.I actually favour mandatory schooling, I know far too many kids who wouldn;t even know how to tie a shoelace, let alone read due to useless uniterested parents, that mandatory schooling is their only hope.
I was so happy my parents had no choice but to send me to school, that law worked in my favour, less hours at home, less abuse.
All good points.
I went to a community school, not a religious school. I truly believe that it helped shape the person I am, and why it was so hard for me to ever see non muslims in the negative light many other muslims do.
Another good point. My aunt and uncle are born-again Christians and for a long time were "home-schooling" their kids, and the only other kids they really interacted with were kids from the same home-school/church group when they set up various social activities. That, along with strict media censorship by the parents, makes me wonder just how warped their fuckin worldview is gonna be, not having interacted with anyone their own age from different backgrounds, religions, families, ideologies, races, classes, etc.-- the only experience they'll have is with other white kids from right-wing Christian middle income families. Sad, really.
"How" is another issue,
How is a very important question-- not just on pragmatic grounds, but on principled grounds as well. If the closing of religious schools results in heavy-handed government tactics, mass imprisonments, and only results in radicalizing and further isolating religious people (Muslim in particular, but anyone really) from the rest of society, then there is good reason to oppose the method on principle.
but what is your principled stand on the fact that should they be closed or not ?
I already answered that as best I could. I'm torn and unsure, but I'd tend to err against it.
It's just like the question that, should there be a death penalty or not, now enforcing it is a different matter one can discuss that as well but, there should be principled stance as well.
Again, I think you are falsely separating method and principle. If people are buried alive for credit card fraud, and the innocent are executed along with the guilty, one might have a different "principled stance" than if execution is reserved solely for the most dangerous of murderers, is carried out humanely through firing squad or lethal injection, and procedural protections are in place to prevent innocent people from being falsely convicted and punished.
It's about "Do you see that religious schools are harming people or giving them some kind of benefit ?"
One could easily say that religious schools are harming people but still stand on principle against the state shutting them down. Just like one could say heroin is harmful but should be decriminalized on principle.
Poll
Topic: Should religious schools be closed down?