am a seventh grader and I am 12 years
old tonight
I’m going to be talking about why
religions should be taught in school
last year who knows the sixth grade in
social studies I was studying about
Hinduism Buddhism and a little bit of
Jainism when I was studying for the test
I was discussing with my mom we asked
ourselves this question well the
differences between our religion
compared to these religions we were
studying
when we compared them with some very
important similarities I was astonished
by this discovery both left intrigued to
learn more about other religions the
world today has been shaped by all the
different religions and beliefs that
this is the beginning of human history
Paleolithic religion is the first type
of religion in humankind in the middle
Paleolithic about a hundred thousand
years ago the first type of religious
behavior were burial rites also the
homeowner thoughts the religious animal
coats today we are more than seven
billion people in this world and most of
the population have religious beliefs
the main religions are Christianity
Islam Hinduism Buddhism and Judaism also
according to the Ontario consultants on
religious tolerance star org there are
35,000 other religions or these are
branches from the main ones now let’s
get to the point to my discussion what
should religion bataan school what is so
important of it that is worthwhile for
my experience in being part of
international school with students from
different religions disagreements may
appear naturally among us for example a
king of a certain religion says
something about another religion he
fully doesn’t understand this conquers
all insulting to the people of that
religion but the person who said this
comment had no idea because he’s had no
knowledge about this religion so that’s
one of my reasons why I think religion
should be taught in school to prevent
these sorts of disagreements to happen
and to bring knowledge to curious kids
who want to learn about other religions
the blogger and author Kari Killman
explains an article one nation in many
gods that for decades educators and
politicians have been discussing and
fighting over how to handle the growing
diverse religions and a growing diverse
student population she explains in
article how one school and Modesto
California
found a solution this school has a
growing immigrant population with a mix
of Hindus Buddhists Muslims and
Christians it is located in what
residents call the Bible Belt of
California a group of 9th grade teachers
developed a world religion Creek column
for every 9th grade class at district
this is the only School District in the
entire country that mandates a world
religion course for high school
graduation there is also this project
that show the students respect for
religious diversity has increased
they concluded that teaching about
diverse religions has a positive impact
on students religious tolerance sadly
there are extremes to all religions and
extremist means belief in and support
for ideas they’re very far for most
people consider correct or resume this
means that extra mistakes is religion
way too far they only look at their
religion and no tolerance or respect
over others they want their religion to
be imposed to others and those who don’t
follow them are considered enemies for
example curly now in the Middle East
Christian persecution is taking place a
group of Muslim terrorists the Islamic
state persecute and brutally execute
those who oppose them Christians and
Muslims are main targeted to religious
differences all I was preparing my
speech I interviewed a priest named Ruiz
Montes he’s an Argentinian missionary
and the pastor of the Baghdad Cathedral
where he lives there normally about 20
bomb attacks all around the country
daily I asked him if he thought that if
all religions were part of the school
curriculum in all schools he
thinks a Christian persecution in the
Middle East could have been prevented
and he answered me that yes indeed it
would some kids in Iraq are taught that
Christians are monsters and the serve
death he also mentioned that Western
countries do not fully understand Middle
East religions which creates a problem
due to the lack of understanding he also
mentioned that some Muslim leaders in
Iraq think this all wrong
they say they have to change the school
curriculum because what is happening is
bringing violence to the people Muslim
leaders in Iraq share the same opinion
as mine if philosopher Dan Dennett
a testicle by the way given proposal and
how should religion return school he
says it should be done in primary middle
and a high school in public private and
in homeschooling there should be a
curriculum of facts about religion let
it teach about their history their
Creed’s
the rules and the requirements all this
should be taught factually straight
forward to all the children of the
countries remember our religions coexist
and we’ll continue on existing so with
this speech intelligent teachers parents
presidents don’t be afraid to teach or
talk about religion this world has
already suffered enough that the lack of
tolerance and respect towards others
religion in some years we are going to
be the leaders of this world we are
going to be the president’s the teachers
the parents by knowing all this
knowledge of our religions make this
generation my generation the future of
this world and accepting one the world
needs in a sceptic generation it will
help prevent Wars prevent religious
discrimination and make the world a
better place
thank you
[Applause] you