Damned Christians

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Decades on From Peace, Northern Ireland Schools Are Still Deeply Divided


The nation’s school system still sees the country’s pupils starkly divided by their religious backgrounds, years after the Good Friday Agreement brought an end to sectarian strife.

In the 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement ended the bloody, sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, the country has seen many changes — but not in its education system.

School attendance remains starkly divided along traditional religious lines. Even though the school system is state-funded and has one curriculum, Protestant church leaders dominate certain school boards while other schools are managed by the Catholic church. Students from either background are free to attend either type of school, but almost always choose the one matching their family’s religious tradition.

Lisa Lynn, 42, Mark’s mother, said she did not oppose integrated education. But she wants her son to attend Catholic school. “It’s not so much the religious side of it — I grew up a certain way,” she said, “and I want my kids to follow those footsteps.”

Despite a growing push for integrated education, less than 8 percent of Northern Ireland’s schools are formally integrated, where the religious background of the student body broadly reflects Northern Ireland’s demographics. While many schools have some children from both backgrounds enrolled, nearly one-third of schools have no religious mix at all.

The upshot: Many students do not meet pupils of different backgrounds until university.

That is a problem, said Darren McKinstry, the director of public policy at the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, because shared learning plays an important role in re-establishing bonds after a conflict.

“This long experience of separate education has been a lost opportunity for everyone,” Mr. McKinstry said.

Catholic nationalists wanted self-determination, and the result was the conflict known as the Troubles. Decades on, the two labels of Catholic and Protestant are clumsy shorthand for a deep-seated divide of cultural and political perspectives, even as the region grows increasingly secular and more diverse.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/14/world...ement.html

Where do atheist or muslim parents send their children ??