Courtesy of The Guardian:
The Swedish government has announced plans to clamp down hard on religious education. It will soon become illegal even for private faith schools to teach religious doctrines as if they were true. In an interesting twist on the American experience, prayer will remain legal in schools – after all, it has no truth value. But everything that takes place on the curriculum’s time will have to be secular. “Pupils must be protected from every sort of fundamentalism,” said the minister for schools, Jan Björklund.
Creationism and ID are explicitly banned but so is proselytising even in religious education classes. The Qur’an may not be taught as if it is true even in Muslim independent schools, nor may the Bible in Christian schools. The decision looks like a really startling attack on the right of parents to have their children taught what they would like. Of course it does not go so far as the Dawkins policy of prohibiting parents from trying to pass on their doctrines even in their own families – and, if it did, it would certainly run foul of the European convention on human rights. It does not even go as far as Nyamko Sabuni, the minister for integration – herself born in Burundi – would like: she wanted to ban all religious schools altogether. But it is still a pretty drastic measure from an English perspective.
The law is being presented in Sweden as if it mostly concerned fundamentalist Christian sects in the backwoods; but the Christian Democratic party, which represents such people if anyone does, is perfectly happy with the new regulation. There is little doubt that combating Islamic fundamentalism is the underlying aim, especially in conjunction with another new requirement that all independent schools declare all their funding sources. This would allow the inspectors – whose budget is being doubled – to concentrate their efforts on those schools most likely to be paid to break the rules.
It’s good to see a few governments brave enough to take a stand against supernatural thinking being presented as established fact. Theists demand we accept their opinions as fact without feeling compelled to offer any sort of credible evidence to support their claims.
Sweden has issued a challenge with this law; if theists want their beliefs to be taught as fact, provide as much proof as science has for evolution or gravity.
Monday, August 25th, 2008, 3:05 pm | 
Education, ID/Creationism, Society | 
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2 August 2010 at 8:32 pm
What I meant to say was, you can’t prove beyond a shadow of a doubt religion is false. Otherwise you’re coming back to some baseline assumption (for theists that assumption is God’s existence). Somewhere along the line you have to start with assuming some statement is true, and how you know…in the end it all depends on faith. Atheists have to have just as much faith in their baseline assumption as believers. The best we can be is agnostic about religion.
2 August 2010 at 8:28 pm
But you can’t prove religion is false… (or substitute “all religions”, we’ll never know for sure if one of them is true until we’re dead, and by then it will be too late).
I am all for reason, and people not being forced to pray against their will. But religious ed classes should be able to teach the tenets of the religion straightforwardly (as true to ‘this is what this religion believes’, without imposing absolute truth on kids).
Also parents choose to send their kids to private religious schools–that is the point of why the kids aren’t sent to public school, to be instilled with values that public schools are lacking. So if the school is up front about it, putting the religion in the name (Such as St. x’s Catholic School), the parents know what they’re getting their kids into, and those schools should be allowed to teach the children that that religion is true (in an absolute sense). Parents who that was an issue for wouldn’t send their kids there in the first place.
2 August 2010 at 5:55 pm
This law states that schools cannot present content that cannot be proven true as if it is true: simple translation… don’t lie to children and don’t mislead them. Seems fair. Unless you’re the kind of sick person who enjoys being dishonest and misleading to children… then you’ll hate this law.
2 August 2010 at 5:48 pm
Interesting article. As an atheist I am all for removing faith based teachings from public schools; however, I’m not sure I agree with their decision to eliminate it from private schools. I believe their intent is to prevent radical and potentially dangerous doctrine from growing into a terrorist threat. If that’s the case, I understand the need for proper education and strict laws against harmful propaganda. I’m just uneasy when it comes to taking away people’s rights if they aren’t hurting anyone else. Even if I don’t agree with their beliefs.
23 May 2010 at 12:41 am
sweeden, why can’t we be like them
11 April 2010 at 8:21 pm
This is refreshing. Religion is not a concept the mind possesses – it is a concept that that possesses the mind. Teaching young children faith based beliefs is cruel and
is a poor use of precious time during the development years.
23 March 2010 at 6:30 pm
go swedes….
7 March 2010 at 11:09 pm
it is the paren'ts right but what their government is thinking about is the child's right. their right to make their own choices and prevent being brainwashed. kids can't stand up for themselves. someone has to. and if the kid decides on his own that he wants to follow a certain faith then fine, go right ahead.
2 February 2010 at 11:14 pm
Don't try to say that everyone in private schools are there by choice. If there was no question all of them belong there, then fine with us. However, until then, you cannot say that private schools are private. Yes, I believe in something.
7 January 2010 at 10:25 pm
Here's the problem with that position. We expect the state to protect children, even from their parents if that's necessary. We don't object to laws that protect children from kidnapping or molestation. If we expect the state to protect a child's body, why not their mind? Is one less important than the other?
The accommodating mentality that would allow parents or schools to teach something as fact when it is really nothing more than belief or opinion isn't an attitude of tolerance. It appears to be, but in reality allowing fiction and unestablished belief to be presented as established fact is to allow our children to be misled and lied to. While we may wish to not offend, those determined to subjugate the minds of children are not so polite. They will take advantage of our reticence to promote their personal brand of belief and present it as fact to minds too young to critically examine it.
People do indeed pay for private education, but are children in private education any less entitled to an honest and factual education? Should those parents not get their money's worth?
4 January 2010 at 10:41 am
I think that's going too far. The measure is a great thing for public schools; taxpayer money should never be used to advance the personal beliefs of any faith group. But private schools? If you are paying for your child's education, you should be able to choose what is included in that price.
4 January 2010 at 2:43 am
Once theists can bring any good evidence that isn't completely faith based then we can talk. It's not like by this we're promoting atheism, we're promoting science which although they have a common tie (reasoning skills) aren't the same. I compare this law to one stating it is illegal for schools to teach that bananas are the only food source.
4 January 2010 at 2:36 am
only problem is that this isn't how it is. In school it shouldn't be allowed to teach anything without significant evidence and even then make sure the children know there are alternatives. By no means is that forcing someone's beliefs on your child. What it seems to me you seem scared of is that if your child gets to hear a different viewpoint and “God forbid” make their own choice on the matter. Kids shouldn't be forced to take on the belief of their parents, even if it's only until they leave the house. It's already been said in a perfect world kids would see all points of view and all evidence and make their own decision. The closest you're going to get is school and adding a religious tilt to it completely destroys that as that one religion will be taught as complete fact.
4 January 2010 at 2:17 am
On the one hand I agree that people should be allowed to believe what they will but at the same time this isn't expected to be stretched to desctructive beliefs which let's face it religion is. It is a huge obstruction to an increase in overall human intelligence and causes many more wars than it has stopped. While many of the morals and such are good in religion people eventually need to be weaned from the fairy tales that go along with it. There's nothing wrong with giving children all the evidence we have towards something, but to tell them that whatever religious scripture is simply right with no evidence is just wrong. Give children all the evidence and let them make up their own minds.
2 January 2010 at 4:30 pm
My friend used to go to the catholic school Holy Family, when he first enrolled he was given a test. One of the Questions was whether or not extra terrestrial life existed. He said yes and got the question wrong. This is one of the first steps to a religious free world.
1 January 2010 at 1:13 pm
Gee, an intelligent decision about Intelligent Design! From a government no less!
Next thing we know, They'll declare that people use facts when voting instead of political nonsense. Wait, what am I saying? No, let's be rational…
1 January 2010 at 12:49 pm
Very well written!
“The parents are always right” is so deeply rooted in us humans that it sometimes harms us.
As a Swedish citizen, I am somewhat puzzled about some of the comments here. Sweden is a country where we value democracy, human rights, equality etc. very highly. This has been proven through several studies at many different occasions that we are pretty good at it.
We would never pass a law that points fingers at a specific group and say “hey, you are not allowed to believe that!”. It is a major difference in believing something and teaching belief in school. You can believe whatever you want even if you are lacking evidence, but you may never teach this to children who are unable to apply critical thinking. The school teaches facts that can be proven, and that is the way it should be in a sane world.
I also see no reason to justify the existence of private religious schools. Think about it, do we really need MORE labels to put on our children in a world filled with ethnicity (with ethnicity comes racism and xenophobia), prejudice, subcultures, etc. that seperates them from one another? I think private religious schools will just increase the segregation further by adding other labels than they are born with. A child can not belong to a religion, it's just a worthless label.
22 December 2009 at 11:30 pm
I am all on board with taking religion out of public schools. But private schools? They only exis because you can teach religion in them. People pay good money to bring their kids up in them.
Shame on you, Swedish government. The single bad thing about religion-forcing it upon other people-is being repeated here. As in ANY well adjusted government, you should under no circumstances restrict your citizens in any way. Why protest against telling people how to marry if you're going to have your freedom of thought taken away? It's just… not right. It's like banning preaching in churches, or eating in a McDonalds.
12 August 2009 at 2:49 am
It's the parent's right to put their kids through a school that matches their belief. What is so wrong with someone thinking Jesus is real? Hell, might as well tell them Santa is totally made up before school just to make sure the lie doesn't continue….
12 August 2009 at 2:47 am
It's the parent's right to put their kids through a school that matches their belief. What is so wrong with someone thinking Jesus is real? Hell, might as well tell them Santa is totally made up before school just to make sure the lie doesn't continue.
12 August 2009 at 2:46 am
It's the parent's right to put their kids through a school that matches their belief. What is so wrong with someone thinking Jesus is real? Hell, might as well tell them Santa is totally made up before school just to make sure the lie doesn't continue.
4 August 2009 at 7:03 pm
On the other hand, NO young person should be taught religion as fact. It leaves no room for free thinking.
16 June 2009 at 1:32 pm
Blackbird,
To function, logic must presuppose its own validity. There is no logical ground for that presupposition. And for “presuppose” in that first sentence, one may very well read “requires unsubstantiated faith in”.
But, that aside, there is quite a lot of sound philosophical reasoning suggesting that our ordinary everyday perceptions are at least illusory in some important ways.
All in all, I think it's a good idea to encourage caution in teaching notions as though they are inviolable truths. But then we must take that principle to heart. Even logic is unsubstantiated in the essence of things, and to miss that by an inch is to miss it by a mile.
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