HEADTOHEAD:Last week, John Carrand John Murraydebated the question: Is denominational education suitable for 21st-century Ireland? Here is an edited selection of your comments.
YES - 45%
Pluralism - It is ridiculous to build an educational institution around a single belief system and then call it pluralism. It is not pluralist for the children contained within it. Teaching a young person to believe blindly is merely indoctrination. The fact that something is "traditional" is not an automatic support for it. Even ostensibly benign traditions must be open to examination. We currently offer adults the right to choose a belief system for their children. This indoctrination of a child is designed precisely to deprive a future adult of freedom of choice. Religious organisations, in every culture, are actually terrified of genuine freedom to choose. This is precisely why a battle is being fought on the nursery doorstep. Far from denominational schools serving a pluralist society, they are in direct opposition to it.
Kevin Scally, Ireland
As an American living in Ireland, having an education system linked to religion is the single most unappealing thing about raising children in Ireland.
Ian, Ireland
The recent conversion of prominent Muslim journalist Magdi Allam in Rome is an eloquent testimony to the value of the denominational education he received in Cairo. His inspiring story of conversion recounts his groundedness in values which led him to find "the God of faith and reason" and appreciate "the indissoluble link between faith and reason" as a basis for authentic religion and human civilisation.
My children attended both Catholic schools and VEC community colleges. They had no rights in either type of school as they were not Catholic or Christian. Even so-called multi-denominational VEC community colleges have a religious ethos. It is quite impossible to opt your child out of a religious ethos. From my experience, a religious ethos is a licence to indoctrinate. This is not respect. We do not belong to the school community as we are different. Schools with an ethos like Educate Together, which respect children's different belief systems and where all children have a guaranteed right of access, are the only way to respect their human rights.
Jane, Ireland
I attended a Catholic school yet was never "forced" to believe anything. The Catholic faith was presented to me, along with other faiths - Christian and non-Christian. Emphasis was placed on the Catholic faith, granted, but to authentically understand religion in general, one must be taught the language of a particular religion.
How many people complain that young people are indoctrinated into the English language?
We can all freely choose to learn other languages as we grow older, but without first mastering English it would be impossible to practice any other language.
Tom, Ireland
I agree with Tom. Even in a secular state like Britain, there are large waiting lists for faith schools. Many children in Britain travel long distances to get to these schools every day. This is largely because of these schools' excellent academic record. It is also, I believe, because many people put a value on religious instruction for their children.
It beggars belief that denominational schools get taxpayers' money and can then discriminate against children for not being the correct religion or having none at all. Do we allow our hospitals, Garda or any other major State edifice discriminate on religious grounds? The quote attributed to the Jesuit Francis Xavier says it all: "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man."
Alex Staveley, Ireland