Religion may be discussed in terms of personal beliefs and faith; however, it is fundamental to find the right place to express an opinion about it. Classrooms for instance are places where you can manage to talk about this topic, having in mind your personal point of view and being respectful of others.
Being polite and respectful allows anybody to talk about any topic. In this case, religion is a controversial theme because people tend to avoid talking about it because it has been a taboo topic and people are not used to tolerate opposite opinions. For instance, believers and non-believers have different ways to express their opinions; especially non-believers need to be careful about how to express their ideas in front of believers which you will se in the following examples.
On one hand, there are people like Bill Maher who are not believers and are always very critical about religion; moreover, most of the time they express their ideas disrespectful and rudely. For example, in a NPR interview with Terry Gross ahost and co-producecer of "Fresh Air", he states that religion must die in order to let humanity live.
On the other hand, there are people as Deborah Mitchell, also a non-beleiever, who writes respectfully about religion and can see the benefits of being open to topics different than your own beliefs. She wrote as part of this work how great religion can be in order to make people understand and being tolerant with others. (6)
The previous examples show that some people do not believe in religion, however, they have different ways to express their opinion about it. It is absolutely essential to find the correct way of expressing opinions. A confrontational and closed minded opinion will only cause problems and misunderstandings and in many cases, no matter how solid your point could be, it will not be accepted it. Therefore politeness and sensitivity are extremely important in order to show your point of view.
Teachers are respected inside the classroom; they have the authority in front of the students and because of this, they can approach different subjects for discussion. This is the reason why they need to be careful about the way they talk about religion even though they may be believers or not. Students spend so much time inside classrooms that they should have the opportunity to talk about anything with their teachers and classmates. By being tolerant and respectful with others’ beliefs, students will learn a lesson for their lives.
Gross, Terry. Interview with Terry Gross. Fresh Air. NPR. 30 September 2008
Mitchell, Deborah. "You Might Not Expect an Agnostic to Say Let's Teach Religion in the Public Schools" The Dallas Morning News.
Leland, John. “Cameras Roll, and Faith hasn’t a Prayer” The New York Times 26 September 2008. 28 March 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/movies/28lela.html
