hi, I was wondering if anyone has anything to say about religion being taught at scuola materna...My daughter is probably the only non catholic in her class. I have just enrolled her in the 2nd year and in the form that I filled in there was a question on religion -if I wanted it to be taught to her. I ticked the 'no'box, because I don't. So now I am wondering what is she going to do when all of the others are 'being religious'.

Normally the children who do not participate in the religion class go to another room with a teacher or school custodian and either watch a film or draw for the hour.

In the local school here, those who opt-out of the religious instruction are taken to another classroom where they are taught road-signs. Not a bad idea.

The little future drivers get a head start on driving regulations. But some of the parents aren't too pleased with the back-seat instructions.

Rita

In my daughter's class there is only her and a boy who opt out. She says they don't do much at all but chat and read. I worry about her feeling a bit ostracised and certainly I know there are people who refer to non-catholics as bestia. My wee one, ever the biologist, didn't blink an eye and said 'but of course, humans are all animals, we aren't vegetables or minerals'. That caused some upset among those with ideas above their station!

She is accustomed to the idea of being different, and it doesn't seem to stop her making friends. Come the teenage years and the pressure to conform comes round we'll see. Meantime I think we worry more that she does in the end.

When I was in my preteen yars religion was not yet optional and i had to sit endelssly through hours of religion being taught to this young (then) agnisticist. As soon as it became optional, when I was 15, I opted out and so did most of my schoolmates (only about 5-6 people opted in in my class).

At the elementary schools religion was taught by two bright girls who did not teach "doctrine" as well as talked with us about general social issues like poverty, emargination, drugs abuse, etc. What they did was so unlike the classic "doctrine" that the local priest got himself one hour every two weeks to teach the doctrine, to my grat bore.
When I moved on to junior high I had already switched from agnosticist to atheist, to the contempt of the teacher who, unlike the primary school ones, spent his time teaching us the Bible. I did all my stuff, studied what I had to, but made a point of making it clear that as far as I was concerned it was just general culture. At the end of every year he asked me if I had changed my mind, and I replied "Nope, have you?".
In the fist year of the high school we had a priest as teacher, but he was a blast. he belonged to a "democratic religion teachers coordination" and instead of teaching us the Bible he taught the history of religions, with lots of anthropological, philosophical, and historical links. he also knew that I am an atheist, but unlike the junior high teacher he didn't really care (and he was a priest!), all he cared is that I was growing up a decent person If I had not decided to switch school to get closer to home I would not have opted out.

My point is: regardless of your religion and religious point of view, the choice wether to opt in or out of religion classes depends more from the teacher's attitudes than from what you believe in. From my first agnosticist and later atheist position, I had great experiences with three out of five religion teachers I met, teachers who, regardless of my views, fed my mind and gave me instruments to grow up; yet I have had really foul experiences with the other two (all I got from the junior high teacher is a nasty habit of carefully keeping track of where my pens and pencils are since the man would never bring one for himself then proceed to borrow a pen from one of us and use it as a toothpick or to scrape his ears ).
It has nothing to do with belonging or uniforming (ok, maybe I always was he odd one, but I rather liked even as a teenager to stick out, and I still think that adolescence is when we try to make ourselves the most different possible from the others, not the most like the others), it has lots to do with growing up and learning about the world and the others. If you can lay your hands on a truly great religion teacher he will not force his creed on you (your children) but rather use both his lessons and your presence to enhance the diversity available and broaden everyone's sights. If you have a foul one... Opt out even if you are a catholic.

This is a new thought altogether for me. I had no idea that religion was part of the normal curriculum of schools. Is this true everywhere and all grade levels? Is it daily instruction? How does it work?

At my daughter's elementary school and my other daughter's kindergarten, it is only 1 day a week. For kindy it is 1 hour a week, for grade school 2 hours a week.

Our experience with it, throughout our daughter's Italian education, is on http://beginningwithi.com/italy/living/religion.htm

NB: She now goes to Catholic school (her choice for the education, not the religion) and does just fine in (mandatory) religion class - the nun who teaches it likes her because she actually switches her brain on in class, unlike most of her classmates, who figure they are already Catholic and don't have anything to learn about it.

I am Italian and born and raised Catholic, even if I am not a religious person.
I opted for NOT teaching religion to both of my kids atr scuola materna.
Nobody ostracized them and surely nobody called us (or me ) bestia.
I want you to note that in Pergo, where Matteo and Francesca go to school, there are IN TOTAL 130 kids between scuola materna and elementare.
Italy is more open than you think.
I also told the priest that was asking that Matteo is not going to make the first communion, and after he asked I explained that I want him to decide for himself when he'll be older.
That was it.

In November the Bishop of this area went to visit the school. Several people was worried that that could have turned into a religious speech, but it came out like a general -and very beautiful- speech about peace-tolerance-integration.
One of the teachers asked the bishop to bless the whole school and he refused because being a factthat several kids were of other religions -we have muslims, protestant, ortodox, eve a couple of buddists- he felt that he could have hurt someone's feeling, and he kindly, but firmly refused.
I thought that it was a very wise answer.

My kids are not the only one that didn't do religion in scuola materna.

I really would be surprized if your kids would be ostracized about religion.

Really.

Out of curiosity; what do they teach the kids in religion class in Italy?
We have religion as a mandatory class here. In those classes, we learn about the five world religions and some of the main concepts, beliefs, habits and traditions in the different religions.
Not very different from - say, geography or history.
I get the feeling that it's different in catholic Italy?

quote:

Originally posted by Annika:
Out of curiosity; what do they teach the kids in religion class in Italy?
We have religion as a mandatory class here. In those classes, we learn about the five world religions and some of the main concepts, beliefs, habits and traditions in the different religions.
Not very different from - say, geography or history.
I get the feeling that it's different in catholic Italy?

In Sweden is there no bias toward Lutheranism?
Maybe I've been listening too much to Garrison Keeler.

Nope, not in school.
Come to think of it, I don't even think we have a state religion anymore? At least I know that there was a huge divorce (yes that was the word used in media) between the state and the church some ten years ago.
Either way, we are "officially" protestants but most of us just couldn't care less.
The school education about religion is very neutral though and just shares information about the different religions.

italy does not have a state religion, but since the 1920's the relation between state and catholic church has been regulamented with a specific pact, which includes that the catholic religion be thught in schools by teachers that are chose not by the state but by the church (but they are paid by the state nontheless). The pacts have been reviewed in the 1980's and religion moved from mandatory to optional. Afterwards the state also signed pacts with other religions: several protestant churches, jewish communities and others. But the only religioni tought in schools is still the catholic one, at least officially.

Over 90% of the Italian citizens are baptized and therefore are considered catholics. But 80% of the Italian "catholics" go to church a couple times a year (usually Christmas and Easter) or less and do not follow the strict rules of the church for sexuality (included the absolute prohibition to use any contrieaceptive mean except Ogino-Knaus, base temperature, and Billings even within married couples) or (unfortunately) what we call "morale pubblica" (honesty etc.).
Yet, to lots of Italians, including those that never go to church, adhering to the outer rituals is still extremely important. Marriages, births, and similar are always celebrated in church, either not to dispelase members of the families or, very often, because the cerimony is more scenic.

So are you not taught anything about the other big religions?
I remember that I found it very interesting to learn about esp. buddhism (was thinking of converting for a while there ) and in this world we live in I think that it's very important to know at least the basics about the other religions as well as your own.

Unfortunately not, unless you hit a teacher tha follows a special "experimental" program like mine in the first high school year. And, as I said, it's a real pity!

My son's religion class consists of learning about other religions not solely the Catholic religion. He is in terza media and we live in a small town (4000 pop.) with very little immigration of people from other countries or who practice other faiths. The Catholic doctrine is taught at catechism class which is offered through the parish.

In Australian state school we had a religion class too but the kids all had a choice which religion class they wanted to take or whether to opt out entirely. We had a choice of (I think) Church of England, Catholic, Methodist, Greek Orthodox, Jewish and Moslem. I went to school in Sydney which is pretty multicultural. I opted out of the religion classes (raised by atheists!) but most kids just complained about it being a bit boring. We had quite a few Moslem and Jewish kids at our school so I don't think this system made them feel weird or left out like the Italian system (either Catholic or nothing) would.

I'm very happy that Australia does not have a state religion!

I also really like the sound of the Swedish system. I think it would have been good for me to learn about world religions at school without having to be a believer.

thanks for all the input. I think I will try and provide some books or activities for my daughter to do while the others are doing catholic things. It might be a bit of a battle as here everyone is expected to conform...the teacher actually gasped when I checked the 'no religion' box! But,then again they might be getting used to me. One of the teachers actually asked me if I could buy mini boxes of raisins (which I give to my daughter for the merenda) for all the kids in her class,next time I go to England.