Should religion be outlawed from schools?

what is your take on this? Should religion be outlawed from our schools? I do not think that it should. I think that everyone has a right to religion and if you do not like it then just do not listen to others. It is not fair that everyone has to give up the religion for the 8+ hours that they are at school just because others do not like it. It is like you are siding with their side!

 

Well if the market can make a buck on it, then anything goes. Long as it can look good in a corporate portfolio, I see nothing wrong with it.

 

Only if you are going to be fair about it and teach equal quantities of all religions, if you wish to learn more about one then attend there religiouse schools

 

Yeah, its not like there are not other choices for schooling. And, really, no one has to give up their religion for 8 hours. They do have to give up preaching it...or being preached to. But, it is not like you have to renounce God when you enter a school.

 

Well in a way you are giving it up because you are not allowed to pray before games or do stuff like that. Or when you eat, you do not pray before hand.

 

Why can't you say a prayer at lunchtime or before you play a game? You can't lead others (ie preach, prosthelytize, etc) but I am pretty sure you can say a prayer yourself. At least here you can.

 

You can say a prayer whenever you want no one can stop that, you are not obliged to say it out loud and it is still a prayer unless you are of the opinion that God is deaf? Let me ask you this would it be ok if the school led you in Muslim/Jewish/Hindu/etc prayers? after all they are all religions or are you simply complaining that they do not teach your brand of the Christian faith? what religion should they teach?

 

Religion needs people more than people need religion. You can't outlaw a belief anyway. I believe that religion should simply play a lesser role in a democracy than it has been playing. Democracy is the belief that individuals should be free to decide their own destiny while religion is the belief that the individual should serve someone else's destiny.

 

Corporations don't make as much profit off of that angle though.

 

I never really thought about it that way, but at my school most of the students are of Christian faith.

 

Ah but which branch of the christian faith? here is a list of the larger sects now some of these are sub divided as well LOL so which one should be pre eminant?

Catholic
Orthodox/Eastern Christian
African indigenous sects
Pentecostal
Reformed/Presbyterian/Congregational/United
Anglican
Baptist
Methodist
Lutheran
Jehovah's Witnesses
Adventist
Latter Day Saints
Apostolic/New Apostolic
Stone-Campbell ("Restoration Movement")
New Thought (Unity, Christian Science, etc.)
Brethren (incl. Plymouth)
Mennonite
Friends (Quakers)

 

You're missing the point though. Which ever one makes the most profit should be the one we need to have taught in the schools. Which ever one can build a theme park or carve their name in the side of a mountain, or make the biggest mountaintop fake ski jump should take priority. Which ever one man can manipulate and extract the most cash from needs to be the one schools use. Which ever one we can use to promote the war against terrorism and have the citizens pony up the most money should be the correct one. It should be a "business decision".

 

Way off the mark. Democracy - which is extraordinarily rare - is the belief that a majority of the voters should govern. If you're an individual on the minority side, "too bad, so sad." A republican form of government - which is what most people today call "democracy" - says the people's elected representatives govern. Minorities are generally protected in this system by the negotiations necessary to get anything done.

Religion (whichever one you chose - Christianity, Judaism, Islam, secular humanism, etc.) expects individuals and communities to serve a transcendent reality. Sometimes (more often than not) that transcendent reality is highly flawed and merely the invention of the human heart, but I have never come across a genuine religion (cults are excepted here) that asks or expects an individual to serve someone else's destiny. Who were you thinking of?

 

The answer is yes.

 

With both sides arguing this issue for years you have to remedy the situation for yourself. We send our kids to Parochial school because we want them taught in a Christian environment and we want there to be prayer in the school. Simple as that.

 

Some wealthy folks can send their inheritance recipients to private schools. The non elite have to attend public schools and don't have money falling out of their casino portfolios so some are relegated to whatever they are forced to accept. You see cash buys privilege.

 

Outlawed how? From public schools or private schools? Is anybody suggesting "outlawing" religion from schools? I'm not sure I understand the question.

 

You don't have to be wealthy, you simply have a work a bit harder & get your priorities in order. I would sacrifice most anything to make sure my kids got the best education. it's tough sometimes but you do what you have to do for your kids.

 

From either. I guess what I mean is if someone wants to pray before say a game can they. Why can they not do it if everyone in the group is fine with that? Many schools do not allow this.

 

Well I'll put in my two cents - keep in mind this is just my opinion, although I stand by it. This will be a long response, but bear with me because the lead-up is necessary to illustrate my point.

As a secular humanist, my principles are based on reason, ethics, and justice. Most important to me is equality - I believe that all people deserve the same freedoms and rights as everybody else. It's kind of an extension of the golden rule, carried through to all aspects of everyday life.

One of the freedoms provided by the US constitution - one that I feel very strongly about due to recent attempts to destroy it - is the freedom of religion. The Establishment Clause prohibits the establishment of any religion - in other words, showing any preference for a particular religion. To me, the reason for this is quite simple. No person should feel excluded from any public institution on the basis of their religion. The only way to accomplish this is to have a secular option for necessities such as education, health care, governing, etc. This means having a public school system that does not show any favor to students of any particular religion. (Private schools are another matter, that I have opinions on as well - but that is a discussion for another day.) Imagine that you are a young immigrant to the US from another country, and that you are an adherent to a non-Christian religion (which one doesn't really matter). Your parents would prefer to have you in a school that teaches your religion, but since there are very few, if any, other people in your community who practice the same religion as you, you don't have this option. Their next preference would be to put you in a public school where you won't be proselytized by people from a different religion. However, you find out when you attend the public school that they perform a christian prayer every morning before class. Your parents can't have this, but what other option do they have? You may not care too much about such non-christians and their freedoms, but unless a citizen is free to exercise their religion without being forced to comply with a religion that is not theirs, than none of us are truly free.

Now I know what you are thinking, nobody is forcing them to pray. But imagine you are a student in a school where everybody else is Muslim. And they all pray to Allah 5 times a day. Now even if nobody "forces" you to participate, how will other students look at you if you don't? Not only that, but wouldn't you feel left out or embarrassed about it? Wouldn't you rather they just didn't do it on school time?

And you might also say, that not having prayer in class or before a game is impinging on your freedom to practice religion. Well, no it's not. You can have a private prayer, you can pray on your free time... but having an organized prayer as a group has the potential to exclude somebody.

In any case, the establishment clause is there for a reason... and having organized prayers in public schools is in direct violation of that. That's why it's not allowed at some schools, and why it shouldn't be allowed at any public school. In my opinion.