Question of the Day

I linked over to KimChi Mamas today for OpenThread Thursday. Here is the question: "Would you send your child to a different-faith school? Would you be okay with your kid learning about a religion very different from your own? I went to an Anglican school, and while my religion, Roman Catholicism, belongs in the same category (i.e. both Christian), there were plenty of non-Christian students there too. But my Jewish boyfriend found it interesting/shocking that parents would do that. What would you do?"

Here is my initial comment in response: "I confess openly to a double-standard on this one. I would not send my children to a non-Jewish parochial school, but I have no problem with non-Jewish kids attending the local Hillel house. As complicated and anxiety-provoking as the elementary school situation is in our city, I could not get down with a parochial school if it's not a Jewish school. I am just too uncomfortable with the idea that they might come home and want to talk about the Big JC, and what "he would do."

Now that I am considering it more deeply, I think I am much more at home debunking orthodox Judaism than I am with criticizing any other religion. So if the grunion came home spouting off on why we don't keep kosher, I would feel very comfortable explaining the inherent contradictions and obsolete beliefs on which that ritual is based. But if they came home telling me about the Resurrection, I would feel less qualified, though more motivated, to give them my two cents.
I can offer no rational explanation of this stance. It fits right alongside the fact that I have been a devout vegetarian for 21 years, but I LOVE a pair of buttery suede shoes. (Or purse. I'm good with a suede purse, too.)"

Then another poster added this comment: "FingKASIL, what if this parochial school isn't really a parochial school? Many prep schools are historically Christian, and still require chapel attendance. Yet, they are not marketed as "parochial."

Also, would you allow your child(ren) to take a course on world religions that may require them to attend services of a variety of faiths?"

And that's when I started getting pissed off. Cynthia: I believe that any school that requires chapel attendance, is, by definition, a parochial school. To make a determination about whether to enroll my children, I would have to attend a service. If the service was based in Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., I feel it might be confusing for my children and discordant with the spiritual guidance they receive at home.

As for "allowing" them to take a World Religion class, even one requiring attendance at faith-based services, that is an easy one: Short of "Bombmaking 101" and "How to Hack Into Online Porn: A Seminar," I would support them in enrolling in any class about which they have a genuine interest. Should they elect to pursue one of these faiths because it rang true for them, they would have my total support. But that is a choice that *they* make, not one I make for them.

To me, this whole thing smacks of the kind of obliviousness that you typically see among dominant cultural groups, in this case Christians, but White Entitlement is the same animal. When you are comforably ensconced in the dominant cultural group, you accept your worldview as the "correct" world view or, worse, the only worldview. As if being Christian is the natural human state. And you arrogantly believe that everyone else should fall in line with these beliefs because that is "how we've always been." So when one says that a school , founded on Christian religious tenets, that requires chapel attendance, is not a parochial school, I am flummoxed. What if I opened a school and called it Joe's Secular Elementary School? I "marketed" it as an independent private school, but required all the students to attend synagogue daily, would this not be a parochial school? Does the same standard not apply when we're talking about a Christian School?

This reminds me of a business conference I attended recently. Nothing religious about it. At the group luncheon, we had a brief speech from the president of the company. After giving his little motivational talk for 15 minutes, he ended with, "Now let us all bow our heads in prayer. In Jesus' name, we pray...." Another perfect example of the clueless assumption that we're all Christians unless we prove otherwise.