I don’t want to revise the religion syllabus but eliminate it – Fr Renè Camilleri

Well the way religion is taught now is a subject...where it should be a way of life. I still say the basis should be taught. But the emphasis should be on the way of life, answering questions which the students may have about their faith and most importantly relationship with Christ. That is the basis of all...relationship with Christ. Empahsis should be given to the reading of scriptures. What is the use of getting an A in religion when after that you have nothing...you forget what you studied. The basis of our religion is CHRIST SO WE SHOULD LEARN ABOUT CHRIST AND HOW TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM.

So according to mikegold & martin borg, Maltese children should remain in religious teachings that are fabricated because these books written by professors who earned their credentials in religious studies are only in your opinion out of line. Maybe you two will start litigation on behalf of the Vatican to rebutt these documented facts because so far nobody has come forward. Its pitiful that our Christian faith has been so manipulated and censored that we cannot handle the excellent truth about the life of Jesus Christ and his teachings and the repulsive truth about the Church that continues to fabricate half truths and beliefs to operate in self serving hypocrisy.

Well said Martin. As for David and fehmawvuci with your thinking we shall start sending our children at the age of 18 so they will decide what to learn.

'fehma w vuci Whilst the bible we are brought up with is lacking in some respect especially its interpretation by the church teaching the gnostic scrolls and books you mentioned is way out of line, foe example the episode were Christ as a child strikes another child dead because he trod on Christ's clay pigeons is absolute rubbish. What is required is the truth and the real meaning behind Christs sayings and not use passages as befits one's own agenda. For example Matthew 5, 31-32 speaks of the legitamcy of divorce, it was read in church a few Sundays back but the no explanation ws given. That is what's wrong interpretation is given asccording to the individual's whims.

Instead of teaching children parrot like how about teaching them how to love their neighbours by let them visit elderly homes, homes for the handicapped even help in their town or village to land a hand to the elderly or the less fortunate. That is how a sense of charity is instilled in our young.

the religious syllabus in schools is an anachronism in today's world. I would understand that it is taught in church schools, but it should not be taught in Public schools. That's only brainwashing under another name. If anything, students should be given an overview of all religions, if we want to classify this as a syllabus subject. But if course, the Catholic church will lose a lot of future contributors if this were to happen. Catch them young.

I would just stick to Reverence for Life (the latter in its most widest sense). One would have ample thoughts to delve into, discuss and experience, without the need to go into formalities/traditions of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Janism, Atheism etc....

@ observer "Comparative" is a word that you are using. I never wrote about a comparative subject. 3-year-olds shouldn't even be thought any religious or spiritual concepts. At a later stage, like secondary school, the Religion syllabus could tackle areas at a time. For example, Form 1-3, year by year teaching about the 3 main monotheistic religions - Christianity, Islam and Hinduism and form 4 and 5 would be on Hinduism and Bhuddism so you'd have covered the 5 main world religions. I strongly believe that this would give a more mature and complete understanding to the young ones and the future Maltese people would be better mediators on the international platform. Exposure is always key - the more ("good") information you can expose the children to, the better results you can reap.

@David Caruana It seems the this is an often quoted example of the verve against Catholic Religion. How can anyone propose that very young children can be expected to reason about comparative religion taking the fact that comparisons in disciplines cannot be linear. How blinkered can anyone be in proposing arguments which are nonsensical. Who on earth has thought of teaching comparative religion to three year olds. Simply incredulous!

With all due respect Father Camilleri. What you should be doing is correcting the hypocrisy that exists in the Roman Catholic Church in Malta. Jesus Christ was a Very Good Man but his teachings are very different from what your religious syllabus teaches in the schools. Let your student study the real teachings of Christ as witnessed in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Scrolls of Nag Hammadi. The writings of the Bishops at Nicene under the Emeror Constantine to unify the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Emperor are full of inaccurate teachings and as such your syllabus must reflect this. Let the books that exposes the hypocrisy and the cover-ups within. The Jesus papers – Exposing the greatest cover-up in history By Michael Biagent Bloodline of the Holy Grail – The Hidden lineage of Jesus revealed By Laurence Gardner The Holy Kingdom By Adrian Gilbert The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of Pope John Paul II's Vatican by David Yallop (Paperback - Mar 23 2009) If you truely want the students to be interested and understand religion, they must study it's misdeeds and wrong doings, it's hypocrisy and it's self serving teachings, it's missed judgements and it's inquisitions, it's discrimination and it's refusal to adjust. Divorce did exist when Jesus Christ was preaching the word of God and due to the necessities of the time where Men died young either in battle or hunting for food, men were allowed several wives. Good Luck in your endevour, but I truely believe you are walking a very slippery slope for the most obvious reasons.

You cannot call it "Religion" syllabus because it does not teach about Religion but about one single religion - the Roman Catholic faith. If you want to call it "Religion", then teach about all religions and let the children free to choose their own path.

Father Camilleri is for the Church of Jesus Christ; although a lapsed Catholic I still feel tribal affiliations with such thoughts. People do not harbour constant rigid thoughts about faith, it dependn on a lot of factors and influences. A thinking human being has a lot of grey areas-the normal area-unlike the evil or good, as taught by the Church of yesterday.