Christianity should play no part in public life

Question 1

christianity and public life

Answer 1

the answer to whether christianity should continue to be a main contributor to society’s values will depend on whether you consider it to have insights of if it should be replaced by secular humanist values

Question 2

education and religion

the british humanistic association

Answer 2

• they campaign against schools w religous character saying
• ‘we aim for secular state gaurenteeing religion or belief’
• instead ‘young ppl of all diff backgrounds n beliefs learn from each other’
• dawkins adds religous schooks replace evidence based approaches to understanding r world w superstitions
• he argued teaching evolution alongside other theories, such as creationism in science classes, falls to credit the evidence of evolution

Question 3

r kids from seperate skls less open minded as some might wish to claim?

professor leslie francis

Answer 3

• found evidence to suggest young ppl who r committed to christianity r acc more open to ppl of other faiths n beliefs not less open
• this is bc its not school that impacts attitude but the students themselves

Question 4

charles taylor

Answer 4

• questions y we find it easy to not believe in god in west world tho it use to be norm
• answer= ‘subtraction stories’ which remove religion as if it were obvious
• says weve outgrown religion n stories we now use to expl the world r designed to show we can live full lives w/out god
• he says it leads to self-sufficing humanism but its unsatisfying
• 1st he argued failure of secular humanism is that it gives too much importance to indivual n private exp but it breaks communal aspects of society
• 2nd its not that weve discovered that doesnt exist but that the west world=out of line from dominant historical world narrative
• his argument is until we steer ourselves out of this secular phase we wont exp fullness of life=having a divine

Question 5

defending religous schools

christoper dawson

Answer 5

• his essay ‘the challenge of secularism’ argues that secular education is problematic
• he points out that where education systems were conscioulsy anti religous (deliberately avoiding religion) such as in communist countries, that religion becomes endangered
• removing religion from culture, art, architecture, music not only deprives religion but also ppl who r trying to make sense of their own culture

Question 6

defending religous schools

professor james conroy

Answer 6

• he argues that religous schools have an important role in liberal democratic state- they provide parents w a choice n prove counterbalance to any single driving influence on education

Question 7

secular humanism

Answer 7

• describe all those who believe humans can live good lives according to reason w/out religion
• freud n dawkins r one
• theres variations such as between programmatic n procedural
• humanists are clear that ethical and spiritual values are not derived from a higher power but express human values and aspirations.

Question 8

the amsterdam declaration sets out the aim of secular humanism

Answer 8

1. humanism is ethical
2. rational: science as basis
3. supports democracy n human righhts
4. insists personal liberty must be combined w social responsibility
5. is a response to widespread demand for alternative to dogmatic religion
6. response to widespread demand for an alternative to dogmatic religion
7. values artistic creativity n imaginiation
8. is a life stance aiming at max possible fulfilment

Question 9

r christain values j human values?

Answer 9

• these values eg compassion, forgiveness, justice etc r human not just christian teachings
• but not all christian values r so easily explained such as self sacrifice (eg mum for her child or soilder for his platoon) n unconditional love (doctors who aid those in diseased stricken countries)
• perhaps spirtual values (pure, perfect n untainted) r better than human values (physical, sensual n can be morally corrupt)
• god requests both spirtual n human values(incarnation)

Question 10

education n schools

Answer 10

• dawkins=critic of provision of faith schools in secular society
• faith schools add to diversity n cohesion
• he says this=confused ‘diversity may be a virtue, but this is diversity gone mad’
• create isolated community n fail to integrate pupils into wider secular society
• many fail to teach proper science esp fundamentalist and conservative beliefs
• leave pupils open to radicalisation
• state=no responsibilith to teach faith
• RE should part of curriculum if it incl all major world religions n non religous belief systems=kids shud be taught diverse faith claims n some religous truth claims r equally non religous

Question 11

for faith schools

Answer 11

• theres no value-neutral schools, faith schools j operate according to religous values which reflect diversity of british culture
• they offer a distinctive education based on moral n spirtual value local faith communities
• popular w parents
• many faith schools do not make faith a requirement for entry, but are able to better foster any belief because they have a better understanding than secular schools

Question 12

nietzsche quote on god

Answer 12

• ‘god is dead and we have killed him’

he hates christianity=thinks it religion of weak ppl

Question 13

government and state