Religion
Related: About this forumHow to Talk About Other Religious Traditions to Your Kids
"Kids are naturally little theologians"
Carey Wallace
10:37 AM ET
Fall is full of celebrations in several great religious traditions. Jews just finished marking Rosh Hashanah, the start of the Jewish new year, on Sept. 14, and Yom Kippur, a day of atonement, on Sept. 23, which was the same day as Muslims began to celebrate Eid Al Adha, which commemorates Abrahams faith in being willing to sacrifice his son to God, and Gods mercy in providing another sacrifice in his place. And on Nov. 11, Sikhs and Hindus observe will observe Diwali, a festival of lights. For Hindus, the festival celebrates the victory of spiritual light over spiritual darkness, but for Sikhs it has an added meaning: celebrating of the release of an important guru from prison.
Then of course, comes Dec. 25, one of the biggest holidays for Christians.
Your kids may have had some days off from school, or they may have noticed friends were absent that day. The fact that American kids might be celebrating any of these holidaysand moreis a testament to Americas tradition of religious freedom, which has welcomed an incredible diversity of faiths. According to the research of Diana Eck, professor of comparative religion at Harvard, the United States is the most religiously diverse country in the world.
That means kids need to understand something about other religions to understand the world around them, says Connie Green, professor of childrens literature at Appalachian State University, and co-author, with Sandra Oldendorf, of Religious Diversity and Childrens Literature. We all need to be religiously literate, just like were literate in math and reading, she says. And kids have a lot to gain by learning about other traditions, says Kate McCarthy, professor of comparative religion at California State University Chico, and author of Interfaith Encounters in America: a connection to other cultures and traditions, and an enriched world view as well as the chance to think about their own traditions in deeper ways. Not only that, she says, but study after study has shown that knowing someone from a different religion reduces religious prejudice and violence.
http://time.com/4052046/how-to-talk-about-other-religious-traditions-to-your-kids/
Person 2713
(3,263 posts)Sinful wrong not saved whatever. Also other Christians that didn't believe what they did were not real Christians either. No one ever visits them they are so weird and in another town but I heard the kid now a teenager is suffering from severe depression. I wondered if he is so full of hate or depressed enough to act out.
Sad to be so intolerant and try to pass it on to the future
rug
(82,333 posts)Years ago, the peace group I belonged to had a booth at the County Fair. I occupied a corner and sold prints of my cartoons. This is a very liberal area and sales were good.
One person though, was incensed at my disrespect of George Bush. He had his kids with him. They were in their early teens. They parroted his attitude completely. I felt sorry for them.
rug
(82,333 posts)Cretins like that have no qualms about popping off like that in front of kids knowing that most people will not respond in kind.
Cartoonist
(7,318 posts)Is that these blowhards had no qualms about disrespecting Clinton, yet they call me un-American for poking fun at Bush.
bigendian
(1,042 posts)Connie Green, Kate McCarthy and Sandra Oldendorf promote religious literacy as important as literacy in math and reading. Good luck.
Yorktown
(2,884 posts)During the 17th century, curriculum in the common schools (elementary) of the New England colonies was summed up as the "four Rs" - Reading, 'Riting, "Rithmetic", and Religion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_three_Rs#The_Three_Rs_in_the_United_States