thomas davison Party Leader
Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Posts: 4018 Location: northumberland
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:34 am Post subject: CHILDREN HALF AS LIKELY TO KNOW LORDS PRAYER |
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Children half as likely to know Lord's Prayer than 40 years ago
Children are now half as likely to know the text of the Lord's Prayer than they were 40 years ago, according to a survey.
In non-faith state schools, Christian assemblies are being dropped in favour of multi-faith worship, despite a legal requirement for Christian collective worship, and children are no longer taught the Lord's Prayer. idiot: ALAMY
By Josie Ensor
9:51AM BST 31 Mar 2012
The study, which compared the answers of children aged 6-12 years old and adults who would have been that age 40 years ago, found that children today are less familiar with religious texts than their parents.
However, they are twice as likely to say that religion is important to them compared with those growing up in the 1970s.
The Archbishop of Canterbury told the BBC he believed that children should be taught the Lord's Prayer in schools and is worried by news that half as many children know the prayer.
Dr Rowan Williams said: "I'd like to see schools introducing children to the Lord's Prayer, so that they know that it's there, they know what it means and know why it matters.
"Then they may make up their minds about whether they use it. The Lord's Prayer isn't a very big or complicated thing.
He said: "It's not as if you have to learn pages on end of things in a strange language. There are modern language versions of it.
"I don't think it's too difficult to introduce children to this and introduce it in plain language and say not 'You've got to pray this,' but this is something that's really, really important to lots and lots of people and can change their lives."
Senior Church of England figures already believe Christians are suffering from discrimination and that greater tolerance is shown for other faiths.
In non-faith state schools, Christian assemblies are being dropped in favour of multi-faith worship, despite a legal requirement for Christian collective worship, and children are no longer taught the Lord's Prayer.
A recent survey of more than 500 12-year-olds found that only 54 per cent knew that Christians celebrated the Resurrection at Easter.
They also think easter is about chocolate eggs. |
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