Of late, there has been a stark polarisation between two sections comprising religious leaders and educators regarding whether fundamentals of religion should be included in school curricula or not. This essay will highlight a possible debate on this issue before arriving an apt conclusion.
On the one hand, those who support the inclusion of religious studies at a school level often claim that such preachings help societies maintain their connections with religious beliefs, customs, and conventions. This means that each religion has its own set of commandments which they consider the mandatory principles necessary to attain salvation, the ultimate aim prescribed in holy scriptures, which can be attained only when the disciple learns how to practice them at a young age. They also argue that it is through the religious contexts, whether grounded in truth or mythological, the followers imbibe important values such as humanity, equality, charity, and so on. In other words, religious practices are incorporated to instil humanitarian bases, which symbolise the cultural identity. Take, for example, the rules laid down by various prophets and messengers for followers of their sects which form the ideological references for one to take as a when required. Thus, covering religious texts in school syllabus could be justified as they introduced moral correction to once character building.
Conversely, pedagogues vehemently oppose the idea of mixing up education with religion by stating that such an insistence can possibly cause more harm to mankind in general, meaning that centuries-long crusades, forced conversions, and relentless persecution of minorities are all unwanted fruits of religious blindness, or extremism. Rather than adhering to religious myopia, the policymakers should contend with the current arrangement of subjects like history, civics, and literature which effectively develops civic sense, moral values, and other humanitarian approaches. Furthermore, they point out that religious radicalism hinders a scientific mind-set, leading to a more chaotic state where developmental work can hardly be carried out owing to misinterpretations made by various religious supremos who instigate misguided youths to select the path of terrorism, one of the most daunting issues faced by the millennials globally.
To conclude, it appears to me that, despite the claims made favouring the introduction of religious education in academics, the fact remains that owing to the dire consequences caused by terrorist organisations and naxalites who are brainwashed to persecute the people of other beliefs, and the possibilities of defacement of scientific progress, religious studies need not be taught in schools.