The Oracle

Ok, this was spurred by another topic but I thought it deserved a space of its own. I've also opened it up as a poll so we can gauge how we all feel and see it.

So we have the poll question which I'd love to discuss because I myself have encountered the viewpoint that it shouldn't and the arguement itself was quite convincing.

Apart from the obvious poll question there are a few things I thought I'd just put out there.

How should it be represented?
What rights do parents have?
Who do we contact in regards to dealing with intolerance?

I know these are pretty hefty questions, but I'd love us all to discuss them, share what info we have and hopefully also get a generic guideline for all parents. Now I know we have a mix of nationalities here, so I'd also love to view the differences in how we go about things. Hopefully with a good bit of discussion we'll have a good overall view point that can help Pagan parents.

Are you guys up for it?

well i obviously voted yes!
we all know how diverse paganism is. and children should be taught as such with spotlights on the most prevalent. such as the obvious wicca, heathenism, and the others that are quite popular. i don't see why we should teach about different paths of paganism if you are taught different paths of christianity.

our children deserve to know about one of the largest growing religions/paths in the world, not just what some people view as 'decent'.


edit -
another thought. most pagans revere nature. alot of us try to be as ecological as we can and live in harmony with the earth. to learn that would certainly do children no harm at all. it would be good for them to see people caring for the planet, especially with this whole carbon foot print climate change stuff.

I voted yes. I think a broad range of religions should be covered in school. When I was in school it was mostly based on just two of the three Abrahamic religions, Christianity & Judaism, that were covered.

It would be good for children to have some basic knowledge of other major faiths, Paganism, Buddhism, Islam, Hindu, Shinto, Taoism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, Baha'i, just to name a few!

I'm not sure what you mean exactly with how it should be represented. Do you mean how it should be covered/taught? Perhaps starting with brief overview and general shared concepts/beliefs, followed by briefly touching on main groups of thought such as Wicca, Heathenism etc and their specific beliefs.

I'm not sure on the rights question you asked, as I'm not a parent (and not likely to be!) it is not a topic I know much about.

With regards to who do you contact with regards to dealing with intolerance. Firstly the school/school board, then the local education authority, local council, your Assembly Member / Member of Parliament / Senator etc.

Religious groups can also form committees/associations for education. I know there is a Buddhist organisation for promoting education of Buddhism (all traditions) in Education Facilities in South East England. I think the broader Inter-faith groups usually have a stance on education too, although I've noticed that paganism is generally not that well represented in these (something to work on in the future!).

Alternatively to education/awareness in schools, Pagan Parents and/or covens/groups could form their own child education programs on a volunteer base, similar to Christian Sunday School or how Jews hold classes at their synagogues for children to learn Hebrew and more about their faith etc.

Gassho,

M

In regards to how its covered M you are spot on

I know there are bodies here in the UK trying to get together to form a collective voice for Pagan parents, but to be honest I can't see a great deal being done openly. I know the Pagan feds approach is to simply advice and to go through the channels you threw forward, ie school board etc.

Maybe that's what is needed, a general overview of the diversity of Paganism that can represented by a body of diverse Pagan's. I may get shot for this but Heathenism is completely different again and does deserve its own treatment. If you mingle the two it starts getting confusing for adults never alone children lol.

But the advice so far is good, please keep it coming

Now I had better put my views forward here lol, I actually voted yes myself. The reason being that if its taught in schools you get them when they are young enough to not have prefixed ideals that can cloud open minded discussion. You'd have a generation of young adults that would be able to understand a more broad spectrum of religion in our society. In my eyes that can't be a bad thing, it can only bring good, after all the biggest stumbling block to a lot of Pagan's is getting past the preconceptions that have been created by the media in general.

How should it be represented though?

That's a tough question even for me, I'm what you may call a very sexual Pagan and that hasn't got a great deal of room in our younger classrooms. Lets be honest one wiff of the nature of something like the great rite and you'd have hundreds of parents hitting the roof!!!

My approach would be to focus on such things as seasonal festivals in a very child like manner. Lets be honest most of our kids celebrate good old Halloween in a manner that is not far off our own Pagan festival Then we bring it forward to the teens, they are starting sex education and I personally believe pointing out the sacred aspects of duality would only help make our youth far more responsible in certain choices.

People to contact, I echo M once more here, work up the chain of authority but also be aware of religion in our law. There are a great many rights that allow us be a little more free with our beliefs. This also has connections to who do we contact in regards to tolerance, the more informed we are the better

apparently, hounslow is starting to teach kids about paganism from key stage three. and thats pretty young. (btw, hounslow is just down the road from me, about 20 mins drive and is a borough of london i think, or maybe surrey, not sure of the borders).
however, we do seem to have more freedom adarian here in the uk. but, and this is a big but, even after talking to my daughters teachers they have still taught her a christian prayer without asking us at all. and his prayer is worship, thanking the christian god for 'everything'. turk and i are absolutely furious about it and there are going to be strong words about it in the morning. they went totally behind our back.