Land of Hope and Glory at Trinidad and Tobago News Blog

SOURCE:  http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/

At my primary school, each morning from nine to ten, was devoted to religious education. Under the guidance of the principal, each student was taught the tenets of the Christian religion and we learned our catechisms from the Book of Common Prayer. We were told about the divinity of Jesus Christ, the virtues of the King and how to honor “our betters lowly and reverently.” In other words, we were taught to be good servants of the Crown and devoted children of Jesus Christ.

This emphasis on religious training involved a desire to prevent our descent into “savagery” and to teach us to embrace civility. Charles Taylor, a Canadian philosopher, observes that attempts to discipline a population and reduce it to order “almost always had a religious component, [and] required people to hear sermons, or learn catechism.” How it could be otherwise, he asks, “in a civilization where good conduct was inseparable from religion?”..MORE