Ignorance breeds ignorance

I found myself shaking my head once again at one news report that appears to be circulating and doing the rounds entitled Parents OUTRAGED at curriculum as video emerges of children learning to PRAY at mosque.

There are no comments on this article which of course would divulge the pure ignorance of the article.

This hate fuelling rag often has articles along the line of encouraging hate towards Muslims, but appears to get away with it due to their style of cleverly skirting around the law.

What is sad is that people want to keep their kids in ignorance, surely it is better to understand what others do, with a knowledge of the why and how's, instead they teach their kids to hate something they know nothing about, the reactions of the children having instruction on how to pray in a mosque seems to have unsettled a lot of people and resulted in attacks of the school system for trying to teach an understanding of other religions and cultures.

This is the problem with teaching diversity and respect for other cultures and religions, people are afraid of what they do not know and some are so ignorant they would prefer to carry on hating it rather than understanding it and preserve their ignorance no matter how much it is detrimental to their kids.

Among the voices of disdain are calls that it is indoctrination, but please... give me a break surely it is better to let a child have an understanding of what their parents are hating on so much, rather than be indoctrinated in hate, hate is the ugliest human trait especially when it is accompanied by ignorance.

I will certainly be doing the same and introducing my kids to different religions so they have an understanding of what is wrong with this world, when it comes to hate against other religions and cultures, I want my kids to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

We will be having visits to different places of religious worship so they have an understanding of how other people conduct their faith, Mosques, Buddhist temples, Churches, Synagogues are all on our list of places to visit, we will be looking at what other people believe and the structure of their religion.

The funny thing is, I bet if you asked these people what they 'hate' so much about other religions you will not get any kind of rational answer from them, how can they give a rational answer about something they know nothing about.

Kids need to understand what is happening in the world and why there is so much religious hate and intolerance, understanding what history has shown us and why there are still battles between religions will surely go a long way to making our world a better place.

Even the atheists need to be understood, and the main theme I get for atheists is that there is a war fatigue going on, they are sick to death of the battles between religions, even then there is a sense of ignorance as some do not understand anything about religion by either way of history or culture.

I can forgive those that have a fundamental understanding of religion and then come to the conclusion they 'hate' religions, but for the majority that is not the case, they just hate something they know nothing about, living in their little ignorant bubble of hate and ignorance breeding further generations full of hate and ignorance.

Teaching a child about other religions is not about indoctrination and it is something I hear a lot, 'little Tommy is being indoctrinated because they have learnt about Diwali or little Jane has visited a Mosque so will now become a terrorist'.. It is so sad to hear.

One thing I love about our world is the diversity of culture and religions, these are all to be celebrated as that is what has been at the core of humanity since the beginning of mankind, it has been the primary source of social progress.

Those universal spiritual principles which lie at the heart of religion -- tolerance, compassion, love, justice, humility, sacrifice, trustworthiness, dedication to the well-being of others, and unity, are at the very foundations of progressive civilizations.

At the same time, it must be acknowledged that the perversion of religion has been a primary cause of social disintegration, intolerance, hatred, sexism, poverty, oppression and warfare down through the ages, with the addition of ignorance, surely for the further progression of mankind teaching children about religion can only be a good thing.

I can hear a few reading this saying 'I do not want my child to be indoctrinated into any religion', but that is not what I am saying, what I am saying is that understanding and learning about history does not make one a historian, or learning about art does not make one an artist, but it does give an understanding and goes a long way to enrich life. Visiting a mosque and having instruction on how they pray does not make one a Muslim.

Some parents need to look beyond their own selfish self and understand that their kids are not them, they are growing up in a very different world to them and it would go a long way to help their children prepare for the world that the majority want to live in, a peaceful one, action is what it takes to make a better world and every one of us has a part to play in that, breaking down the cycle of ignorance and intolerance is a good place to start.