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Archbishop Of Canterbury Rowan Williams: Lord's Prayer Should Be Taught In Schools

Huffington Post UK  |  By Posted: 31/03/2012 14:45 Updated: 31/03/2012 14:55

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Children Praying
The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the Lord's Prayer should be taught in schools

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the Lord's Prayer should be taught in school, as a survey reveals that almost 50% less children know the Christian orison than their parents did at a similar age.

Dr Williams told the BBC that the Lord's Prayer should be taught to children, stressing that the litany was "not a very big or complicated thing."

"I'd like to see schools introducing children to the Lord's Prayer, so that they know it's there, they know what it means and why it matters and then they can make up their minds later about whether they want to use it."

"Not that you've got to pray this, but that it's something that's really, really important to lots and lots of people, and it can change their lives."

His emphasis on Christian teaching in schools comes amid an ongoing debate among senior members of the clergy, many of whom believe that their faith is being sidelined in education.

Earlier this month, the Church of England set out a plan to introduce 200 new faith schools across Britain. Church schools must argue their cause in a time where faith-based schooling is increasingly at risk, suggests the report.

However the survey suggested that children are more likely to say that religion is important to them now, compared with children growing up in the 1970's.

The survey was carried out by CBBC's Newsround to mark 40 years of the show being on air.

Take a look at some of the Archbishop's most eccentric shots below:

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aritul
I wish HP had an edit button.
106 Fans
05:40 AM on 04/17/2012
I agree with the Archbishop.
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ladybird4x4
113 Fans
04:38 PM on 04/01/2012
WILL THAT BE BEFORE OR AFTER THE KURAN
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bigwaverider
7 Fans
08:13 PM on 04/02/2012
No, just before English.
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Historian67
4 Fans
03:28 PM on 04/01/2012
I had to learn "The Lords Prayer" and recite it, every morning at the start of each school day. I also remember having to be able to recite all the books of both testiments and much more, by heart, as part of RI. It didn't seem to matter if you failed to understand any of it. All this was achieved under the threat of chastisement for failure, (which helped to make it a turn off).

Ah, memories of the good old days of school Religious Instruction. Short of boring us to death, it didn't do us any lasting harm. Neither did it add much to our abilities for coping in the big old world. It was a waste of time, which should have been spent learning something usefull.
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majdf18148
I have nothing to declare but my curiosity
248 Fans
02:29 PM on 04/01/2012
We live in perpetual fear of radical muslim governed states and the potential threat we think they pose to world peace. We seek to support secular Govts in the middle east for that very reason and have, certainly in the recent past, by and large enjoyed amicable relations with such secular governed states. For that same reason we should ensure our own Govt is secular and the state and religion are kept separate. I am a christian. I believe children should be taught religious knowledge in school. They should be made aware of the christian history of our country, the christian beliefs of the majority of its citizens and the position the Church of England holds within our country.Part of this education should include the Lord's Prayer as it is the foundation upon which our prayers are built. I also believe children should be taught the other main religions that abound in the world and learn to be tolerant of other's beliefs. I do not believe it to be necessary for schools to start morning assemblies with the Lord's Prayer. Teach children about faith and the church, teach them about all religions, but let them find their own way to their chosen path of beliefs. Parents should teach their children about God and the christian faith if that is how they wish their children to be raised, let schools educate and the church preach the word of God.
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BabyEatinAfeist
13 Fans
02:21 PM on 04/01/2012
Let's also put in the Islamic prayer, the Sikh prayer, heck let's also bung in the Pastafarians prayer! Or wait, there's a simpler solution. Those who want to indoctrinate their kinds in religion, there's a mosque, a church, a temple.
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bodyjewels
3 Fans
01:54 PM on 04/01/2012
If parents take their kids to church they will learn the lords prayer soon enough, if not church goers the kids wont want to know the lords prayer anyway.
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tiberiuslettis
11 Fans
01:25 PM on 04/01/2012
A religion needs faith to exist. Faith by definition is believing in things without evidence. If there was any evidence, it wouldn't be called faith, it would be a accepted scientific theory. This is what it boils down to. Anything that deviates from scientific thinking is a form of indoctrination. and I don't pay my taxes so future generations can be indoctrinated into their parents religion.

The school system is suppose to exist to EDUCATE the next generation of children, it is not suppose to exist to teach children to believe in santa, or fairies, or "God".(whatever God is)

If anybody cares deeply about this issue go to humanism.org and find out how you can get involved in the movement.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
192 Fans
01:55 PM on 04/01/2012
Keep your anti christian and extesionalism beliefs to yourself, your like the door knockers from the Mormons on a Saturday trying to get your beliefs in front of the way of life of this country. Once the kids leave school they can believe and do whatever they want, but initially I and I believe the majority of people want their kids to be taught a basic Christian faith.
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tiberiuslettis
11 Fans
02:07 PM on 04/01/2012
I'm not anti Christian, I'm anti nonsense - there is a difference.

"Keep your anti christian and extesionalism beliefs to yourself".

Haha, I'm pretty sure that's something that I would be entirely happy with - as long as everybody else did the same and didn't keep stealing my tax money to indoctrinate children.

This movement is going to carry on until:

1) The educational system is banished from teaching this nonsense as truth.

2) Unelected people are not making laws of this land ( The House Of Lords )

3) Religion is not given any privileged in society.

The only way to silence us now is to burn us alive, something that I'm sure the religious have had plenty of practice at.
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bigwaverider
7 Fans
02:16 PM on 04/01/2012
Most people want their children to be taught facts not fiction. Next thing we know the school time table will have a GCSE in Harry Potter or the life of Father Christmas.
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masonwealth
29 Fans
05:05 PM on 04/02/2012
Do you have faith that evolution is true?

Don't let science blind you, scientists normally colour thier data with their belief systems. Many scientists exclude data that doesn't back up thier preconcieved veiws

Case in point the pervert Kinsey has a lot of data about the sexual habits of adults but worryingly he also had some on kids & babies sexual habits.

Dr. Reisman’s discovery of Dr. Alfred Kinsey’s systematic sexual abuse of 317 male children, some as young as 2 months of age for his study, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. The information is vital to understanding the fraudulent "scientific" basis for American sex education being taught in public, private and parochial schools with devastating results. Kinsey's research fueled the sexual revolution and 50 years later "anything goes" sexuality has captured all of America’s institutions.
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bigwaverider
7 Fans
06:10 PM on 04/02/2012
So your saying that dinosaurs never walked the Earth and that a woman was made from some blokes rib.

Perhaps the doctor you mention frequented the same bars as these paedo priests that you often hear about.
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tiberiuslettis
11 Fans
07:27 PM on 04/02/2012
No, I don't have "faith" Evolution is true. I use the massive amount of evidence (key word) that supports it to come to my own conclusion that it is true beyond reasonable doubt. Evolution is a FACT, it's about as factual as gravity - but I'm sure that you don't to hear that, your loss.

Kinsey was a great scientist, but that doesn't have anything to do with whether he was a "moral" person, his work was controversial sure, but that doesn't make the work he did wrong in any way. Bad argument.

"Don't let science blind you" - I'm not going to bother with that one.....
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SecularAdvocate
Media Watcher
1030 Fans
 
01:24 PM on 04/01/2012
All those who want to ID Britain as a Christian country, and imagine that the danger is it might one day be a muslim one better get with the program.

If you make a clear divide now between what is secular and what is religious, and ensure that the religious is disempowered, as in the states, you will forever hamstring the progress of nonsense like sharia law.

If you argue that believing in things that are unprovable and "a matter of faith" should inform the law, you are the ones sowing the seeds for the religious having power over everyone merely as a result of their own berserk prejudices.

Separate the church and the state with robust laws.

Religion and the law of the land should never be intertwined.

Ask any woman from Saudi Arabia.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
192 Fans
01:57 PM on 04/01/2012
Accept your general view my friend, but honestly I couldnt give a stuff about Saudi Arabia, their country their laws, its not our job to change their culture however wrong we with out culture believe it to be.
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tiberiuslettis
11 Fans
02:11 PM on 04/01/2012
"its not our job to change their culture however wrong we with out culture believe it to be."

There are so many things wrong with this statement. And people think indoctrination is acceptable. FFS
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SecularAdvocate
Media Watcher
1030 Fans
 
04:01 PM on 04/01/2012
Not the point I was making. The point I was making is, if you allow any religion to affect your country's laws, you've accepted the principle that religion can inform law for everyone.

If you want to make your country's future religion proof, you have to proof it against all religious nonsense. Now.
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masonwealth
29 Fans
05:07 PM on 04/02/2012
Yes you guys removed God rfrom your schools and the mass murders are now a regular occurance.
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SecularAdvocate
Media Watcher
1030 Fans
 
05:40 PM on 04/02/2012
I'm guessing that from your "you guys" that you don't live in Britain and know very little about it.

And I'm guessing from your poor grammar that English is not your first language.

So thanks for your attempt to inform me about the history of my country.

Which is wrong in so many respects, it's just laughable.

And another chance to point out that Hitler was raised as a strict Catholic and regularly beaten by his father with a belt, as all good Catholic boys are recommended to be.

Didn't make him good though, did it?
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tonycaegarw
22 Fans
01:07 PM on 04/01/2012
It should be taught in all Muslim schools as should being made aware that (in name at least) the UK is a Christian country firstly and foremost.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
192 Fans
01:59 PM on 04/01/2012
Sorry to disagree because I understand your principle, but there shouldnt be any Muslim schools, they should if they want to be educated attend our schools and accept our methods. How many Catholic or Protestant schools are there in Afgahanistan, Iraq, Iran etc.
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GracieGiraffe
I look down on other mammals
1007 Fans
03:50 PM on 04/01/2012
The Middle East has a sizeable minority of Christians, and there are Christian schools. Oddly enough, and this is from people who have lived in countries such as Indonesia, rich Muslims often send their children to Christian schools, because Muslim schools often teach fundamentalist religious dogma as opposed to real skills necessary to engage in the business world, particularly the international business world.

Those who want to keep their money in the family are often the most pragmatic.
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Crimeboy
8 Fans
01:01 PM on 04/01/2012
Let's ask the Jehova's Witnesses, as they seem to have the answer to everything...
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raystalbans
9 Fans
01:46 PM on 04/01/2012
OK - The Lords Prayer is taken from Jesus Sermon on the Mount. - Jesus didn't call it the Lords Prayer, he made a statement prior to the passage taken from Matthew Chapter 6: verses 9 - 14. (These are the verses that the Churches call the Lords Prayer)
But Clearly Jesus didn't want us to repeat these verses over and over - Just Read Matthew 6: and verse 7
Once again Religion and the Bible are not the same
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masonwealth
29 Fans
05:08 PM on 04/02/2012
Is that before or after the chop the bible to pieces?
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lucylocket
19 Fans
11:23 AM on 04/01/2012
When I went to school we had morning assembly and always said the Lord's Prayer. At the beginning and end of term we always had a small service and I remember the Hymn it was either "Lord Behold us with Thy Blessing" or "Lord Dismiss us with Thy Blessing". We were also taught Religious Instruction once a week as part of our curriculum,as well as History, Geography, Maths etc., although English was the most important subject and taught every day. Also had English Homework every day.

It all seemed part of our normal upbringing.

I would not like to say whether it is right or wrong, but we did have good values and respect for others and ourselves.

It is strange though that he has made this statement now he has resigned. He has probably decided to "put his spoke in", walk away and leave somebody else to sort it out! Typical!!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Fozwords
Abandon hope when you post on here
192 Fans
02:01 PM on 04/01/2012
100% agree maam.
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bellsheil
35 Fans
11:15 AM on 04/01/2012
The Archbishop knows how to stir things up, doesn't he? Perhaps that is the intention. The Lord's Prayer is a tradition in this country and perhaps, for that reason alone, should be preserved. It is a sort of symbol, despite the words being anachronistic. For that reason, it should be taught in Muslim schools and so should British history from the Conquest to the present day. A recent BBC programme, showed second generation immigrants from Birmingham amazed when shown over a local stately home, that anything existed here before 1950.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Saint wright
Dyslexic old chippy
288 Fans
 
11:07 AM on 04/01/2012
if he gets his hair cut and joins the human race i will learn the Lords prayer?
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motoroes
10 Fans
11:00 AM on 04/01/2012
Religion should be outlawed in schools and no child should be taught or introduced to religion until the age of consent 16-18. Everyone knows that religion is the main cause of war and conflict yet we still brainwash kids?? It is a form of child abuse.
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cantabria
my default position is wrong
366 Fans
10:28 AM on 04/01/2012
After the Spanish reconquered Spain from the moors they saw they had a problem with large religious groups - muslims and jews so the "catholic kings" gave them 3 options: convert to christianity, leave the country or die. In terms of getting rid problems cause by having lots of different religions it was a great success. The lords prayer would have been taught in all schools and there wouldn't have been any argument. Maybe they were right.
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Vila Restal
15 Fans
01:44 PM on 04/01/2012
Sorry!! Wrong!! The Spanish Inquisition was going on for years before the Spanish reconquered Spain. In fact the Inquisition was actually a regular part of Christian Life (The main members of the Inquisition if I remember were members of the Dominican Order.) The first inquisition was actually set up in the 1100s to investigate and purge the Cathar Heresy. (The Spanish Inquisition was set up in 1480, about 12 years before Spain was fully reconquered, due to the fact that the Spanish (who thought themselves the greatest country in the world at the period) didn't like the fact that the regular Inquisition was controlled by the Pope, and basically was not controlled by the Spanish Crown)
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masonwealth
29 Fans
05:17 PM on 04/02/2012
I hate to burst your bubble, but Catholosism is not Christianity, purgatory is found nowhere in the bible, sprinklin water on babies head is not biblical baptism, as Jesus and the others were baptised as big people by full immersion in water.

Conversion to the gospel is not to be a matter of convert or die.

And gays are to be helped, and set free and taught Gods plan for sex. Not a prerequisit for at least 60% of the priesthood
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