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"Atheist + Agnostic" clubs in schools

  • 05-04-2011 12:10pm
    #1
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,428 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    Following on from this NY Times article on the rapid growth of clubs for non-religious people in the USA:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/education/04winerip.html

    ...I'm wondering what things are like in Irish schools.

    Are there clubs for the religious and irreligious like there are across the pond? Back in the 1970's and 80's, schools that I was aware of had almost nothing like this, small, desolate outposts of the Legion of Mary notwithstanding. And certainly nothing at all for the non-religious.


Comments

  • #2
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    I'm just not sure school should be about that kind of thing.

    Maybe in the US where you might have several religious "clubs" within a school, setting one up with an alternate view seems like a logical step. Not sure how many Irish schools have kids voluntarily praying on the lawn outside of school hours.


  • #3
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,428 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Dades wrote: »
    setting one up with an alternate view seems like a logical step.
    Nah, I'm not talking about setting these things up -- far too much like hard work! And kids should be kept away from religion and religious thinking (presented as "truth"), same as they're kept away from politics.

    Just wondering whether religious clubs ever really got off the ground here in Ireland. I don't believe they ever did, but with the central catholic church collapsing as we speak, I'd imagine the fringes are more free to be wined and dined by evangelical outfits than they have been for many years, so perhaps they are.

    No idea really.


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