Atheism to be taught to Irish schoolchildren

[rug]

Up to 16,000 primary-school pupils in non-denominational sector will get tuition in atheism, while the rest will be offered courses on the internet and on smartphone apps



Richard Dawkins' The Magic of Reality is a key text in the first ever atheist curriculum for Irish schoolchildren. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Guardian

Henry McDonald in Dublin
theguardian.com, Thursday 26 September 2013 07.12 EDT

In a historic move that will cheer Richard Dawkins, atheists in Ireland have secured the right to teach the republic's primary schoolchildren that God doesn't exist.

The first ever atheist curriculum for thousands of primary-school pupils in Ireland has been drawn up by Atheist Ireland in an education system that the Catholic church hierarchy has traditionally dominated.

The class of September 2014 will be reading texts such as Dawkins' The Magic of Reality, his book aimed at children, as well as other material at four different primary levels, according to Atheist Ireland.

Up to 16,000 primary schoolchildren who attend the fast-growing non-denominational Irish school sector will receive direct tuition on atheism as part of their basic introduction course to ethics and belief systems.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/26/atheism-to-be-taught-irish-schoolchildren

[haikugal]

1. Wonderful!!! This warms my heart....WOOT!!!

Rational thinking may save us yet.

[cbayer]

2. That makes sense in the context of a course that teaches about ethics and belief systems.

[cleanhippie]

3. Sounds more like critical thought and reason will be taugh, not "atheism".

But whatever. Critical thought and reason, when applied to religion, leads to non-belief. And the more of that, the better.

[rug]

4. Nope, it's atheism.

Atheist Ireland to develop first Irish course about atheism for primary schools

By Atheist Ireland | Published: 21 September, 2013

http://www.atheist.ie/

[cleanhippie]

5. If by "atheism", one means non-belief as an alternative to belief, then yes.

Clearly stated in the link it says they will use the Toledo Guiding Principles
http://www.osce.org/odihr/29154
to "teach about atheism, not teach atheism."

Technically yes, they will be teaching ABOUT atheism (lower case a, meaning non-belief), not TEACHING Atheism (some sort of ideology no one has ever actually defined).
I think that it is important to note that wherever this group refers to atheism as a topic, it is always lowercase. That has particular meaning.

[rug]

6. The same principles apply to teaching about religion in schools.

Teaching about religions and beliefs should be sensitive, balanced, inclusive, nondoctrinal, impartial, and based on human rights principles relating to freedom of religion or belief. This implies that considerations relating to the freedom of religion or belief should pervade any curricula developed for teaching about religions and beliefs.

That should pretty much preclude comparing religion to belief in unicorns or backward terrorists.

In developing and implementing programmes related to teaching about religions and beliefs, attention needs to be paid to the rights and distinctive needs of minority groups in the larger community served by a particular school. This may include national or ethnic minorities with students in the school, or simply smaller religious or belief communities that have pupils in the relevant school. Efforts should be made to ascertain the distinctive needs of all such national or ethnic minorities, smaller religious communities, and migrants and new minorities.

[cleanhippie]

7. When critical thought is used, such comparisons are unnecessary.

Comparisons like that are used for illustrative purposes, so that people with little critical thought ability might understand the point being made. Your unicorn example is a good one, for it illustrates how one with little ability for critical thought may be able to understand the intellectual point being made.
Unfortunately, that point is not picked up by the listener with low critical thought and they instead mock the example as a defense mechanism.

Teaching critical thought = less childish and simple comparisons needed for those with little ability to think critically. YMMV.

[rug]

8. Actually, the use of the unicorn example says more about the speaker's thinking than the listener's.

[okasha]

9. The speaker's what?

Ability to parrot internet cliches has nothing to do with thinking.

[cleanhippie]

12. Perhaps you are right. You are the one that brought up the unicorn example.

[rug]

13. Only because it's been brought up many, many times, often in the most disjointed discussions.

[dimbear]

14. Unicorns come up so often because they occur in the King James Bible, and those who believe

that that book is inerrant believe in unicorns of necessity. Also they are cute and cuddly.

[rug]

15. The word is ox in the Jewsish scripture.

A rather odd point to hang a philosophy on.

[dimbear]

16. The folks who believe that the King James is inerrant don't put much stock in the Jewish scriptures.

Fancy modern scholarship can't replace good old inspired writing.

[rug]

17. I don't think they're the ones beating a dead unicorn.