Religion Friday

Sunday School is an interesting thing to me. I know that it can be a great thing for churchgoers of all ages, but I haven't exactly had any fantastic experiences on my own. Maybe its nothing to do with the structure and everything to do with me, but I doubt that... I'm awesome. So, what I think we need to do is work out what Sunday School might should be.

Early Sunday School lessons for little kids I find to be really good. They get to spend time just reading and learning the stories of the Bible. I think it's a great idea for young kids to just learn these stories as a foundation for their life in faith. However, as the kids get older teachers begin to add in their own theology to the stories and morality lessons, I start to have issues. It's not that I think kids need to learn this morality on their own, but I don't really think that teacher's own theological theories should be presented as fact... especially to kids who are impressionable (like me).

Once kids get into middle and high school, they begin to have questions about their faith and I find that to be a really good thing. The problem lies in people giving straight answers without providing any sort of alternate thought (this doesn't just lie with Sunday School teachers). It's not that we should dodge questions, but answers need to be given with the caveat that it may not be the right answer, but it is just what you believe yourself. I know it is a very hard to do this, if only because when you discover your own answers they are right for you, but it may not be the same thing that someone else believes and when a child/youth is told that something is the only answer and they hear something new, what is new is automatically seen as wrong.

This was a hard thing for me to get over and took quite a transformative time within college to work out my own answers. That is why I think that we should use Sunday School (particularly during youth ages) as a time for questons and discussions, and not just a lecture/lesson. Even though discussions may have everyone on the same side of the issue, it leaves teachers a chance to nudge and prod the kids to find out why they believe what they do. A lot of it seems to come down to what their parents believe they take as their own, and is never questioned as to whether it fits in with their beliefs (or even that of their faith).

I know this has morphed from a discussion of Sunday School to something about the formation of beliefs, but I think they are part of the same thing. I really think that Sunday School is a fantastic place for people to learn about their faith and the faiths of those who they worship with. It's also a really great place for a discussion of these beliefs so that everyone has a chance to hear other's beliefs and accept them, even if they don't quite fit with you.

Okay, now that Religion Friday is over and you've made it this far, it is time to introduce the next phase of the blog.... Soapbox Saturdays! You know what is so great about Soapbox Saturdays? You get to write them! That's right, you can write a post as an argument against something I've written or just something new that you want to write about. All you have to do is e-mail it to me (length is not an issue, it can be short or long - whatever you want). So start sending 'em in! Tomorrow's post is brought to you by Rachel, so I hope you all give her more respect than me and not skip over the post, but actually read it all. Until then!