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03/16/2007: "Comparative Religion in Public Schools, Revisited"
On Faith: Starhawk: Can I Design the Lesson Plan on Wiccan?
Maybe it would be better to keep religion in church, synagogue, temple or sacred grove, and in loving teachings and celebrations at home, and let our schools stay secular.
After all, there's probably no better way to get kids to hate religion and everything about it than to make it a mandatory subject in school.
The author certainly has a point. Cramming Christianity -- or any type of religion or belief -- down the throats of kids at school will certainly do more damage than the good that would come out of it. This goes along with my recent comments on optional religion classes in Georgia Public Schools. I certainly applaud optional classes.
Of course, no single class in school can ever make everyone happy. Even a comparative religion class would offend and exclude. We had this discussion in high school, and some wag just had to point out that we would need a Satanic Bible on the shelf just to be "fair". How long would it take just to go over the differing views in the Christian community alone?
So again, here is my bottom line: parents have a responsibility to teach their children their beliefs. If you do not like what is being taught in school, teach them beliefs at home and at your local house of worship.
Here is one more reality check: be prepared to be offended, no matter what what you study or where you go. The only way not to offend anyone's religious views - be them Christian, Muslim, Wiccan, Hindu - is to avoid the whole subject. Just try and tell me that is possible to do 100% of the time and remain human. No matter what is taught at school, someone runs the risk of being offended. If not the Christians, then someone else.
Heather and I need to strap on our boots tightly in the years to come. We may not always like what we hear the teachers telling Dylan and Katelyn. We have to be prepared to be offended by the messages they may hear, and we also have to be prepared with a Christian response.