Chai Brady
Children who believe in God are much more likely to be tolerant of other religions than those who are atheist, while the vast majority of teens believe religious education is “beneficial” according to a major Irish study.
A book launched this week, Religion and Education, The Voices Of Young People in Ireland, found that after surveying 1,000 teenagers 63% of atheists agreed that ‘we must respect all religions’, while 81% of theists agreed with the statement.
One of the editors of the book, Prof Gareth Byrne, Director of the Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education at DCU Institute of Education said: “The young people who say they believe in God they tend to be much more positive towards religion as you would expect, but also towards other people’s religion and towards the need to be respectful of diversity in society.
“It’s interesting that the children who have that sense of God are also generous towards their understanding of others and the need for everyone to listen to each other. So there’s something important there about peer to peer, being able to help young people to be reflective and to be respectful.”
He added that RE was seen as “really important” for 85% of 3,000 13-15 year old pupils that were surveyed.