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Northern Ireland's kids are praying

William Crawley | 14:13 UK time, Tuesday, 21 April 2009

In fact, it turns out that children in Northern Ireland are twice as likely to pray every day than other children across the UK. That's according to a new survey conducted by . The survey mostly examines in today's children as an indication of what it's like to be a child in today's Britain. I'm not aware of similar research relating to the Republic (hat-tip to anyone who can find that). Headline: 57 per cent of Northern Ireland's children say they pray daily, as opposed to the national average of 22 per cent. Perhaps our particular approach to schooling, where the churches often have a significant influence on the religion curriculum and sometimes the ethos of schools, partly explains this high figure?

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    One thing they could pray for is a summer in the Catskill Mountains. I'll bet it's pretty much the same as it was decades ago, lots of fishing, hiking, lakes, swimming pools, outdoor games, lots of baseball, fresh air, bonfires, hayrides and the rest. There have been concessions to modern life such as cable TV and the internet but I don't think the people have changed much. Loved catching fireflies at night and putting them in a jar with a pinhole in the cover.

  • Comment number 2.

    Are a greater percentage of children praying in Northern Ireland, because there is a higher percentage of Roman Catholics ?

    What is the RC/protestant split compared with the rest of the UK, William ?

  • Comment number 3.

    Thinking about summers in the peace and quiet of the country, I think a lot of us imagine we'd like to take a break from the world and make "A Stop At Willoughby." Or would we? Next stop...The Twilight Zone. I enjoyed Rod Serling's storytelling. Seems to be in the vein of Poe.

  • Comment number 4.


    Marcus,

    Post one was almost poetic, loved it.

    Post three however contains a sectarian link in that the cbs video link will not play in Ulster. Should I read this as a metaphor for something?

    :-)

  • Comment number 5.

    Post 3 is an episode of The Twilight Zone, a macabre television program of the early 1960s. Can't understand why you can't view it. AFAIK, there is nothing sectarian about it. It's from a website that rebroadcasts old television programs.

  • Comment number 6.

    This is interesting. The vast majority of schools in N.I have an assembly which is Christian related everyday regardless of sector so that would perhaps explain one prayer a day! Whilst the four main churches have designed the Revised Core Syllabus they don't dictate to schools how it should be delivered. We are free to deliver the material in our own way. Religious education is education and not indoctrination! I acknowledge that in the maintained sector they have double the Religion lessons that they have in the controlled sector in key stage 3 and that they usually follow a programme which has been devised by the diocesan advisors. Remember we also teach children about other world religions too! Though RE in NI is Christian centred. The English often think us backward. In Scotland Its RME incorporating some philosophy. I do know that prayer plays a big role in the independent christian schools -there would be regular times of prayer. In my school the pupils actually run a weekly prayer time at break. It was organised on their own initiative. Staff also have a weekly prayer meeting but only a few go. Having spent some days in England observing in different sectoral types I observed secular assemblies. In a Church of Eng school an assembly occurred weekly and it was Christian in content.

  • Comment number 7.

    None are more diligent and ostentatious in prayer than the Muslim. Down on the knees, five times a day facing Mecca, the devout abase themselves.
    Given the wretched state of the Muslim World, do they never ask themselves "why does God ignore the Muslims" or even "is there anyone there".

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