When I thought of religion in schools, initially I was all for it. Considering the fact, “the founding fathers were nearly all Christian believers and that it is their biblical world view that shaped the way they thought and achieved what they did” (Friedman, E. 2009). I thought that if it worked for our founding fathers, surely it could work for us now, especially in education. Growing up in a Christian household, knowing and praising God was of paramount importance. I knew no other way, but to acknowledge God, even silently in school. The moment of silence is when I would pray to God and this was the only way for me to start my day in school. So much has changed in the school system from the time my parents were in school and when I was in school. My parents grew up with prayer in school and even singing Christian music in school. With this in mind, I thought having religion, especially prayer, back in schools would be beneficial. These were my thoughts before reading the article, “Religion in Schools Debate Heats Up“ by Jessica Calefati.
The article focuses on an argument from an Illinois court and Texas State Board of Education meeting. Before I expound on this article, I wanted to know what the actual definition of religion is. According to dictionary.com. religion is,
A set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. (Religion. n.d).
A federal judge in Illinois ruled against legislation requiring public school students to observe a moment of silence. (Calefati, J. 2009). I do not agree with this ruling at all. I don’t see how this violates the separation of church and state. Separation of church and state is in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and it prohibits states or federal government to enforce laws advocating one or all religions, or showing a propensity to one religion over another. During a moment of silence no religion is mentioned and the students do not have to pray. The judge stated, “the law was an unconstitutional breach of separation of church and state”(Calefati, J. 2009). How is this a breach of separation of church and state? The students are instructed to be silent for a few moments. This just doesn’t make sense to me. A Chicago atheist and his high school daughter filed the lawsuit to cease the enforcement of a moment of silence in schools (Calefati, J. 2009). I understand that everyone is entitled to freedom of religion, but a moment of silence is not forcing any religion on anyone. This was taken way too far, and supporters of the judge’s ruling were concerned keeping the moment of silence could lead to religion in public education (Calefati, J. 2009). After reading this article, I’m still a firm supporter of a moment of silence in schools.
The issue in Texas is a 20 year old method of teaching the evolutionary theory. The state’s science curriculum has a mandatory requirement for students to question and analyze “the strengthens and weaknesses” of every scientific theory (Calefati, J., 2009). This is a problem for some scientists who attended the State Board of Education hearing regarding the issue. They argued, “the “strengths and weaknesses" language is unacceptable because there are no scientifically verifiable weaknesses to Darwin's theory of evolution” (Calefati, J.2009). This may be true, but not wanting students to research the accuracy of what they’re learning isn’t what education is about. I’m not saying that students should start preaching in the classroom that Darwin’s theory is wrong, but I don’t see anything wrong with students researching the strengthens and weaknesses of the theory. The scientists also said the current language “is a means for teachers to slip creationism into the classroom despite federal court decisions that have banned teaching creationism and "intelligent design" in biology courses” (Calefati, J. 2009). Teachers can handle this issue without changing the language of the curriculum. If a student mentions creationism in class, the teacher can redirect them by saying, there are several beliefs about creation, but we are going to focus on scientific methods, not religion based methods. This way the students can mention their possible weakness and the teacher and keep religion out of it.
As I mentioned before, I am completely in support of a moment in silence in schools. In no way does it violate the separation of church and state legislation. The simple solution to teaching evolution is to keep the discussion science based. If creationism is discussed, the beliefs of other religions should be mentioned as well. I am a Christian, however, when it comes to education, the curriculum should not be religion based. I have changed my view on this because when I thought of “religion in schools”, I immediately associated that when Christianity. Religion is schools can technically be any religion. Something as personal as religion should not be taught in schools the same way persuasively teaching political parties should be kept out of schools. I believe the issue those against religion in school have is the persuasive nature of religion. Since children are there to learn and the teachers are the authority figure, parents can be concerned teachers are instilling in them things they do not believe in. It’s wonderful to teach about the political parties, but students shouldn’t be swayed to one by the teacher. Teaching students about the foundation of the United States of America is not teaching religion. It can become teaching religion, but teachers should stay on the facts and not “teach religion”. I’m against religion in schools because if I were a parent I don’t want my child to be taught things I might not agree with or want my child exposed to when it comes to religion. This was a truly enlightening experience for me.
References
Calefati, J. (2009). Religion in schools debate heats up. retrieved from
http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/on-education/2009/01/22/religion-in-schools-debate-heats-up
Friedman, E. (2009). Texas curriculum review sparks debate about religion. retrieved from
http://abcnews.go.com/US/religion-taught-schools/story?id=8166798
Religion. (n.d.). Dictionary.com. retrieved from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/religion
Separation of church and state. (n.d). Uslegal.com. retrieved from
http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/separation-of-church-and-state/
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