaganism? include the darker aspects? How would you go about this? I am curious. 'Paganism' is an umbrella term.

[jcrowfoot]

Good point. You could teach a class on paganism all by itself. I guess for a comparison class, you'd just teach that which is the most popular, and mention that other people go different ways. I think mentioning ecclecticism and paleopaganism, wicca and shamanism would be best, then give lists of good authors and bboards for people who are interested.
Or, rather that's what I'd do.

[Eretik]

I read an article about this in a pagan newsletter, it didn't seem to get many signatures, 79 I think.The originator was from Durham pagans? Is that correct? I doubt the govt. will take it seriously, I doubt they take any public petitions seriously though,at any time, but especially with the elections now. I am interested, but sceptical, I think a lot more needs to be done in raising awareness about paganism and what it is first. We still have the ghost of the Satanic scares [ of the 70s, and again 90s], in the gutter press to get rid of and in a country where some are still in danger of losing their kids through'persistant unorthodox beliefs' as one social worker put it [ in a recent case in England] I think we still have a long way to go, we have had recent Scottish cases in regard to 'satanic abuse' allegations [ on the islands] which, though fought successfully and won by the parents concerned, leave a stain on the minds of those who read it and assume there must be something in it. It's how to raise awareness successfully that interests me, we need to get a much stronger advocacy than there is at present, too many' witch wars' are dividing us among ourselves here, how can we stand up united when we fight so much among our own? Just some thoughts. I was shocked by the fact that even now, cases of child abuse are still being brought in regard to pagan religious beliefs, these are not well publicised either - they should be, but I only know about them through message boards and friends. A starting point,perhaps?

[Draconis]

I have to agree with the above statements, Paganism is to big a term to be taught as a class within schools, even at universaity courses that deal with alternative religions/the occult etc. are based over 4+ years and even that isnt a big enough time span.

Im also slightly against it. We as people (witchs, wiccans, pagans, the list is essentially endless) have a hard enought time when it comes being taken seriously in our beliefs and opinions, I think the last thing we need is a load of "yuppie" teens (i am a teen myself) saying their 'witches' or 'warlocks' without a proper understanding of it.

As said above, what would be taught? would it be a fluffy bunny version (most likely) or would it be truthful in what it teachs, the good with the bad. The Witch craze, demons, spirits, OBE/AP, rites, theres so much that would be ommitted because "its wrong to be taught".

Sorry to kind rain on your idea, its a brilliant idea, but before it can be realised it needs to EXTREAMLY fine tuned, and will need ALOT of work to be into it. Such as:

what will be taught
Who will teach it
how long will it be taught for
what age will it be taught

thats just a very short list, im sure if people thought about it, endless more questions would appear aswell.

[Sercee]

Well I'd imagine that if such a petition were considered that the 'proper authorities' would go hammer something out using questions like those. The people writing the petition just have ideas, they aren't policy makers.

I think that if Paganism of any kind was to be taught in a comparative religions class it would have to focus on the belief system (ie reincarnation, deity heirarchies, balance, connectedness etc) not the craft. Which is why you can't teach Paganism, but you could teach Wicca, Asatru, Taoism etc. It would be difficult to dedicate a lot of time to each subject, but at least a general overview with common variations wouldn't be hard.

I'd still sign the petition.

[jcrowfoot]

Hear hear. First of all, I never advise doing something only partway. If you aren't going to think it though very carefully, and do it *well*, especially something presented to the public about religion... DON'T DO IT. Even if it's well thought out, so many things can go wrong. OTOH, there are still many people who don't know/belive we even exist, let alone take us seriously.

IS it a good idea to change that? I think it's got it's good points and bad points. BUT, if we want to be taken seriously, and have rights, (especially somewhere like Brittan) we have to be a known quantity.

The other question to ask is, "Is the government the right entity to do this?" I can't answer that. I don't live there.

[twilight]

Signed.

When I had RE at school we did so many religions, but didn't even touch upon Wicca/Paganism at all.

[Blazewind]

I don't live in the UK so I can't be of any help to the cause. If I did though, I would sign it.

[shedtroll]

signed! n_n

I'd love to see it done...

[Eretik]

Did you read the page Shedtroll? -it's for England. This would not apply anywhere else,if passed. It's not UK wide, just thought I 'd point that out.

Once again I have my cynical hat on, we voted over 10,000 on a previous census for 'Jedi' as a faith, there is a rule,in legislation, that states a religious minority of over 10,000 should be counted as a faith - it was ignored, there was a serious point behind this apparent flippancy - what is 'pagan' to you will not necessarily be 'pagan' to me, may as well put 'Jedi' for all the serious attention it will get.I stand by my previous posts.I studied constitutional politics. It would serve us better to raise public awareness,in other ways, about the injustices and misinformation regarding the various faiths and practitioners of Paganism first - perhaps a campaign of support on behalf of those who find themselves under investigation by Christian [ and therefore extremely biased] social workers for their beliefs etc? I think that is a far more serious and worthy issue.Sadly, only one of several which I think take precedence over this.

[Revolpathon]

don't forget the influence of the media they may also be biased and portray our cause badly.

but to do something like that world wide take's tremendous effort maybe someone on this board has enough strings to pull