Can the Goverment tell us what can and can't not be done in schools as far as religion is concerned?

Question

Should hey tell us what are the proper "moral values" for our kids? or what religion is better for them? Should they ask us to observe other religious holidays that are not our own?

respectfully,
Muslimah

Answer 1

In public schools, you must teach all religions or none.

To exalt any religion above others is to respect an establishment of religion, somthing that is prohibited in the first ammendment.

Public school should be secular, if people want their children to learn religion then they can teach it to them at home or send them to private school...

Answer 2

Respectfully, I hope religion is not part of public school. As for holidays, take them as they are needed, what child can't make up one or two days. I hope no one is forced to observe a holiday that is not theirs, but rather is just explained to them - that one culture has holidays for this reason, and that's all. Force is not right.
In private school I have no say - as people do things in private for a reason, good or bad, so the public is not concerned as no tax dollars better go there.
Parents raise their children - not the public. Yes it takes a village but only up to a point, a family and friends is a village - not someone in a different county or state. Parents raise their children with no interference from me, except with abuse - then the parents forfeit their rights and should be put in a small hole with rats and ants for all I care about child abusers. But I digress.
These are my thoughts.
Peace.

Answer 3

No, government needs to stay out of morality (like THEY really know what that means) and anything else related to religion. Our first amendment says:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

True religion cannot be forced upon a person. They have to believe it in their heart, and live it faithfully in their lives. To force a person to believe what they tell you isn't freedom, which is what this country is all about. And I don't think we need any more holidays to observe. We've got quite enough. The post office employees have plenty of time off as it is. <*)))><

Answer 4

Unfortunately thats the way its going. When I was coming up we said the pledge of allegiance every morning in honor of those who have died for our freedom and at some schools there was prayer. In my schools there were Christians, Jews, Catholics, Athiasts, several others and nobody but nobody had a problem with either. Everybody understood and got along with those things with absolutely no problem because in reality there was no problem. Now thanks to the secular progressives its seems to be a huge problem where there shouldnt be because they want to create a society of guilt free sin. They try to pass it off as freedom of choice when in fact they are defeating their own porpose by making God against the law when millions believe. Just because there is a moment of silence for prayer or a reciting of the pledge of allegiance doesnt force anyone to believe one way or another. Its rediculous. Wake up America. This country was founded on these values and weve done rather well with it until now. Look at the statistics. The further we drift from God, morals, and common decency the worse things get.

Answer 5

truly this depends on your area. the yr after i converted i found out i lived in an area with a significant Muslim population. because of this our school would make Eid a non-attendance day but not announce it to the rest of the school so that the non-Muslim students wouldn't take off. and the same for certain Jewish holidays. to me it seemed we got the better end of the deal.... we got off our holidays and the Christian holidays
but i know this isnt true in all areas.


*because we lived in such a diverse area our schools were also good with not giving us their morals. i'm really thankful to have grown up in my city (Chicago, the greatest city in the whole country!)..... however, i do feel not entitling us to these things or preaching morals to us would have been an injustice due to the freedoms laid out to us by the Constitution


****just my opinion

salam to all

Answer 6

If it's a public school supported by tax dollars, yes they can. Talk to the school administration about this and a mutual solution. Based on your name, you probably have certain times of the day that prayer is required by your faith. The school can not stop you from practicing your faith as long as your prayer sessions are not a distraction. There may be a private place within the school that you can perform your rituals. Ask your teacher about the U.S. Constitution and about the seperation of church and state.

Answer 7

No to all of the above but you have to realize that up until recently Christian doctrine was openly taught in and dominated the public school system. These days they can't force you to do anything regarding religion, but by the same token they can enforce certain dress codes, rules of social conduct and ban religious dispays of any nature.

Answer 8

Morals are something that most religions and even Atheists agree upon, therefore the first thing the government should enforce is uniform for guys and girls so they don't wear the provocative dresses!

Observing religious holidays for Christians and Jews but not Muslims is wrong! There are more Muslims in America then Jews. For heavens sake give at least one holiday to Muslims!

Answer 9

No, the gov't can only keep religion out of the schools - the preachy sort of religion. You're welcome to teach ABOUT religion as long as you're not pushing any one in particular. Schools are not there to teach moral values - they are there to educate students. If they teach values as well, do the parents have any jobs left? Seriously, the local schools here now have to teach kids to stay away from strange dogs because some kid got bitten at home and their parents tried to sue the school over it for not teaching him about approaching strange dogs. How stupid can you get?

The only reason we still have x-mas off is that it's so ingrained in our culture no one would show up anyway. I know I wouldn't, and I'm an atheist. Hey, I'll take time off as long as no one's forcing me to go to church.

Answer 10

Well, sort of yes, sort of not.

As a government institution, a public school can't contradict religious beliefs and moral values taught at home by requiring children to pray(one way or another) or forbidding them from doing so. The choice is left up to the children to pray as they've been taught by their parents. It can stop infractions of this choice, like a punishing a teacher taking a child's Bible away and throwing it in the trash, or punishing a teacher for failing a child for being Muslim or some religion the teacher doesn't agree with.

But the government can't tell a kid to believe or not believe. Just has to stay out of it and let the child and their parents decide what's religiously and morally right.

Far as holidays, that's tougher. On one hand, to force people to observe a religious holiday that isn't their own, that's not right and, in a way, an infraction of the beliefs of those who don't follow that religious holiday. The trouble comes in when a holiday is followed by so many people, that when a government legally allows them to take time off, so many people take time off for the observance that almost nobody's left to do the work.

In schools, for example, if students in a school are, say, primarily Christian. As a result, the school has to let them have time off to observe Christmas. So the majority of the kids go home on break for Christmas. Those that remain that don't observe Christmas in any way, there's too few of them left to reasonably have a functioning school day and class, so the school just sends everyone home on a break.

It's kinda weird how that works. My husband-to-be and I had the same discussion a few days ago about a similar question asked about whether or not it was legal to close post offices on Christmas. It technically shouldn't be, as Christmas is a religious holiday(and yes, I admit, it's become quite commercialized and secular in recent years, but it was originally religious) and the government can't observe one religiion's practices over another.

But since so many postal workers are Christian and observe Christmas, it's impractical to leave the post office open as they'd be quite shorthanded. Also, people are off with their families, so nobody's really out shopping or sending mail or anything like that, so in a way, it's sort of a loss financially as well.

So while the government really can't force people to observe religious holidays like Christmas or Easter, they can't tell those who do observe those holidays they can't go home and observe, and so they end up making breaks for everyone in observance out of practicality when a lot of people take off to observe said holidays.

I suppose when a break's given in school for Christmas, one doesn't have to see it as a holiday break, but just a regular break, I guess. Breaks are tough to call as legally, an observance shouldn't be made, but out of practicality, there's not much use in keeping schools and businesses open if people aren't going to be there.

Far as school Christmas parties, even though I grew up with them, I suppose those are unfortunately unconstitutional as not everyone's Christian and thusly not everyone celebrates Christmas, so it's a bit unfair to require a Jewish or Muslim or atheist kid who might not celebrate the holiday to take part of be excluded. Kinda sad, because for me, it wasn't about religion growing up, it was the fun of it, of getting out of school early, eating candy, drinking soda pop, and watching movies and generally just screwing around.

I suppose what I'd suggest to do for class parties, rather than abolishing them and spoiling all the fun, is to either have a generalized holiday party, or, include all holidays celebrated, rather than just saying "Christmas Party". Maybe that's impractical, too, since there's so many religions, but, I don't know, maybe it's better than not letting kids be kids and have their fun, regardless of their beliefs.