Religion and Education

Religion in Schools Debate Heats up: My response, What’s the Big Deal…….

Reading through these two articles it is interesting to me to reflect on the times during which each is written. The Library of Congress article shows religious intolerance by suspending the kids because they believed it was a moral sin to salute the flag. On the flip side, it seems as though so many laws have been passed to protect the religious rights that we have been stripped of our religious rights. The major difference in the articles is the way of thinking in regard to the times. It is amazing how much has changed in less than one hundred years.

Moment of Silence. What’s the big deal? This article is just an example of people looking to find something that might offend them and running with it. It is not stated in any school, because it is a law, that the moment of silence is for prayer. Therefore, I believe that this court case is ridiculous because it seems as though the atheist man and his daughter are looking for any way that they could possibly be wronged by our public education system. It seems to me that we as Americans teach tolerance, tolerance, tolerance, but when it comes to the dominant faith in America, people from other faiths could also extend that same gratitude. The moment of silence could be used to pray to any god, think, not think, whatever, just be quiet for one minute. What’s the big deal?

Evolution, Weaknesses of Evolution, and Creationism. First of all, let me say that I am shocked that creationism is not taught in schools today as merely another possible opinion on how man was created. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that we should just stop at Christianity though; add in the take of what all world religions think about the becoming of man. I think that by not adding this into the equation is again, religious intolerance. In A 2008 survey 76% of all U.S. adult citizens identify themselves as Christians. Why do we not have the right to even open this option up in class as merely a discussion forum? We don’t want to offend anyone. I know that I am not politically correct in saying most of this, especially as a public school teacher, however, I for one am offended.

Jehovah’s Witness refused to salute the American Flag. I for one believe that the purpose of school should be to educate the children and not force them to salute our national symbols. You have got to know that no ten year old child on his own believes that saluting the flag is a form of idolatry. These kinds of notions come from parents at home. This is another example of what’s the big deal. Was the school and court wrong for expelling the children for not participating in the flag ritual, absolutely. Let’s just teach the kids, it’s not like they were destroying the flag, or reaping havoc during the pledge ceremony. Why would they not be allowed to sit or stand quietly so that they did not have to feel as though they were betraying their parents and religion?

Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar (2009). "AMERICAN RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION SURVEY (ARIS) 2008" (PDF). Hartford, Connecticut, USA: Trinity College. http://b27.cc.trincoll.edu/weblogs/AmericanReligionSurvey-ARIS/reports/ARIS_Report_2008.pdf. Retrieved on 2009-04-01.