Numbing our children’s minds

Trinbagonians call for prayers and religious instruction in public schools out of the belief that religion instills ethics, good behaviour and teaches students to be upstanding adults. Being a good Hindu, good Christian or good Muslim has nothing to do with being a good person.

It seems to me that religious instruction may actually confuse children. What is a Hindu child to think when he or she is taught the ten commandments of the Bible which say, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.” Exodus 20: 4-5.What are we going to tell students who ask about the caste system in Hinduism? Do the Hindu gods discriminate?

Do they value the higher castes more than those of the lower castes? If I am a Muslim or Hindu and do not accept Jesus as my saviour before I die will I go to hell even though I was a good person? The answers to these questions beg more questions. When we should be teaching children to think we are numbing their inquisitive young minds with dogma.

Please Mr Manning, don’t leave things half done, tackle the issue of secularising our public schools.