The Andalusia Supreme Court (TSJA) has forced the Board of Education & Culture to offer Enseñanza Religión Islámica (ERI) in two schools in Granada.
Thirty other schools in the province already offer this Religious-Education option.
The two schools are a state junior school and the other is a private, Catholic secondary school that receives education grants from the State.
The fact that the schools now have to offer this subject doesn’t mean that it has to be imposed on children whose parents do not wish them to study this subject.
However, as the Catholic school receives money from the State, it has the obligation to offer compulsory basic education.
The Asociación Aljibe Dar-Al Anwar had sent 250 requests over the years to the Board of Education, from families that wish that their children received RE for Islam.
The TSJA considers the Andalusian Board of Education had violated “fundamental rights” by ignoring requests from parents for the children to receive classes in this subject, which is what the Asociación de Consumidores Halal de España (Acoha) had claimed in their lawsuit against the Board.
As is the case of Catholic, religious education in Spanish schools, the State pays the bills but the religious institution decides who gives the classes.
Editorial comment: isn’t it about time that there was no religious education, no matter which religion, in state schools? Surely If parents want their children to receive religious instruction, they should send them to Sunday school or the equivalent in any other religion.
(News: Granada, Andalucia)
Hi Roberto, church teachings and Darwinism are not necessarily incompatible. THe bible says Adam was made from the clay of the earth, it did not say how many intermediary forms it went through to get to mankin. Science is more concerned in the ‘how’ and religion in the ‘why’.
Coming from a Church of England school back in the day I now struggle to understand why we were taught religious education that God created the world and then Darwin’s theory of evolution next.
I am not here to say either it is wrong but it does strike me as hypocrisy. That said I do agree with Paul that if we are introduced in schools about other religions and beliefs in the world, we may understand there values and views better and grow up as understanding adults ……………… I can always live in hope.
Religion, I feel gives, or used to, in the darker ages, comfort; a bright light of hope that you weren’t just born, lived and then die, mostly in times gone by in poverty. So, there was something to cling to or pray to for guidance or relief.
Sadly, Mankind has had many religious leaders who are not exactly followers of their own teachings; teachings that we still take as gospel, (excuse the pun!) written by men years after a supposed event are really true, ignoring scientific facts.
We all hope for a better place after death. We also hope for world peace. Do not hold your breaths.
Paul: Yes, unfortunately (in my opinion) religion does play a part in the lives of many people still, and yes, religion examined in an anthropological/sociological light at school as social phenomena is a positive.
But let them all be examined on an equal footing, from the sacred stone worshiped in a jungle to a major monotheist religion and the carnage produced by all of them.
Religion is a big part of life for many people. It is right that schools teach what it is all about but, in my opinion, from a secular point of view. If children could be taught about the similarities between various religions and the historical reasons why and when they diverged then this greater understanding would reduce the ‘fear of the other’ and help understanding and tolerance.