What Should I Do During Church?

NemoReally

OK.
Done. My analysis is that Jow's school is an educational establishment run by the Roman Catholic Church that provides a better quality education than his local public schools at a price that is lower than the local non-Catholic independent schools. Reduced tuition fees at the school are available to members of the Roman Catholic Church and such membership must be validated, eg by a priest confirming the scholar regularly attends Church.
My understanding is no different from the first time I read his posts. Could you please rephrase his posts in such a way that I can gain the "better" understanding of his school that you refer to?

What hostility? Why would such putative hostility be unjustifiable and why would it be unrealistic?

NemoReally

Jow then claims to be non-religious which falsifies his claim to be a Roman Catholic; this view is supported by his lack of identification with "Christians" in the second quote and by the general tenor of his comments.

The facts as presented do support an argument that Jow necessarily stole somebody's place, nor gained a place by deception, but they do support a view that he is practising deception by obtaining educational services at reduced cost by pretending to be religious.

NemoReally

No it's not. It is nearer to obtaining a fan discount from the shopkeeper, which discount comes from the shopkeeper's income, and for an attractive item that is in limited supply.
You have already shown that you do not know the overall rewards and harm. The Church has invested in a person from whom they can expect no future organizational contribution (you would need to ask the question of the Church to determine what, if any, harm they believe they have suffered). Jow has learned that it's OK to deceive people if it gets you what you want. Furthermore, in these days where one has to be careful what one writes on the internet, then a putative employer who does an internet search on Jow, and finds this out, may decided that his ethics are not of the standard that they require (or they may decide he's just what they're looking for ...).

NemoReally

Indeed. Such factors should be taken into account when assessing the overall harm-benefit equation (like a kind of ethical sum over histories ...), including the fact that a child from a richer family is more likely to have other options than the local state school whereas a child from a poorer family may have fewer or no options.
In this case, yes. The Roman Catholic church both runs and sponsors schools and like many organization offers particular benefits to its members which are not available to non-members.

NemoReally

Being under parental control does not absolve an individual from acting in an ethical manner. There may be things that a child is forced to, but in this instance Jow has indicated that he could change school but won't because his alternatives are either more expensive or of inferior educational quality. As he has been at schools for at least 11.5 years, he is also likely of an age where he could be held legally responsible for his actions.

Indeed; there is, however, no evidence as to his parents' knowledge of Jow's thoughts.

Ryan_m_b

It's not like a shop discount is it? Because that would imply the shopkeeper is willing to sell to everyone.

Honestly if you think that something like this is teaching Jow that under any circumstance deception is a good thing then I can't see any productive conversation happening. You're right that I don't know the full ramifications but from what I do know I don't see this as serious. Especially given that the reasons you offer like the church wanting to educate school children that will later contribute to the church don't hold if you take into account that just because Jow isnt particularly religious now doesn't mean he won't later contribute to the church and conversely theres no guarantee that any other child would contribute either.

Lastly regarding if Jow is actually catholic we'll have to wait for him to clarify but I've met plenty of Christians (and Catholics) in the past that would say they aren't particularly religious. A lot of it is cultural depending on where you are from.

mfb

As far as I can see, their criterion is "you have to go to church". And that is satisfied.

I am quite sure the history of Christian churches will look bad in that sum, but that is off-topic.

Wait, with that argument every student would "steal" a place which would have been (more likely than not) for a poorer student otherwise?

Evo

This thread has gone way too far off topic.