I have a question for the Christians who want religion put back in schools.
If religion was allowed back in schools, but was limited to only religions outside of the Christian faith, would you still be unhappy with that ruling?
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I would. Now I believe that religion should be put back into schools. Me being Christian I would prefer Christianity, but equal representation of religions would be fine too. If this scenario you stated occurred, I would say that Christianity wasn't getting equal representation of religion. The government has stayed secular, so if they introduced religion in schools, they would need to represent all religions. Or represent none at all, which they do now. 1
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What exactly do you mean when you say you want religion in schools? And what do you mean when you say it's not in school at all, now? You can learn about religion in middle schools, high schools, and colleges across the US; you learn about them in religious studies. They don't teach about the fictional character Huckleberry Finn in science class, they teach about him in literature; they're not apt to talk about any mythological creatures like god during Physics, but you can learn all about him in, say, Comparative Religions. So do you want your faith to be mandated across all subjects? We don't currently do that, and I don't think we should. Do you want people to be able to learn about your faith in classes specifically designed to deal with the subject of religions? Because people can do that and are doing that, already. I don't think it would be possible for a school to represent all religions and still be respected as a center of learning because many religions are mutually exclusive. For an academic organization say all their claims are equally valid and true is to be inherently self contradictory, which is a bad move for any organization dedicated to education. When you talk about learning religions in college, I can understand that because they have a little bit more freedoms of teaching religion because they need to offer more. However, in public high schools and below, the school can teach the history of a religion, but not its beliefs, because that would be preaching which would mean the gov. isn't secular. I don't know how we got to religion in EVERY single subject, but I agree it doesn't need to be. I went to a Christian school for my entire grade school and junior high, then went to a public high school. At the Christian school, they had specific bible classes and applied Christian thinking to science. At my high school, they only talked a little bit about religion because it is necessary to understand religion to learn about the history mankind and different cultures. But they never taught us the basic beliefs. Now teaching almost every religion in order to be equal would be absurd because of the sheer number of them. That is why the government does not preach in school and it would show favoritism. In college, this is more reasonable because a student can take classes on religion and philosophy which they try to cover many different religions. When you talk about learning religions in college, I can understand that because they have a little bit more freedoms of teaching religion because they need to offer more. However, in public high schools and below, the school can teach the history of a religion, but not its beliefs, because that would be preaching which would mean the gov. isn't secular. I don't know how we got to religion in EVERY single subject, but I agree it doesn't need to be. I went to a Christian school for my entire grade school and junior high, then went to a public high school. At the Christian school, they had specific bible classes and applied Christian thinking to science. At my high school, they only talked a little bit about religion because it is necessary to understand religion to learn about the history mankind and different cultures. But they never taught us the basic beliefs. Now teaching almost every religion in order to be equal would be absurd because of the sheer number of them. That is why the government does not preach in school and it would show favoritism. In college, this is more reasonable because a student can take classes on religion and philosophy which they try to cover many different religions. When you talk about learning religions in college, I can understand that because they have a little bit more freedoms of teaching religion because they need to offer more. However, in public high schools and below, the school can teach the history of a religion, but not its beliefs, because that would be preaching which would mean the gov. isn't secular. I don't know how we got to religion in EVERY single subject, but I agree it doesn't need to be. I went to a Christian school for my entire grade school and junior high, then went to a public high school. At the Christian school, they had specific bible classes and applied Christian thinking to science. At my high school, they only talked a little bit about religion because it is necessary to understand religion to learn about the history mankind and different cultures. But they never taught us the basic beliefs. Now teaching almost every religion in order to be equal would be absurd because of the sheer number of them. That is why the government does not preach in school and it would show favoritism. In college, this is more reasonable because a student can take classes on religion and philosophy which they try to cover many different religions. When you talk about learning religions in college, I can understand that because they have a little bit more freedoms of teaching religion because they need to offer more. However, in public high schools and below, the school can teach the history of a religion, but not its beliefs, because that would be preaching which would mean the gov. isn't secular. I don't know how we got to religion in EVERY single subject, but I agree it doesn't need to be. I went to a Christian school for my entire grade school and junior high, then went to a public high school. At the Christian school, they had specific bible classes and applied Christian thinking to science. At my high school, they only talked a little bit about religion because it is necessary to understand religion to learn about the history mankind and different cultures. But they never taught us the basic beliefs. Now teaching almost every religion in order to be equal would be absurd because of the sheer number of them. That is why the government does not preach in school and it would show favoritism. In college, this is more reasonable because a student can take classes on religion and philosophy which they try to cover many different religions. 1
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In my english class we read relgious works like the book of job, Dhamarada, and excerts from the koran And in my history class we talked about the relgious beliefs and customs in the middle east. I agree with you that you should try to force relgion into a subject, but there are times were it works just fine. I also think a comparative relgion class would be a grade idea to add as a high school elective course. First, I'd like to say that Catholicism is still being taught in the school where I came from. I dont know about the allowed, but if I were to choose, I think learning the religion of other people would be fine, I mean, who are we to discriminate other people's religion, right? 2
points
I think that all religions are already being taught in public high schools. In history classes most of the major religions' beliefs are already discussed although it is just the basics. However, all public schools ever do is teach the basics. Nobody learns advanced physics in high school but rather they have to go to college and major in it to learn about the subject in detail. It is the same with religion, everyone learns the basics but in order to learn more people would have to learn about it in college. 1
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I think there should be an elective class on religion in public schools. This class would not be a "prayer class", it would be a class that would focus on the history and traditions of various religious groups. I also think teachers should be able to talk to their students about their own religous beliefs when asked, but they should not be allowed to mix their beliefs into their class teachings. I think students should be taught was different people believe (not what to believe themselves), so that they will come out of school with a better understanding of the worlds' cultures. We already do this to an extent in history classes. I remember there being an entire chapter on middle eastern religiousness. Still i think a elective course on the subject would be benifical as it can go into more detail. |
