Religion classes in school - Megathread

@8472
I don't think there's anything wrong with being intimate with your spouse once you have kids.
But honestly, I feel like sex should always be about more than just pleasure—it should be about building a family. 😬

Sarah Hall53 said:just so we don't end up stuck in some hallway for two 45-minute stretches every single week without anyone actually watching over us.

Look, this isn't just a pathetic excuse—it’s actually pretty dangerous if someone is seriously sending a kid off to religion class just to dodge supervision.

Lawrence Torres56 said:Look, this isn't just a pathetic excuse—it’s actually pretty dangerous if someone is seriously sending a kid off to religion class just to dodge supervision.

This post is honestly so arrogant, rude, and irresponsible that it makes me want to...

It's not just dangerous; it completely ignores the fact that these kids aren't even attending the religious studies classes in the first place! Look, the way it works is that the school exists for the sake of the church, not for the kids. Sure, it's risky to leave a child in a religion class they have zero interest in—especially when their parents don't even want that kind of education (since "religion class" in practice is basically just Catholic indoctrination)—but at least they're safe in a classroom. Instead, we let them wander the halls or hang out off-campus because the principal doesn't want them in the library or hasn't provided a supervised spot for them to go. Makes sense, right?

Why not just move those elective religion classes to the very last period of the day (which I know the Church fights tooth and nail against!)? And can we please stop stigmatizing the kids who don't take it? Now people just confidently and ignorantly claim it doesn't even happen. Stop bundling school religion classes, church rites, and sacraments into one mandatory system where you have to turn in attendance slips just to prove you were there. If you did that, you'd see how uninteresting and useless it is for kids to be forced by some authority figure to sit there coloring comics about saints while being told "professionally" that everything else they learned during those other four or five hours of school was total nonsense...

Sarah Hall53 said:just so we don't end up stuck in some hallway for two 45-minute stretches every single week without anyone actually watching over us.

Well, that’s just pathetic.

Why isn't religion class just one hour a week like it is in high school?

But seriously, though—some parents are only signing their kids up for religion class just for the sake of it. I’ve even had some women on here admit that's exactly their plan—like, "My kid is taking religion class just so they aren't stuck sitting out in the hallway during that period."
And honestly, I know plenty of cases where folks from other denominations ended up in Catholic classes too. It’s probably because they figured they should be the first ones to discover Jesus, or maybe they just think the Gregorian calendar is a better fit for them. ☕

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Daniel Gomez10 said:@8472
I don't think there's anything wrong with being intimate with your spouse once you have kids.
But honestly, I feel like sex should always be about more than just pleasure—it should be about building a family. 😬

That’s total BS 😁

Lawrence Torres56 said:Look, this isn't just a pathetic excuse—it’s actually pretty dangerous if someone is seriously sending a kid off to religion class just to dodge supervision.

Then how do you explain why so many kids show up to Sunday school, but hardly any parents ever step foot in an American church?

I know, that's why he was totally out of it 😁

Just asking to be sure 👍
Now we're just waiting on a reply 😁

Michael Jackson10 said:This post is honestly so arrogant, rude, and irresponsible that it makes me want to...

It's not just dangerous; it completely ignores the fact that these kids aren't even attending the religious studies classes in the first place! Look, the way it works is that the school exists for the sake of the church, not for the kids. Sure, it's risky to leave a child in a religion class they have zero interest in—especially when their parents don't even want that kind of education (since "religion class" in practice is basically just Catholic indoctrination)—but at least they're safe in a classroom. Instead, we let them wander the halls or hang out off-campus because the principal doesn't want them in the library or hasn't provided a supervised spot for them to go. Makes sense, right?

Why not just move those elective religion classes to the very last period of the day (which I know the Church fights tooth and nail against!)? And can we please stop stigmatizing the kids who don't take it? Now people just confidently and ignorantly claim it doesn't even happen. Stop bundling school religion classes, church rites, and sacraments into one mandatory system where you have to turn in attendance slips just to prove you were there. If you did that, you'd see how uninteresting and useless it is for kids to be forced by some authority figure to sit there coloring comics about saints while being told "professionally" that everything else they learned during those other four or five hours of school was total nonsense...

Yeah, it's totally arrogant and rude to tell the truth, and it's seriously irresponsible to teach kids from such a young age not to be ashamed of who they are and what they want.😲 It's much better to just teach them hatred, lies, hypocrisy, and how to divide people whenever it suits them, right?

And if anyone is actually stigmatizing children here, it’s the people who spit on religious education while simultaneously forcing their own kids to show up to it...
It's supposedly "better" to force your kid into something they hate, disrupting the flow for the religious kids because God forbid they sit in a hallway with a kid whose parents are atheists... why should that kid have any social life in the hall? Why shouldn't the school just form a separate group for the non-religious kids? Apparently, it's just easier to either fake it or act like a jerk depending on which crowd you're hanging out with at the moment.

I have to agree with you. A huge part of the issue is parents who just go through the motions and enroll their kids in religious education classes when they don't actually want them there. I won't get into how that affects their upbringing, since we're talking about curriculum here rather than parenting, but it provides a really skewed perspective. It's easy to overlook a couple of kids in a class, but when you have five, six, or seven of them in every single grade, the whole dynamic changes.
That doesn't excuse the school districts from their responsibility—they should be looking out for every single child—but there's no denying that many parents are contributing to the problem.

rowdypanther12 said:I have to agree with you. A huge part of the issue is parents who just go through the motions and enroll their kids in religious education classes when they don't actually want them there. I won't get into how that affects their upbringing, since we're talking about curriculum here rather than parenting, but it provides a really skewed perspective. It's easy to overlook a couple of kids in a class, but when you have five, six, or seven of them in every single grade, the whole dynamic changes.
That doesn't excuse the school districts from their responsibility—they should be looking out for every single child—but there's no denying that many parents are contributing to the problem.

Facts. Like they say in Django Unchained: the house slave is the biggest racist...
so these people who act all crazy are always the first ones to throw stones just to hide how hypocritical they really are. Just think about it—imagine how different things would look if everyone like that actually spoke up and said they didn't want their kids in those classes, especially when it messes up their whole schedule. They’d solve the whole religious ed problem in a heartbeat...

hiddenscout44 said:Facts. Like they say in Django Unchained: the house slave is the biggest racist...
so these people who act all crazy are always the first ones to throw stones just to hide how hypocritical they really are. Just think about it—imagine how different things would look if everyone like that actually spoke up and said they didn't want their kids in those classes, especially when it messes up their whole schedule. They’d solve the whole religious ed problem in a heartbeat...

I'm with you on this one. Luckily, my kid's class turned out exactly that way. During that very first morning we were all gathered, parents were stepping up one by one, making it crystal clear they didn't want their kids participating in religious ed. In the end, only about five or six out of twenty-three kids ended up in the class, and everything worked out perfectly. If people acted like that everywhere, the problem would be solved overnight.

I mean, sure, it’s easy enough to shuffle one kid into a hallway or tuck two into a classroom where they have religion studies. But trying to find a spot for three? That's getting complicated, not to mention the other issues.
We’re seeing more kids skipping out on these classes here too, and it definitely shows in how they act. Since the teacher is honestly wonderful, I'm sure she'd find a way to make things work for just one student, but this way is definitely easier on her, too.

rowdypanther12 said:I mean, sure, it’s easy enough to shuffle one kid into a hallway or tuck two into a classroom where they have religion studies. But trying to find a spot for three? That's getting complicated, not to mention the other issues.
We’re seeing more kids skipping out on these classes here too, and it definitely shows in how they act. Since the teacher is honestly wonderful, I'm sure she'd find a way to make things work for just one student, but this way is definitely easier on her, too.

In my kid's class of 26, about six of them skip the religious studies period entirely. The lucky ones who live close by get an extra hour of free time on Monday mornings, while the ones who take the school bus end up stuck hanging out in the locker room for an hour. It's the same deal with their second session later in the week. Since we live right across the street from the school, my kid usually just sprints home to grab a snack, whereas everyone else is stuck waiting in the locker room. Apparently, they aren't allowed to hang out in the hallways anymore, and the library is always packed. Luckily, the school has security cameras installed. I've already had that nagging thought that these kids might end up being blamed if anything goes missing or someone loses their gear.

Lawrence Torres56 said:Yeah, it's totally arrogant and rude to tell the truth, and it's seriously irresponsible to teach kids from such a young age not to be ashamed of who they are and what they want.😲 It's much better to just teach them hatred, lies, hypocrisy, and how to divide people whenever it suits them, right?

And if anyone is actually stigmatizing children here, it’s the people who spit on religious education while simultaneously forcing their own kids to show up to it...
It's supposedly "better" to force your kid into something they hate, disrupting the flow for the religious kids because God forbid they sit in a hallway with a kid whose parents are atheists... why should that kid have any social life in the hall? Why shouldn't the school just form a separate group for the non-religious kids? Apparently, it's just easier to either fake it or act like a jerk depending on which crowd you're hanging out with at the moment.

Either I’m not making sense, or you’re playing dumb here...

1. Where do you—or anyone else, really—get off claiming to know exactly what kids are thinking? Elementary schoolers aren't even fully formed people yet, let alone high schoolers, and some are adults too... why assume every single kid wants religious studies or religion in general?

2. Why should an agnostic or atheist kid feel ashamed of themselves? Honestly, you should be embarrassed for even suggesting that...

3. So, anyone who skips religious ed is automatically taught to be hateful, dishonest, and two-faced? Moral concepts and value systems existed long before the Catholic Church; they don't own a monopoly on morality, and their system isn't any different from others. Who are you to judge and divide people based solely on their relationship with religion?

4. Kids who don't take religious classes get stigmatized by the "devout" community, regardless of who they are as individuals. From what I can see, you fit perfectly into that "us vs. them" mentality. Are you seriously saying that attending a specific religious class or belonging to a denomination is the only way to be socially superior?

5. Sure, I think it's better for a kid to attend the class rather than wander around a hallway or a locker room. But that kid has the same right to be in a proper space as the religious students, not tucked away in some random room (under video surveillance? What is this, Guantanamo Bay?). Are the principals at fault here?
They claim the libraries are full and they don't have the staff to supervise them.
The principals aren't the problem; the people who designed this entire system are. They allowed these schedules to happen without insisting that these kids get the exact same treatment as the believers. Principals are often just the ones stuck carrying out these flawed rules.

And I'm not playing dumb. We're talking about a real issue where kids aren't being looked after properly. A hallway, a locker room, or a library isn't a proper way to care for a student. Video surveillance isn't appropriate either. The issue isn't that these kids are opting out of class; it's that when they opt out, they're basically thrown out into nowhere. If you think that's fine, then why don't you start a movement to hold religious classes in the hallways or the locker rooms instead?

Oh boy, what can I even say? So many people here have shown time and again how incredibly comfortable they get when it comes to other people's kids—as long as their own little ones are being looked after right on schedule.

Sure, it might be for 🤮, but the whole system is rigged to support them, especially that one agency that claims to care so deeply about children's "rights"🤦

feralgardener33 said:I'm with you on this one. Luckily, my kid's class turned out exactly that way. During that very first morning we were all gathered, parents were stepping up one by one, making it crystal clear they didn't want their kids participating in religious ed. In the end, only about five or six out of twenty-three kids ended up in the class, and everything worked out perfectly. If people acted like that everywhere, the problem would be solved overnight.

But that’s actually why it doesn't work that way.
The decision is made during the enrollment period back in June, where you have to officially opt-in or opt-out of those elective subjects.
(Even if families have known each other since preschool and know that a certain group of five kids won't be taking religion, they can't be sure if everyone will end up in the exact same classroom. People just don't want to take that risk.)

Susan James said:But that’s actually why it doesn't work that way.
The decision is made during the enrollment period back in June, where you have to officially opt-in or opt-out of those elective subjects.
(Even if families have known each other since preschool and know that a certain group of five kids won't be taking religion, they can't be sure if everyone will end up in the exact same classroom. People just don't want to take that risk.)

I didn't quite follow your logic on why it isn't handled that way. Of course, during registration, we were asked if our child should take religion, and we made our choice right then. But at the first PTA meeting, one mom felt the need to loudly reiterate to the teacher that she didn't want her kid in that class. That triggered a chain reaction where others started speaking up too. Maybe seeing how many kids weren't participating caused some parents—who were originally planning to sign them up just so their kid wouldn't be stuck in the hallway—to change their minds. Who knows. Either way, the outcome was actually great.

feralgardener33 said:I didn't quite follow your logic on why it isn't handled that way. Of course, during registration, we were asked if our child should take religion, and we made our choice right then. But at the first PTA meeting, one mom felt the need to loudly reiterate to the teacher that she didn't want her kid in that class. That triggered a chain reaction where others started speaking up too. Maybe seeing how many kids weren't participating caused some parents—who were originally planning to sign them up just so their kid wouldn't be stuck in the hallway—to change their minds. Who knows. Either way, the outcome was actually great.

In our district, elective subjects (which basically just means religion since it's the only elective offered) are chosen during the enrollment process. At that point, you don't even know who your child's classmates will be, what the general consensus on religious studies is, or even which teacher you'll end up with. So, most people just go with the flow to avoid any hassle.
What happened at your school probably just gave a few more parents the nudge they needed, whether they decided not to sign up initially or changed their minds later on.

It was only September, just as the school year was finally getting underway, when we suddenly received this official notice asking us to declare whether our child would be attending religious education classes... which is quite a surprise, really, considering there wasn't a single word mentioned about it during the initial enrollment process.

It usually happens right when enrollment wraps up—mostly because they’re still shuffling classes around, figuring out the master schedule, and trying to divvy up all the teaching loads for the staff (I think).

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