Madam, - Recent surveys raise profound questions for the supporters of faith-based schools.
The church says that it must have faith-based schools because many parents want a Catholic education for their children. This claim is undermined by a recent survey which showed that four out of five parents intend to allow their children to make up their own minds about faith.
It is also clear that many faith-based schools are failing to teach even the most basic tenets of the Catholic faith. As your edition of April 9th reported, a survey by Lansdowne Market Research found that fewer than half the 15- to 24-year-olds interviewed could name the persons of the Trinity or the first book of the Bible, and only two-thirds knew what Easter was about or where Jesus was born. These are simple general knowledge questions that most atheists should be able to answer.
What is the point of being a faith-based school if you don't provide a faith-based education? Why have so many faith-based schools when so many parents and children are totally uninterested in a faith-based education? Perhaps all publicly financed schools should become non-denominational. You never know, they might actually teach faith better. And they would have the added advantage of contributing to a more inclusive and integrated society.
- Yours, etc,
JASON FITZHARRIS, Swords, Co Dublin.