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This article appeared on The Province, which is a local newspaper in Vancouver: (Is this a good idea?)

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Students live religions

TRIP: Teens learn to respect other faiths with police help

Students from Matthew Mcnair Secondary took a whirlwind tour of world religions yesterday under police escort -- part of a Richmond RCMP youth program promoting cross-cultural understanding.

More than 100 Grade 8 studnets re-enacted Islamic pilgrim rituals in Mecca, said Buddhist prayers and listened to a pastor explain Christian theology during visits to temples and churches lining No. 5 Road, known as the "Highway to Heaven."

"It's one thing to talk about in class, it's another thing to see it," said 13-year-old Siya Mishra as she played with Buddhist prayer beads on her wrist.

Students visited the Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre, Lingyen Mountain Temple, Vedic Cultural Centre, Gospel Meeting Room, Church of God and the Richmond Chinese Evangelical Church and met with spiritual leaders. Today, another 100 will tour the India Cultural Centre, Jewish Day School and Shri Subramaniya Temple.

The project, "Common Ground," is the work of 26 volunteer police officers with the detachment's Team Izzat, meaning "respect" in Punjabi.

"We want people to see what is unique about the Muslim culture, the Sikh culture. We don't want them to connect it with terrorism," said Cpl. Jet Sunner, who spearheads the project, which aims to break down sterotypes that lead to racism.

Anwar Nathu of the Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre siad the event provided "an opportunity to talk about what Islam is all about and give them a different perspective."

"It's a tricky subject for people," Reena Singh of the Shri Subraminiya Temple said of the religious exchange. "But if the kids are not educated, they will not know."

Mcnair teacher Joanne Gray said she believed the exprerience helped kids exchange their attitudes.

"Because it's coming from the RCMP and all these leaders, they really see their own curiosity [in religion] supported."

Over the past few months, Team Izzat has also held basketball tournaments and built playgrounds as part of their outreach. They were recognized by Richmond city council in September for their work.

Rimond Supt. Ward Clapham said that with a proactive approach, "We know we won't have to be on the streets cleaning up afterward...from a hate crime or racially motivated crime. We can prevent it from ever happening."

This is all interesting but why did you post it up here?

My parents sent me to a Catholic school.  We had a course on World Religions.  It did give me a good introduction to other beliefs.   Although we didn't go to any places of worship or perform any rituals, we did learn of the differences and similarities between religions.  

Most of the students thought Hinduism was weird, Buddism was cool (only how do you empty your mind to meditate and we asked ourselves why is "life is suffering" when Jesus suffered for us)  Judaism was fascinating but we liked having Jesus.  Islam was just "wrong" considering the history of how it came about.  Confusiusism and Shintoism and some of the others really didn't make much sense to us either.  

We didn't go on any field trips.  I remember one girl who wasn't allowed to do yoga in gym class because her mother said all the positions were honouring different Hindu gods.  

I don't think that learning about other religions is wrong.  In fact it has made me a better witness for Jesus since I can understand what some believes.  Going on field trips might present situations where some students might not want to participate in some rituals.  I would find it very uncomfortable to partcipate in offering food sacrifices to idols.  I don't want to worship any god but God.  I would prefer to do my research at the library.

Tqpix,

I think this is a very bad idea, especially the active participation in rituals and hands on experience with the devil's work. Personally, I would consider this to be sending our children through the fire and against the teachings of the Holy Bible.

If we were talking about America, they have banned Almighty God and Christianity from our schools. It's sickening that they allow the teaching of respect and tolerance of alternative lifestyles, but they don't allow the teaching of the Holy Bible. I would be dead-set against anyone trying to teach my grandchildren Islam or any other false religion. The trend in our schools appears to be the teaching of everything except Almighty God is OK, and this makes me sick to even think about it.

We prayed several times per day and read from the Holy Bible when I was in Elementary School. Some would say and do say that you can't do that unless you teach Islam and the rest. Well, we did teach only Almighty God for over 200 years, and this was and is a Christian Nation. It was quite natural and good that we taught Almighty God and the Holy Bible in our schools. That was obviously the wishes and foundation of our country. Our schools can't teach that now either. We can't even teach the truth about American history these days for fear that someone of another religion will be upset. I, for one don't care about them being upset. Christianity alone was definitely taught in our public schools for over 200 years, and the Holy Bible was a primary teaching text. Our Congress directed the first English printing of the Holy Bible in America, and those Bibles were to be used for teaching in the public schools of Washington D.C. Further, our public buildings in Washington D.C. and many other cities were used for church services. The list goes on and on, but you won't hear this taught in American History classes. Just about all references to Almighty God have been removed from our texts used in public schools. AND NOW, some are trying to ban the teaching of our founding documents in public schools for the same reason.

I'm far too shy on this issue.   :D

Love In Christ,
Tom

2 Corinthians 5:17-18  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;