[Osx-nutters] The separation of church and state.

[Stefano Mori]

On 2007-Dec-03, at 14:59, Mark Smith wrote:

> Berlin has an islamic population of around 1 million. It seems
> reasonable that those children who wish to receive islamic
> instruction, or (more likey)  the children of parents who want their
> kids to receive islamic instruction may receive it, without having to
> go to a separate school to get it.
>
> To be clear, I'd like there to be no "intra-curricular" religious
> education of any kind whatsoever, but as long as some religious
> instruction is available in some schools, then other religions should
> receive the same rights. There should be no special treatment of any
> individual religion in this regard.


A friend of mine went to a separate school for Islamic instruction,  
here in the UK.

Starting from age 6, he'd be sent after the normal school day ended,  
to the local Islamic centre where he'd do the rote learning of the  
Koran for 3 hours, every evening.

By age 10 or 11 this started to be impractical and his parents stopped  
sending him. However, they would have carried on if possible.

It raises an ancillary question, of not just whether there should be  
schools for religion, but also whether there should be playtime for  
"normal" childhood. Obviously our Western notion of a normal childhood  
doesn't tally well with some other cultures' ideals, and I think this  
may be something that needs to be legislated? How well integrated can  
a person be if the other culture want to take possession of the child?

Stefano