Things we can talk about:Specify to two religions: Catholicism and Islam
Set up debate format where we carry out a mini-debate about whether or not religious and ethical teachings are a sufficient form of education
Organize it to look like the Doha Debates (Make a Poster, Get audience to ask questions)
Everyone gets involved
This house believes religious and ethical teachings are a sufficient form of education (Religion vs Secular Education)
Tok Concepts:
-knowledge: What do we know about our world?
-Belief: Seen in faith/ religious. It plays an essential role in our education.
-Sense Perception: Important dimension in our understanding of the world. Perception gives us a picture of reality.
-Sensation: Provided by the world
-Interpretation: Provided by our minds.
-Truth
-Emotion: Remember that our experiences are not only affected by what is out there but also by our minds.
-Common sense realism: It is the way we perceive the world
Ethics
Points in the Debate [For]:
-Religion demands for respect and compassion to prosper between people
-Everything you will ever need in life would be mentioned in your religion anything else is up for interpretation
-Religious schools do not make you shallow, for they give you enough information on different areas of life
-No matter what the religion is, they will ask for the same things and they will have the same message, but the way in which people are asked to do may be different
-Unlike a secular culture, religious education regards religious belief as fundamental.
-But the secular education questions faith of people.
-Non-religious education threatens the children's true path of faith, thus destabilizing the society. Children would encounter the evils of society. For example children would have too much information on sex education.
-Religious education protects the society from amoral knowledge.
-It allows society to remain as a whole. It allows families to have a solid foundation. Morals and values will always be kept under religious education.
Points in the Debate [Against]:
-What would education be without religion: Secular education
-Secular education refers to the system of public education in countries with a secular government between religion and state.
-It opens up the possibility to study sex education and extended science education. So it allows students to be more open minded.
-Secular education exposes learners to the richness of knowledge. It empowers people’s minds to explore the world.
-It encourages the sense of acceptance and security for all, disregarding race and gender.
-Its bases are on rationalistic, humanistic and pluralistic values.
-Secular education tries to meet the personal needs of individuals. Its standards are neutral amongst all religious beliefs.
-In other words it opens up people to the reality of growing up in a secular society.
-It also considers individuals as equal beings; it disregards preferences for faith.
-Because in a country people hold different religious and non-religious beliefs religious education might be a source of conflict.
-Why oppose religious education? It constitutes a state sponsorship of the religious beliefs taught.
-What does this mean? Children under religious education are told to rely on the authority of a scripture thus limiting their trust on their own human instincts.
-Questions often asked are: Does it create close-minded people? Or does it cause people to have extreme ideologies with a lot of bias?
-It depends on how you are brought up and your experiences rather than religion.
-However something certain is that those who oppose secular education are opposing the concept of change. Cultural and religious values hinder individuals’ capacity to adapt to change.
-Hence people do tend to be close- minded and attached to their traditions and beliefs. Thus they might not accept other perspectives.
-There might be a conflict between people who possess different ideologies and beliefs.
