[lit-ideas] Comparative religion

I know, I know .... you guys are all on the edge of your seats waiting for  
another episode in the saga of Public Middle School Education in the  
Midwest....but there's a serious question at the end here.
 
My 7th grader's social studies class is doing a unit on basic  comparative 
religion -- an overview of the world's major religions (though so  far I 
haven't 
heard any noises about Hinduism, and Buddhism is being considered  a religion 
rather than a philosophy, which always makes me cringe).  The  teacher seems 
to be doing a fairly respectable job of introducing Islam so  far.  She asked 
the kids what they considered themselves and what their  parents considered 
themselves.  The demographics are pretty interesting --  those who said 
"Christian" and those who said "Catholic" (yes) were evenly  divided, with 
Islam and 
Judaism following slightly and a rather significant  portion who claimed 
Buddhism.  I told my poor confused child that I always  liked "Unaffiliated 
Monotheist".  Of course, some of the children have no  clue -- one said she was 
a 
"cross between a Baptist and a Protestant"!  The  teacher asked the kids if 
there 
was much religious discussion in their homes --  Bronnie's response was "if 
you knew the half!".  The teacher is using  video-tapes in which 
representatives 
of the religion du jour explain major  festivals, rituals, beliefs.  The 
video on Judaism even included a  description of Simcha Torah, dancing with the 
Torah!  In any event, before  this unit started, kids had to get signed 
parental 
permission to take the  unit.  Unheard of in my experience.  Have any of you 
experienced  this??  More to the point, there were four children, 2 whose 
parents are  devout Catholics, who refused to sign.  Who did not want, for some 
reason,  for their child to have an introductory knowledge of comparative 
religion.   Are there any of you on this list who, given the circumstances, 
age, 
etc., would  not want to permit your child to participate in a unit of 
comparative  religion?  If so ....why?  I'm seriously stymied.   How can  
anyone expect 
their child to make sense of literature, history, current events,  anything 
w/out basic understanding of various major religions?  Is it fear  that the 
child will stray from their own faith?  How strong can such a  faith then be?  
And 
since when does the public school system require  parental consent?  Did they 
ask me to consent to the math unit on square  roots?  Or the science unit on 
light?  Or....did they get my  permission to introduce a piece of literature 
that deals with child molestation  to my daughter?  OR...the unit on sex ed, 
which I might not have  felt was necessary for my particular kiddo at that 
particular stage in her  development?   Since when do schools have to subject 
anything about  their curriculum to parental approval?   And why are people 
afraid 
of  information re. religions?
 
Julie Krueger
baffled

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