tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941226.post114077676248582052..comments2023-03-24T09:42:35.392+00:00Comments on Mumble: Proportional EducationDave Pearsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07460881163553899351noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941226.post-1140936166977454872006-02-26T06:42:00.000+00:002006-02-26T06:42:00.000+00:00Aside from that, according to your statistics, nin...<I>Aside from that, according to your statistics, nine million people identified themselves as atheists in the last census.</I><BR/><BR/>Not my statistics I'm afraid. ;)<BR/><BR/>I think you've probably misread that page though. Nine million people gave "no religion" or a variation on that theme as the answer. Saying "no religion" isn't the same as being an atheist.Dave Pearsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07460881163553899351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941226.post-1140806605401156312006-02-24T18:43:00.000+00:002006-02-24T18:43:00.000+00:00I certainly read not long ago in the MEN that RE i...I certainly read not long ago in the MEN that RE in secular schools in the UK is only committed to teaching the so-called "big 5" (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Sikhism) which, given your statistics, seems a bit dodgy too, as Buddhism has a fair share there too.<BR/><BR/>Aside from that, according to your statistics, <I>nine million</I> people identified themselves as atheists in the last census. By that account religious education should be clear about what it means to have no faith and why many UK residents choose to follow that path.<BR/><BR/>I was at school even more recently than Tim, and I remember Buddhism being touched on (although I don't think it was in the exam) and I remember my school putting a lot of emphasis on issues that are contended differently by religions (such as abortion, euthanasia, sex outside of marriage) but without putting too much emphasis on what each religion thinks, more on the issues themselves.<BR/><BR/>I would certainly be all for the critical discussion of many religions, if only because then we (Unitarians - only 7000 of us in the UK) might get a mention... but on the other hand so will Scientology.Richhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10432054711574735376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941226.post-1140778023110870692006-02-24T10:47:00.000+00:002006-02-24T10:47:00.000+00:00Yeah, I was deliberately hazy about that, partly i...Yeah, I was deliberately hazy about that, partly in case I mis-remembered and partly because I wasn't looking to emphasize the P-R side of it as some ideal.<BR/><BR/>While I tend to find "majorityism" in business obnoxious ("we'll start by supporting only the most popular web-browsers", yuck!), I'm not sure that you're ever going to avoid it completely.<BR/><BR/>"Religion" in general seems to be an area of discussion increasing in popularity these days (a sign of a rise in securalism of society?), but I'm not entirely sure what's to be taught about it beyond "it happens" - and then get into as representative specifics as possible.<BR/><BR/>Notably your national statistics page has a line for "other religion", showing that they drew a line somewhere.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com