Secular education

Secular education is a system of public education in countries with a secular government or separation between religion and state.

A crucifix in a classroom at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. Crucifixes in classrooms of public schools have become a matter of controversy in some countries.

History

Secular educational systems were a modern development intended to replace religious ecclesiastical and rabbinic schools (like the heder) in Western Europe. Secular schools were to function as a cultural foundation to diffuse the values of a human culture that was a product of man's own faculty for reason.

This contrasted against religious education which placed value on tradition - knowledge that was "revealed" - instead of the "human values through which manifested the uniqueness of the human being in nature as a creature who is himself a creator, a being who shapes his environment and who fashions himself within that environment". For Jews the ideal was the Maskil, the Jewish equivalent of Enlightenment philosophers or humanists.[1]

Actions and controversies

Banning of religious symbols

In the French public educational system conspicuous religious symbols have been banned in schools.

While some religious groups are hostile to secularism and see such measures as promoting atheism,[2] other citizens claim that the display of any religious symbol constitutes an infringement of the separation of church and state and a discrimination against atheist, agnostic and non-religious people.

Other

See also

References
  1. Schwied, Eliezer (2008). The Idea of Modern Jewish Culture. Boston: Academic Studies Press.
  2. The Islamic Response to the Secular Educational System
  3. Asia News 08/24/2013 Turkish government promoting Islamic schools at the expense of secular education
  4. The National - Rise of Islamic schools causes alarm in secular Turkey
  5. Andrew Finkel in the International Herald Tribune of 23 March 2012 What’s 4 + 4 + 4?; accessed on 7 November 2012
  6. Full text of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights
  7. Press release of the European Court of Human Rights
  8. Summary of the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights
  9. Adriana Petrescu et al., Scrisoare catre CNCD re: simboluri religioase Archived 2007-01-02 at the Wayback Machine ("Letter to the CNCD re: religious symbols"), Indymedia Româna, 13 November 2006.
  10. Faith in schools: The dismantling of Australia's secular public education system by Chrys Stevenson
  11. No one is safe - The Ongoing Insurgency in Southern Thailand: Trends in Violence, Counterinsurgency Operations, and the Impact of National Politics, by Zachary Abuza, Human Rights Watch, p. 23
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