Should Public Schools in your country joining some Religious Groups/Organizations?

11 comments

1. Considering that Denmark is far from a secular country, having a national church and all, the state church and the public schools are very intertwined. All public schools accomodate preparation for confirmation (as long as it is in the Evangelical church,) and a lot of schools go to Church services before the Christmas Break. As part of primary education, the subject _Kristendomskundskab_, literally “Knowledge of Christianity,” has as the stated goal of the subject, that

   >pupils gain knowledge of Christianity in a historical and contemporary context and of biblical stories and their importance for [Denmark’s _Kulturkreis_.]

   _”vores kulturkreds” in the original, meaning something like “our cultural circle.” Graebner’s terminology doesn’t have a satisfying English translation._

   Pupils with different religious beliefs (meaning association with a recognised religion) can be excused from _Kristendomskundskab_, but I’m not sure about pupils from atheist or agnostic backgrounds.

   So the school and the church, like the church and the state in general, are heavily intertwined in Denmark.

2. In the Dutch school system we have “openbaar onderwijs” and “bijzonder onderwijs”. The first could be translated as “public education” and the latter as “special education”

   ​

   from [Wikipedia](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijzonder_onderwijs):

   >Special education is a form of educational organization in the Netherlands for schools with a specific religious, philosophical or pedagogical basis. Such a school is not run by the government but by a foundation or an association set up by private individuals or philosophical bodies, with funding going through the government.

   ​

   Religious could be catholic, protestant (in one of its many forms), jewish, islamic, … . Philosophical / pedagogical are schools that follow the teachings of for instance Maria Montessori or Rudolph Steiner. However to be “special” a school, it just needs a private governing body. Even a “neutral” school can still be “special”. About a third of the schools is public, the rest is special.

   ​

   Schools with a religious foundation might have some connection to a religious organization (like a local church), but that’s not necessary. Although it is very likely that there will be at least some non official connections. Public schools and the other special schools will not have such a connection.

   ​

   By the way, both the public and the special schools need to follow the same curriculum set by the Dutch government.

3. After the fall of communism (1989 here), the state started giving back the schools they took away from the churches in those times. Mine was one of these: it was a 300-year-old secondary school, which had belonged to the Reformed (Calvinist/Protestant) Church originally.

   I’m not religious, so it was a bit lucky for me that I was already attending the school when they returned it to the church in the 90s, so our class stayed non-religious. Newer classes were religious though: I remember they had to arrive earlier than us every morning for some prayer before the first class. They also had some “religious” lessons once per week. I actually believe they could choose between these lessons and “ethics” lessons though, which was probably a bit more secular thing.

   These schools were still not very common back then, but now, due to Hungary’s politics these days, their number is rising and they are becoming quite common (more than 10% for all institutions – for secondary schools it is 25%). You can even find religious kindergartens now. Of course this means Christian insitutions. These schools also have more freedom in what they can do, while state schools are getting more and more restricted in what they can teach for example.

4. I grew up agnostic in southern Germany, which is quite Catholic.

   There is always religious education in public school, divided in Catholic and Protestant lessons. My elementary school had no alternative for students of other religions or non religious people, but parents could opt out of religious education altogether.

   In secondary schools, they have an option called “Ethics” that all non Christians attend instead of catholic/protestant lessons.

   There are also school start and end of school church services, which were mandatory unless your parents opted out.

   In addition to public schools, we have quite a lot, mostly secondary, church run schools. These are private schools. Although they have more focus on religious education and church service, they are also becoming more open in recent times. An acquaintance of mine went to the same Catholic nun run “Gymnasium” in the 90’s as my niece goes to now, and its a huge difference when they tell about their school experiences. Back then, they probably wouldn’t even had accepted my non Christian niece.

5. [deleted]

6. France is a “Etat laïque”, which translates even further than a Secular State.
   French definition is that NO religion should be present in any government run entity.
   We’re not agnostic, we keep religion, any religion, out of the public sphere

   So, no. No way it can happen.

7. Yeah. Most schools are owned by the Church. You make your communion and confirmation and have to sing Christian songs. Luckily I didn’t have to because I’m atheist but that’s the norm. I think the Church is losing their power in schools however because the religion class (which isn’t religion it’s just Catholic class) is being halved and that remaining time is being replaced with European language studies which we’ve never had before in Primary schools

8. Regrettably yes religious education is mandatory in both Norway (where I live now) and Scotland (where I grew up). Depending on the teacher, it could either be: “Christians believe that jesus did X” or “jesus did X”

9. In Italy schools have crosses with Christ in every class, there is also the chance for students to partecipate to 1 hour a week of Religious studies (its not like catechism, like it’s not necessary Catholic but religion in general. Usually I find that 65% of students participate, due to personal reasons or because their parents decide so.

10. Due to the constitutional clusterfuck in Cyprus and despite having no state Church by law, Greek-language public schools are all confessional in nature and they accommodate Orthodox Christianity with very few and highly-contested exceptions for adherents of other religions or those who are irreligious.

    This includes everything from a non-neutral religion class, to forced Church attendance and participation to communion, to highly encouraged participation to in-school Confession by a visiting priest (this was common when I was in school, but it’s by far the most controversial aspect and I think it might be much more low-key now — and yes, as you’d expect, priests would try really hard to get us 10-12 year old children to confess any “impure thoughts or actions” we might have started having at that age, hence why many parents objected to it even though they are themselves religious).

    Parents who do not wish to spend every week fighting to get their children exempted from every little thing have to instead make enough money to get their child into a private school.

11. No it’s totally forbidden, they even do put on christmas decorations etc…

    We have 3 type of schools:

    – public schools, totally “laïc” like any public service: total separation with state, teachers and students can have a religion but it must be celebrated in private so no hijab, no cross neckless etc.. state founding.

    – Private school under a state contract: similar to public schools, they have to follow the same official curricular but can also include religion matters. Some are Jewish, some Muslims, some Christians. I work in a Christian one (the most common) but more than half of my students are Muslims coming for the better level (not every private school have a better level, it really depend of the area, kids background etc): they participate to religious celebration but only have to listen, not to pray. Parents can choose to enroll them to catechesis or instead to “Christian culture” where we discuss the place and history of the Christian religion, the building, arts, customs but also some of other religions to (we are currently learning about the Jewish symbols), without enforcing the faith. Partly state founding. Teachers don’t have to be christian like kids but both families and teachers have to agree with the school views (generally it’s not that religious.. and no one care if a teacher is an atheist).

    – Private school not under contract, not state founding: don’t have to follow the curriculum, are generally quite expensive, can be religious but most are like Montessori schools.