Why is religion a common subject in most schools rather than learning mythology?

We learned mythology as a mix between history and English. We learned modern religion in Modern World Religions if we were interested in taking that class. I was not, and never did.

Its not. Have you ever heard of a religion class in high school.

I didn’t have a religion class in school and a class on greek mythology I didn’t have until college and then it was a prerequisite

Religion must be common in schools. Most teenage girls are incapable of starting a sentence with anything other than OMG!

I had religion classes in high school, but those mostly were about mythology. And about other aspects of religious culture. I remember we discussed Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist traditions.

Of course it was a purely descriptive course, and didn’t say a word about which religion was “the right one”. They kept it appropriately culturally neutral. Even though it was officially a “Christian school”.

@DarkScribe ha

I went to a Catholic high school, and we still had mythology courses. And World Religions! Wowie!

My daughter studied mythology as part of her English classes. She studied comparative religion as part of her world history class. So I don’t seem to have experienced the “religion is common, mythology is not” scenario.

False premise. Your hypothesis is incorrect. Please provide support that religion is more of a common subject than mythology.

The only religion courses I know of that are even offered are the ones in the catholic school board. My public board didn’t offer any, and we did cover areas of mythology in the other subjects, most notably in English class.

at my kid’s school they have little religion and boat loads of mythology. not happy with that because at least much of religion is history-based and helps us understand our friends & neighbors. but when was the last time you discussed greek gods at a dinner party?

@marcosthecuban
in a way you’re right
but in a way even if we don’t discuss greek gods at dinner parties, there’s so much allusion to them in literature and the arts, that it’s detrimental not to know

When I was in high school, we learned about religion and mythology together in both history and english classes.

@marcosthecuban: It wasn’t a dinner party, and it was Norse gods, but… a couple of months ago, maybe?

@MacBean Norse gods? are you an engineer with Nokia?

it may seem that way because the bible, especially the new testament is foundational to western culture, literature, and social structure. it pervades everything we think and do wether we are aware of it or not.

@marcosthecuban No, I’m just a colossal geek. :D

@MacBean just giving you a hard time for that one:) have a good day.

PS geeks are us, too.

Most schools where?

Various religions were studied in both my private and public schools but they were part of world history courses.

Both are important subjects for higher education.

We had “Bible” as a subject at the Christian school I went to. They only touched on the world religions in my ninth grade history class when I went to a public high school.

As @mattbrowne says, both are indeed important subjects for higher education They are also important for understanding how human beings operate as a cultural species. So much history and literature are built upon one or the other and sometimes both, that to fully comprehend (and actually enjoy) people outside of ones immediate family requires and understanding of religions and mythology, both past and present. It can also give some insight into what people may do in the future as well as an insight into current events.

Just think how much smoother American relations with the Middle East might be if all politicians, military men, and diplomats actually understood how Jews and Muslims are taught to view historical and current events.

I learned about Mythology in 7th grade. We had to do many projects on it.

i think it depends on the school really. i learned a lot about mythology in english class, and a little in my history classes. more or less the religious stuff i learn tends to be about which european countries subscribed to which religions, etc.

you have to know something before you can refuse it