Religion and Our Schools

There is a discussion taking place in this country about the role of the public schools in the educating of our children. It is a relatively small discussion really when compared to war overseas, the economy and health care, but it has important wide ranging implications that reach down to our basic ideals as a country. On one side are people who believe that a public school is a place where children are taught how the world works, how our country developed and made to understand what the ideals of our country stand for. On the other side, well.... they believe the same thing, but they add that Christianity played a vital role in the development of our country and should play a vital role in our children's education. Those who know me know that I am not a big fan of religion. I'm not exactly anti-religious, but I don't really see the point. Be that as it may, I understand that a lot of other people DO see a point to religion and it very important to them. I respect that, and I admire the fact that they will stand up when someone tries to take that away from them, but that is not the intent of us heathen Atheists.

Religion is a deeply personal thing to most people who are involved in it. They can't separate it from their lives, and I wouldn't want them to. It is what makes them who they are and if we forced them to do it, then we might as well outlaw religion, and I don't want that. At the same time, the faithful have to understand that those who do not subscribe to their religion are out there. They are not evil, they are not the enemy, and their beliefs (even Atheism) are also part of who they are and is deeply personal to them. However firmly you subscribe to your beliefs, they subscribe to theirs.

The controversy about whether religion should be in public schools is a simple one. The number of religions out there is staggering. If the public school system would include religion, then it would have to include an impossible number of faiths. You might believe that your Christian faith should be represented, but so do all the other denominations, so who's do we include? And more importantly.... who do we exclude?

Because if we exclude someone, then we have to come up with a reason. Do we exclude them because they are not represented in the population demographic? Do we exclude them because they're not one of the "major" religions? Do we exclude them because the others don't like them? Any reason to exclude a religion you don't think is appropriate can be used as an excuse to exclude YOUR faith. You're not protecting anyone's rights. You're stepping all over them and in the process, risking your own.

So how do we resolve this problem? It IS a problem. It is physically impossible to accommodate ALL religions, so by necessity, some have to be excluded. When you exclude some, you are saying that they are somehow less important than the ones you have accepted, and THAT becomes an endorsement of religion. The government is not supposed to do that. It is written in the Constitution. The way to resolve this problem is to exclude religion from public schools except in an academic context. This does not step on anyone's religious freedoms. Your children can still pray and practice their religion as they (and you) see fit, as long as it does not disrupt the classroom or cause trouble with other students.

This is very important. Excluding religion from public schools is not the "Atheist Agenda" unless you're talking about an "agenda" that consists of protecting everyone's right to believe in whatever gods they wish to believe in without persecution or peer pressure, in which case that should be your agenda too. Whatever the personal beliefs of the Founding Fathers, they were trying to create a country where people would not be persecuted for what they believe, for what religion they subscribe to. Because religion IS deeply personal, and very important to those who believe in it, it should be protected, but not just yours, everyone's. The only way to do that is if the leaders of our country, and by extension the agencies of the country, should not be endorsing one belief over another. That is how we protect religious freedom, by allowing you to live the way you wish, and by allowing others to do the same. This can only happen if our public schools, like our government, remain neutral territory.