'Will this turn my son into an atheist?'

Amid all the recent commentaries and furore over the perceived failing state of our education system, I was reminded of an incident many years ago, when I was coordinator of an international pre-university programme at a private educational institution.

A parent had walked into my office to make the usual enquiries about the programme. Then, finally, she asked, “Will this programme turn my son into an atheist?”

I was baffled for a while by her unusual question before it clicked. Unlike our national school curriculum, the programme that I was coordinating had components that required students to explore information they had read or heard against empirical evidence, logic and possible biases. It taught them to reflect on how they know what they claim to know.

Religious knowledge (irrespective of the religion), however, is not empirical in nature, but it is still an area of knowledge, and so is explored a little differently.

Yet, the point remains that any knowledge (empirical or not) should never be blindly accepted without some consideration and reflection on its content, context and purpose.

In any corner of the world, we will invariably find that skewed religious teacher or even parent who instructd their children to turn away from such ‘dangerous’ intellectual ideas, claiming they will threaten their ‘beliefs’ and ‘way of life’.

This is also true of Malaysia. As recently as a few weeks ago, a certain political party leader suggested that followers of a certain economic system could be ‘enemies’ of Islam.

Can faith be that easily threatened by ideas? Is it too incapable of keeping up with new concepts, changes and progress?

Or is it in fact, being indirectly exploited by certain opportunists and politicians who use religious elements to inject fear to control their followers.

Such fear destroys more than it builds.

The Cultural Revolution in China in the 1960s and 70s saw mass public rallies to remove scientists, philosophers and thinkers. Libraries containing valuable ancient documents were destroyed. The aim was to instill fear in order to weaken and control.

Are we beginning to see shades of this ‘fear’ in our own country? Is fear already beginning to be sown into the community through the distressing public floggings in Terengganu? And isn’t it also fear that is being used when the leaders of a certain political party call upon Muslims to vote for them or risk ‘going to hell’?

As a Malaysian, I understand and accept that God and religion are the fundamental principles that frame our national identity. So it is also understandable why religious studies are seriously and extensively taught in our national schools.

Today, it is accompanied by the belief that, the more it is taught, the more our children would be honest, obedient, humble, just, caring and ultimately, religious and pure.

As a consequence and perhaps in retaliation, whenever anyone talks about the deteriorating state of the national education system in Malaysia today, the discussion will almost always turn to the increasing ‘Islamisation’ of our schools.

So, is this a fair accusation? Is the teaching of Islamic knowledge a thing that many non-Muslims have, in turn, also begun to fear?

Perhaps, what should matter more is not whether it is taught at all or how much is taught but how it is taught.

Has anyone ever asked how much of the Islamic values that our children are learning in school, is actually reflected in our society?

Children learn values (including religious values), primarily from their social environment, not so much from their textbooks and long hours in class. In education, this is known as the ‘social learning’ theory.

Children are more likely to emulate the people they see often and are close to, including those they see in the news and in social media. These may include parents, teachers, ‘influencers’, leaders and even politicians.

Despite the hours of religious knowledge that we pour into our children, it is possible that they may be listening to other drummers.

So what are they learning from teachers who force them to stand in the hot sun for hours as punishment… or to squat under the table?

What are they learning from these same teachers who isolate that one child who is a little ‘slower’, a little ‘noisier’ or even a little ‘darker’ or a little ‘different’ to stand much longer in the sun than another?

What are they learning when they see a police officer pocketing a bribe and getting away with it?

What are they learning when they see migrant workers being treated so poorly?

What are they learning when they see a harmless stray dog mercilessly beaten to death in the streets?

What are they learning…

The list is endless. So despite all the hours of teaching we do, our children may be learning to be abusive, dishonest, greedy, unjust and cruel!

We cannot stop the atrocities, the indifference and the stupidity that our children may be exposed to. But we can teach them to think and to question their observations of the world.

We can teach them to reframe the application of their religious knowledge within new unfamiliar contexts and to review them within the scope of their core religious and spiritual values – beyond the dogma, the rituals and the rites.

I learnt this myself, from an ustaz in my school more than a decade ago, and he has left a powerful impact on my own learning which I cherish to this day.

One Deepavali, when hardly any Muslim colleagues had come to my house for the festive occasion, I was pleasantly surprised to see the ustaz of my school as a guest at my front door.

Later, while he was munching on a muruku, I asked him if he was unafraid of violating any of the restrictions of his religion by coming to my house.

“Puan,” he replied, “I am not afraid because you have sincerely invited me, knowing very well my religious background and needs, and so I trust that you will not knowingly treat me with any disrespect.”

Right there was this beautiful example of a religious teaching he had personal ownership of and which was based on the values of courage, communication, mutual respect and inclusivity. I could not help but be drawn to it.

When in doubt, we need to teach our children to have the courage to go back to the basics, to reflect and question, to look for the intentions behind the words and the acts. Such thinking will literally open doors and break down walls.

If we teach our children to attack or withdraw, they become nothing more than pawns and puppets. They will not only be easily influenced by those selling alternative religions or deviant ideas but also be easily manipulated and deceived by ‘false gurus’ and political opportunists even within their own religious ecosystem.

Instead of Fight or Flight, we should teach children to Tame their fears because, if we fear too much, we will lose just as much.

So, today, more than ever, we need to empower our children to see through the deceptions and the manipulations. They must find their way through this complex world of competing socioeconomic and political priorities and artificial intelligences.

Questioning and Thinking should be the two fundamental pillars, not only in the teaching of religious knowledge but across our entire education system.

And as for that parent who feared too much, all I could tell her that afternoon was that her son would be taught to question and to think.

Sukeshini NairCo-editor, Aliran newsletter20 December 2024