Religion Question Please

[Guest]

Hi

 

I am just collating information from our child profile/admissions forms.

 

One of the questions asks what religion the child is.

 

We would like to know what the difference is between Christian, Church of England, Protestant and Catholic?

 

As practitioners do we need to be aware of any particular beliefs etc of the different faiths? None of the staff seem to know and generally regard them as all very similar

 

Any information would be very greatfully received

 

Many thanks

[catma]

I'll take a stab at this -

 

A fundamental difference between Catholicism and Protestantism is the question of transubstantiation. A Catholic believes that the wine and wafer do become the body and blood of Christ, whereas a Protestant who could be Church of England (From the reformation when Henry 8th split from Rome over the Popes refusal to grant him a divorce from Katharine of Aragon and set himself up as head of the church in England, hence royalty not being allowed to marry Catholics etc. See The Abdication for more of that!) sees it as a representation of the body/blood. A CAtholic acknowledges the Pope as the leader of the Church on earth in a direct line from St Peter; the head of the Church of England is the monarch as "Defender of the faith". However Protestantism in a wider sense came about from various reactions to the Catholic Church particularly in Europe e.g Lutherism and the like. So you get reform churches,Presbyterians, Methodists Weslyans etc etc

 

Catholicism and Protestantism are both Christian faiths in that they acknowledge Christ as the Saviour/Redeemer and have regard to the teachings of the Bible. Therefore Christmas and Easter will be big celebrations as they are key points in the Christian calendar.

 

 

Cx

(With an Irish Catholic Mother and an atheistic father)

[Marion]

We dont ask for children's religion on our amission forms.

Church of England Protestant and Catholics are all forms of Christianity. A memeber of the Church of England is Protestant (suppose its just peoples choice of how they want to be 'labelled')

I think unless we work in a faith school there is little difference. Ive worked in both Catholic and Cof E VAided schools and the only difference is collective worship and holidays (you get some Saints days at Catholic schools...........or did!)

Think its probably more relevant where a number of non Christian faiths are also enrolled.

[Guest]

I ask this question on my forms, Do you follow any religion? I must say that in my particular area a lot of parents reply N/A. However, when a parent does say a particular religion, it gives me an opportunity to ask how they follow their particular religion. I would say that this is the best information to have, from the individual parent, beliefs are, I think like cultures, each to their own and each is followed in each families individual way. my father was a devout Christian but never ever went to church. We have to be very careful not to place stereotypical ideas of anyone when having information of any persons faith.

 

Peggy

[Guest]

christians are believers in God so catholics and protestants(church of England) are both Christians. The other big difference is that catholics pray to Mary as she is a big part in the catholic church.

i think as long as we show respect to everyones beliefs the children become very tolerant of everyone.

i work in a catholic school and we(whole school) do attend mass every holy day,

there are ten classes and each week a different class goes into fiday mass and does the introduction and bidding prayers.

 

 

 

oh I forgot to say we dont get Saints days off any more

[Guest]

you might find this page a good source for information, basically it's an online encyclopedia, that can be fed into by members of the public, there's very little that cant be found in there, and often the information is very balanced and well presented.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

 

the search function is halfway down the left hand side of the page.

[JacquieL]

I think in terms of Nursery or school admissions if you are asking this question you just need to be aware of Religion because of dietry requirments, like not giving pork to Muslims or Jewish children. If Christian there would not be any real problems with C. of E or Roman Catholics, or non-conformists, but other Christian groups include Jehovah's witnesses and there are implications if there is a serious accident and you can't contact the parents. You would need to establish what their wishes would be on medical treatment if this arose. the parents would also want to tell you about thier attitude to Xmas and birthday celebrations.

[Andreamay]

and ofcourse it is important to know when a childs religon is johovah witness

[Guest]

Hello

 

I always ask a child's religeon, we have a lot of children who come from india on a secondment with their parents and are with us for a year or so. Last year we had two children whos religeon was hindu and we had their parents come in and help us celebrate Onam which is the hindu flower festival. I think it is important to know childrens religeon so that you can celebrate different festivals and it helps children understand that different people celebrate different ideas and it helps them to feel included in the setting.

 

Deb

[Guest DeborahF]

Our Head has to submit all sorts of information and statistics to the LEA and other bodies about our intake each year including info on language and religion so we ask parents as a matter of course.

[Marion]

In our LA all applications go directly to them rather than the school so I guess that information is on the form the parents fill in.

[SmileyPR]

I like to know if the families practice a particular faith so I can take it into consideration within my planning, especially in regards to the different festivities. It also helps to understand the families a bit more and work around the goals related to 'respecting different cultures and beliefs".

 

Have a look at this BBC - Religion & Ethics - Religion

Edited November 12, 2006 by SmileyPR

[Rea]

I think thats a good idea smiley, I used to know an asian lady who didnt know anymore about diwali tahn me, but people presummed she would know how to help with the festival.

 

 

."..but other Christian groups include Jehovah's witnesses and there are implications if there is a serious accident and you can't contact the parents. You would need to establish what their wishes would be on medical treatment if this arose."

JacquieL, we debated the question of what to do if a JW child, while with us, suffered an accident and parents werent able to get to us immediatly or if we couldnt contact them. Our medical policy stated that staff would do all they could until waiting for the emergency services, regardless of religion etc. I didnt feel it was up to me to follow a parents wishes if it included any suggestion of with holding medical intervetion. I dont know a fat lot about JW but I wanted to be sure that I could do as much a humanly possible should the need ever arise. Difficult I know.

 

I dont actually tick boxes asking for my religion, ethnic background etc

[Marion]

I actually work in a very mono cutural (is that a word?) area as far as race and religion are concerned so it isnt really an issue in my school. Like Rea I always miss out the boxes asking race and religion when filling in forms

[JacquieL]

The only real problem with JH is not one that would be a problem when the child is in the setting but if the child has to be taken to hospital. This is because most JH will not accept blood transfusions, but will accept alternative treatments. Parent's would need to make this clear on their admission forms in the very unlikely event of the child having an accident, and the parents not being available, and the setting staff are therefore responsible. I think we would all agree to have done whatever was necessary, so it is up to parents to inform us otherwise.

I did find it very hard with JH to leave them out of birthday and Xmas celebrations, and tried very hard to make sure that there was an alternative, to be able to include them as far as possible.