DEBATE - RELIGION SHOULD BE TAUGHT AT SCHOOLS (for).

FOR THE MOTION.

By Abhilaasha Kaul

In today’s society full of ever-aggressive secular policies, people who view themselves as open minded individuals, the self proclaimed/anointed defenders of reason per say view any attempt to impart religious education with a grimacing sneer. Religion is viewed by them as backward; the last remaining traces of Neanderthal teleology. But religion in civilised societies has come further along.

Religion is the very foundation of our society. Globalisation made us realise that there are myriads of religious orders and groups and although we might not see eye to eye with all of them, we still need to co- exist with them, respect them. How can you respect something you know nothing about?

Everyone has a religion, even atheists religiously practise no religion. If religion is that integral to our lives then how can we ignore the need to learn about it at school? 

Now I understand that my opponents will charge to say that there are too many religions to cover and picking which religion to teach and which not to would lead to controversies and arguments. to them I say, an average Indian school completes about 221 working days a year. Do you really believe that over the course of 12 years, we can’t give our students at least a working understanding of most religions? Emphasis being on most. Admittedly, teaching every nuance of every religion would not be possible but teaching at least a fundamental and basic knowledge is. If you’re worried about the students not paying attention or increasing their work load, then well by that logic please let us stop the moral science classes as well because students do not pay attention (which by the way they will because unlike the ever so preachy moral science classes the religious studies classes would teach them about the beliefs of the people around them) or stop teaching science and psychology because you can’t explain every concept in detail.

Besides how are religion studies any different from studying sociology or even history for that matter. When we are already studying the living and structural patterns of different societies then why shouldn’t we study about their belief system and faith as well?

When we are taught about Hitler and Nazism then should we not be taught about Judaism?

The concept is simple - teaching and preaching are not the same things. If religion studies are implemented in schools in an unbiased and objective way then what’s the harm? A broader curriculum would fulfil the purpose of the education system; Creating global citizens who are tolerant, understanding and open to different opinions. What the students would taught would not be stories that the teacher concocted but matter compiled by experts.

Even so, if a school doesn’t want to teach this subject then at least organise workshops or include it in the morning assembly as a theme- anything would suffice at this point of time.

Coming to the point that religion studies serve to magnify religious differences and strain relations between groups, well these strains and differences already exist and right now at the educational front we are just pretending that they don’t. Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away! In fact understanding each other’s point of view will facilitate harmony among different groups. We have tried working around religion by making sure that no educational institution touches the subject with a fifty feet tall pole and it has not worked in our favour. Is it not time to try a different approach?