Topical Tuesday

Religion in Schools

What is your stance on compulsory Religious Education in Schools? Should any school be allowed to chose to teach creationism over evolution?

OK, all the Americans in the audience are going, "WHA?" My nieces and nephew introduced me to this not-so-novel thing when they were in school (in England). They thought it was a giant joke, really stupid. And they are, as the saying goes, "churched." They were also raised to be tolerant and curious about other cultures, but the religion classes they had to take at school were borrrrrrinnnnnnngggg.

The public schools in the U.S. are not allowed to do much more than discuss the major religions as part of world history, or in relation to holidays. It's all very "thin-ice-skating" as some parents think we should NEVER mention religion while others think we are all godless heathens because we don't sing Christmas carols at the December choral concerts. I think both arguments are insane, and people are stupid around the subject of religion more than any other subject.

The parochial schools in the U.S., of course, teach their religions...well, religiously. The Catholic high school in my town has mass every day. There is a Lutheran high school being built; I'm sure they will have Bible Study classes in which all the kids will be told that EVERYthing that goes wrong is all Eve's fault (it's that shade of Lutheran). Feh. Give me public schools and the unwashed, uncouth masses. I'll educate my kid about religion myself, on my time (not the school's or the U.S. government's) and at church.

As for creation vs. evolution....oy. Can we just teach science in science classes, please?! Creationism is not science. Sciences don't cut off the nasty bits that are unlovable just because they aren't unlovable the way creationism cuts off all the bits of evolutionary theory that don't agree with the Bible. Short answer: get your Bible interpretation outta my kid's public school science classrooms!

Having said that, if your little retardo-brand religious school wants to de-educate kids, hey, fine. Just don't expect the rest of the world not to laugh at them when they graduate, ok?

Not that I have any opinions on the subject or anything....