Sir, – You may be aware of the significant unease with which some Irish parents view the teaching of creationism to our infants.
Books such as Grow in Love published by Veritas teach our young children religion as an academic subject with homework (Pray to God to "thank Him for the fish") and work assignments which construe religious dogma as empirical fact ("God created the birds", "God created the fish", etc).
I understand Catholic schools want to indoctrinate children into their beliefs as part-payment for subsidising the schools and that some religious instruction is par for the course; however, books like Grow in Love are totally objectionable from an educational standpoint.
We need a debate about the standards we set for religious instruction in our schools and where we draw the line between dogma and science. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK SWAN,
Saggart,
Co Dublin.