German Minister says public schools should require Islam classes

Incognito · March 14th, 2008, 01:44 AM

German Minister Says Public Schools Should Require Islam Classes

Thursday , March 13, 2008

BERLIN —
Schools in Germany should offer Islam — along with Christianity and Judaism — as a required religion class in the future, the nation's interior minister said Thursday, but insisted the courses be taught in German.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters it would take a while before Muslim community leaders work out a legally binding agreement with the state, but that an agreement on the issue had been reached.

"It will take some time, but we are moving ahead," Schaeuble told reporters, following a third conference with representatives of Germany's estimated 3 million Muslims and government officials. Other participants said it would take several years before the classes become available.

Both sides have wrangled for years over the issue of teaching Islam in state-run schools, where religion classes are required by law. Pupils currently only have the option between Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Judaism. Many schools also offer ethics classes as an alternative.

Offering Islam in schools will be "a very, very considerable contribution to integration and peaceful coexistence," said Bekir Alboga, a spokesman for the Muslim participants.

Germany's Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches, as well as the Jewish community, already have established legal partnerships with the state.

Participants in the conference, set up in 2006 in an attempt to improve often strained relations between Germans and the nation's Muslim community — dominated by roughly 2.2 million Turks — also agreed to support construction of more mosques in Germany and fight against Islamic radicalism.

FOXNews.com - German Minister Says Public Schools Should Require Islam Classes - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

Grimmlok · March 14th, 2008, 10:24 AM

religion in public schools = horror.

abbyroadme · March 19th, 2008, 01:35 AM

It should NOT be taught in schools. So wrong.

southernbelle · March 20th, 2008, 01:41 PM

Absolutely not.

Grimmlok · March 20th, 2008, 01:45 PM

while theyre at it, they should get rid of christianity and judaism and any other religion they have in there.

sparkly · March 20th, 2008, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grimmlok

while theyre at it, they should get rid of christianity and judaism and any other religion they have in there.

Absolutely!

VenusInFauxFurs · March 20th, 2008, 11:32 PM

Bollocks to that. Religion does not belong in public schools.

yanna · March 21st, 2008, 04:55 AM

I think teaching religion is not wrong as long as kids are taught about all religions, not only those they are supposed to belong to. It should be taught with the same dettachment as math (was going to say history but every country seems to teach a different history

)

sputnik · March 21st, 2008, 07:21 AM

^^^
i was curious about this and asked a couple of german friends and they said these classes taught them about religion but not in a sunday school way - they weren't taught what to believe, they were just taught what catholicism means, the basic tenets, some history, etc...
i still don't think religion belongs in public schools unless it's taught with detachment, like yanna said, and is more like a philosophy/theology class and kids should be taught about all the major religions, not just have to pick one. i was taught about religion in some of my philosophy classes in high school and that was actually really interesting and not at all like being preached at, on the contrary. one teacher had us read herman hesse's 'siddhartha' and for that we had to learn a lot about buddhism, etc. it's all about how it's taught.

yanna · March 21st, 2008, 07:29 AM

In Greece, I was taught religion in a Sunday schoolish way in high school and hated it. My evil professor gave me 9/20 as a first trimester grade, she hated me so much. But she was replaced in the second year with this awesome guy who taught us about all major religions (it was the curriculum) and made it so interesting with slides and stuff! I loved it! I'm not sure what's the current state of religious education here or in Germany but I totally think that children need to learn some basic things about most religions. In France where it is obviously not taught in public schools, our professor was telling us how kids have a really hard time understanding literature because they lack some basic knowledge of Christianity.

tkdgirl · March 21st, 2008, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yanna

I think teaching religion is not wrong as long as kids are taught about all religions, not only those they are supposed to belong to. It should be taught with the same dettachment as math (was going to say history but every country seems to teach a different history

)

Coming to a public school near you. When my friend's then 5 year old asked me what the difference between Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkahwas, and then said (after I told her) that her teacher said they were all the same, I knew the fix was in.

I think I got a great public school education, but I will serious consider sending my kids to a private or charter school. Schools today are doing nothing more than teaching kids to be mediocre. And ill-informed.

southernbelle · March 25th, 2008, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkdgirl

Coming to a public school near you. When my friend's then 5 year old asked me what the difference between Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkahwas, and then said (after I told her) that her teacher said they were all the same, I knew the fix was in.

I think I got a great public school education, but I will serious consider sending my kids to a private or charter school. Schools today are doing nothing more than teaching kids to be mediocre. And ill-informed.

ITA. I loved my public school education, but the drive to be PC has led to the schools basically feeding the kids a bunch of feel-good misinformation. It's not the same as it was even 10 or 15 years ago.

kingcap72 · March 25th, 2008, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkdgirl

Coming to a public school near you. When my friend's then 5 year old asked me what the difference between Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkahwas, and then said (after I told her) that her teacher said they were all the same, I knew the fix was in.

I think I got a great public school education, but I will serious consider sending my kids to a private or charter school. Schools today are doing nothing more than teaching kids to be mediocre. And ill-informed.

Well, considering that public & private schools have been feeding kids misinformation about a lot of things for decades the fix was in a long time ago.