Religion and Engaging with the Teacher

To be honest I'm more surprised when I hear of people under the age of 50 who attend mass on a regular basis. Most of my friends are in the 35-45 bracket and none of them go to mass. Some have kids and have had them baptised but that's about it.

It is extremely difficult for a teacher to both "ensure she doesn't pray or learn anything religious", and "ensure she isn't ostracised".

You would letting your views on religion disrupt her school life, which appears to be the opposite of what an athiest would want.

I would advise you simply allow your child to learn about the religious stories in school (it's mostly pretty general morality stuff and parables in SI, JI and 1st class) and invest the time in contextualising this information to the child when they are at home. Kids are smart.

I would be the same. Some would have been fairly vocal about being against the church/religion but yet they all had the big white church wedding, children baptised, communion and confirmation etc.

So I do believe religion plays a bigger role in people's lives than they are willing to admit the alternative is they are not prepared to stand by their convictions. Only they themselves can answer that.

Which is why I think religion will be part of the school curriculum especially in a religious ethos school.

No, I meant in general. A lot of parents baptised their children to get them into certain schools.

This is in the midlands 15-20 years ago. What I mean by raised eyebrows is that I was questioned about my non-attendance to mass on a couple of occasions in the local pub. (More in a puzzled fashion than an aggressive one)

I'm well settled in the area now and I don't hide my lack of belief in a god.

I was told recently by a neighbour that the general assumption in the area for years was that I was a protestant (I'm originally from the North) and my partner was catholic. 😄

Something to bear in mind OP- over 20 years ago, a Supreme Court case determined that in matters concerning the seperation of Church and State, the ethos of a school (ie Catholic religious ethos in your situation) trumps any individual parental demands regarding the provision 'for' primary education. There may be other nuances and developments since, but my guess is that unless you are going to saddle up and ride to the Supreme Court, you are bound to at a minimum, 'respect' the ethos of the school to which you send your child. Your antagonistic, vitriolic and dismissive opinions on religion are indeed your own- but on the surface sound highly disrespectful to the ethos/work of said school.

Athiest Deputy Principal here!

I think attendance at mass, varies enormously from one area to the next.

I'd be the same.

However I'd also say I mostly don't know my friends and family habits religions or not. I'd consider it personal information unless it comes up.

Waving crystals and prescribing rescue remedies in A&E is probably harmless too.

... But we don't do it, and we don't tell people to "go away and find another hospital" either... although "This is a Catholic country" did come up in a hospital in 2012.

Said every year to parents in Irish schools and parents on here, but of course that's a totally different matter.