Religion classes in school - Megathread

Same situation here with my two little ones. My mother was making a fuss, insisting we don't have to go any further with religion, but at least we should baptize them—get them into some kind of faith. It’s absurd. 🤷

My old man actually tried to stage an intervention on me. He’s an atheist himself, never even bothered with a baptism.
Richard Perez3, just look at how crazy things have gotten lately and think about it.

Nobody was actually pressuring her; she was the one suggesting she should at least get baptized, but we made our stance incredibly clear and firm about how much we disagreed with that idea.

Religious studies classes are basically just Catholic indoctrination sessions, filled with nothing but one-sided apologetics and religious propaganda.

If you want an antidote, check out my blog below.

I’ve gathered enough material there to start an Atheist movement in every school district in the country. Hmmmmm...

At my school, they stuck religion class right at the very end of the day.
In my class alone, more than half the kids didn't even sign up for it.
🙂

Paul Campbell3 said:At my school, they stuck religion class right at the very end of the day.
In my class alone, more than half the kids didn't even sign up for it.
🙂

🙏I'm hoping that trend starts moving in the other direction.

In my household, the breakdown is basically 4 to 0.5 in favor of atheism—my wife leans more towards being agnostic 😁.

We never ran into any issues back when we were in school, mostly because during religion class, the other kids would just hang out in the library on their computers. It actually got to the point where the kids stuck in religion class were legitimately jealous of them.😁

Honestly, if you ask me, this year’s schedule should at least prioritize religion for my youngest child during first period! 🎉

We’ve got two hours of religion class scheduled for first grade. Honestly, caught me off guard... why on earth would they need two?

According to the schedule, one is the second period and the other is the very last one. It makes zero sense when you consider after-school care... my kid is staying at the school anyway, so what's the point?

swiftraven17 said:We’ve got two hours of religion class scheduled for first grade. Honestly, caught me off guard... why on earth would they need two?

According to the schedule, one is the second period and the other is the very last one. It makes zero sense when you consider after-school care... my kid is staying at the school anyway, so what's the point?

The thing is, not every student signs up for the after-school care, just like not everyone takes religion or those extra tutoring sessions—which, by the way, usually get scheduled for the final period too...

The whole damn class is stuck in after-school care, nobody is actually heading home once 4th period wraps up. It feels like the schedule is rigged so the entire class stays in supervision anyway... Having religion class as the very last period is just pointless.

It’s certainly not the same everywhere—not every school operates quite like that... In my neck of the woods, we have these tiny little classrooms with only two sections, yet you've got about 42 kids packed in there—it gets a bit crowded, honestly—and most of them end up in after-school care together, though there are always those seven kids who just head straight home instead...

swiftraven17 said:The whole damn class is stuck in after-school care, nobody is actually heading home once 4th period wraps up. It feels like the schedule is rigged so the entire class stays in supervision anyway... Having religion class as the very last period is just pointless.

Plus, there isn't really an option for them to have it first thing in the morning—especially for the first graders. Most of them aren't walking to school alone; they're being dropped off or driven, so they're already on campus by 7:00 AM.
😁
If you look at it that way, putting it at the end might actually be better since they're basically just hanging out at school for an extra hour regardless.😁

rowdypanther12 said:Plus, there isn't really an option for them to have it first thing in the morning—especially for the first graders. Most of them aren't walking to school alone; they're being dropped off or driven, so they're already on campus by 7:00 AM.
😁
If you look at it that way, putting it at the end might actually be better since they're basically just hanging out at school for an extra hour regardless.😁

Religious studies shouldn't even be part of the standard school schedule. If they're going to force it in, fine... but it should be either the very first period or the last one before after-school programs start. Nothing else makes sense.

We can start picking apart who benefits from what right now... if we really want to go there.

swiftraven17 said:Religious studies shouldn't even be part of the standard school schedule. If they're going to force it in, fine... but it should be either the very first period or the last one before after-school programs start. Nothing else makes sense.

We can start picking apart who benefits from what right now... if we really want to go there.

I'm totally with you on that.

I’d be the first one storming the school board if they scheduled religion during the first period of the morning shift for my kid. I start work at 8:00, so there’s just no way he can get to school any earlier—if he’s there at 7:45, who is watching him? His teacher won't even be in the building yet, and the after-school program staff doesn't show up until after 11:00.

In our district, they actually organize it so kids who don't take religion have someone to stay with—they're covered from 8:00 onwards. Once the mandatory classes wrap up, the kids with extra commitments—tutoring, electives, religion, or clubs—head straight to those sessions. For everyone else, the after-school care staff picks them up. Or, if the timing hits right in the middle of the schedule, they just hang out in their classroom with their teacher.

Honestly, my kid actually looks forward to religion class most—he knows it’s basically 45 minutes of playing and hanging out, a nice little break from the grind. 😬 Since most of his classmates aren't enrolled, it ends up feeling like one massive, long recess to them.

Hey northerntiger9, aren't you supposed to be on call from 7 to 8?

If anyone actually needs it, they can go to the teacher running after-school care for the other second-grade classes—though honestly, hardly anyone uses that option. It’s a bit like how we don't have extended childcare past 4:30 PM; that's pretty much the cutoff for pickups. You could technically file a formal request to extend supervision until 5:00 PM, but in practice, that almost never happens.

It’s such a headache—around here, the teachers have morning duty starting at 7:00 AM.

If it weren't for that, I’d honestly have to start looking for a different school... since I drop him off right at 7:00 sharp just to make sure I actually get to my job on time
And besides, our after-school program runs until 5:00 PM.

In the US, shifts usually run from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, though they can stretch until 5:30 PM in some cases.