I am a christian, but why shouldnt we have religion in schools?

Question

Please give reasonable answers.

Answer 1

It shouldn't be forced upon anyone, but it also should not be blocked by those who choose to participate.
it definately should not be blocked as part of the school classroom discussions because it is a part of our heritage.

Answer 2

Please read all of this before you give it a thumbs down.

I am old enough to remember when prayer was legal in schools. Every day a semi-non-denominational prayer was read over the PA system. Every day it ended the same way, "in Jesus' name amen". Well I am Jewish. We Jews do not believe in Jesus. I was a singled out kid from 1st grade through I think 6th grade. When everyone was required to stand up, bow their heads, and put their hands together for prayer, I would remain seated and put my head down on my desk. Every good "Christian" teacher I had would send me to the principal's office. Every time I was threatened with expulsion if I did not conform to the rules. Every time I was in the principal's office, I would call my dad. He was an officer in the United States Air Force. He would drop everything and hurry down to the school. First you should know that being an Air Force Brat local taxpayers where not funding my education, the Federal Government would figure out how much money each school district spent per child and pay that amount per military child in that school. Any way back to the story. My dad would argue that if they would use non-demoninational prayers and end them with amen, he would let me pray with the other kids. They said that the only way to pray was to end a prayer with "in Jesus' name amen". Dad always had to go to the base Commander. The base Commander would go to the school board and threaten to pull all of "his" kids out of school and build a school on the base where state laws do not apply. The school board immediately recognized how much money they would be losing. I was always allowed to sit at my desk, keep my head on my desk and not particape in prayer after that.

The horrible thing is that I stood out as being different. I grew a large chip on my shoulder, that took a long time to get rid of. So now when you say we need religion in school I can say bull. When you say convert to my religion because it is the only way to heaven, I can say bull. Never forget that if Jesus did exist, he was Jewish. Mary was Jewish. Under Jewish law being Jewish is passed down through the mother. Also, Christianity did not happen until long after Jesus died. He was born a Jew and died a Jew. Learn the facts. Therefore, I am saying that if you Christians would be more Christian-like, there would be less trouble in the world. I do not believe in extremists of any religiuon including Jewish, Christian, Moslem, Wiccan, or whatever. What I wish would happen is you believe your way, walk the walk, talk the talk, but keep the hell away from me.

Answer 3

Well, how would you feel if they would decide to have Islam (or Hinduism, or Budism, etc) taught at our schools instead of christianism?
Religions are a great divider of people. If your children attended a school that exposed them to a different religion, you wouldn't like that. Besides, since every person has a different point of view (and believes), it will only cause our children to argue against each other.
One asker on Y! answers said that as christians telling all the other people they will go to hell was 'their duty'. I know the asker does not speak for all christians but it is a good example of what will happen in such environment.

Answer 4

I think it's like an invasion of privacy, the privacy to practice a faith without any outside influences, this should be something left in the church or at home, children who are not raised with a certain faith, should not have to feel that kind of pressure in school, they are there to learn about things that will actually benefit them in life, not something that will leave them with more questions, if parents or society wants to teach their children religion in school, there are religious schools out there for them to go to, leave the public schools public and universal.

Answer 5

How do you define "religion in schools" ?
Do you mean including an objective analysis of religion where appropriate in history, social studies, literature and art classes ?

Do you mean an objective course on comparative theology, where several religions are objectively studied, and the positive and negative influences are taught ?

Or do you mean mandatory Christian only devotional bible study where students are REQUIRED to participate ?

Or do you mean teacher led CHRISTIAN ONLY devotional activities, with students being allowed opt out with parental permission, but absolutely NO OTHER religious view point allowed ? (In other words, Christians being allowed to Praise the Lord, have the bible read over the intercom, while all others have to shut up)

Religion IS allowed in school, as long as it is student intitiated and VOLUNTARY. Students can pray alone or in groups during non-instructional time, and can form after school prayer and bible clubs if other non-curriculum clubs are allowed to meet.

Since voluntary, student led prayer is, and always has been allowed, I wonder what those who grouse about how "God has been taken out of school" really want. Do they want students to be FORCED to pray ?

Also, how would YOU feel if another religion was FORCED on you in school ? How would you feel if you Buddhism
were the majority religion and THAT religion was in the schools. That apparently is the situation in Hawaii, and in World Net Daily has an article about pre-game prayer in Hawaii. (second link)

Answer 6

Public schools are sponsored by the government and, therefore, are an extension of government. The U.S. constitution states that there shall be no establishment of religion in the U.S. By allowing religious doctrine into schools, the government is technically giving religion precedence over a lack of religion.

Short version: It's wrong to push your beliefs on others.

Answer 7

Religious teaching belongs in the home or at a temple/church/private school/etc.

A public school is just that, public. There are many types of people with different faiths and backgrounds.

Even if they are all christian you have a lot of flavors of christianity. Which doctrine or theology would they teach?

I am a christian too but I don't think religion should be taught in a public and secular school system.

Things that are universal such as 1+1 and abc belong in a public school.

Answer 8

There is plenty of violence within religion, that's not going to solve the problem. What religion would we teach? That would be very confusing for most kids. They'd be taught one thing at home and taught another at school. This usually leads to no religion for the child. It would be like raising a kid in two religions. If you want your kids to be taught Christian values at school, send them to a Christian school. Just as the rest of us do, when I want my kids to learn about Judaism guess where they go?

Answer 9

Two reasons. The government has no business promoting a religion to our students. And how do you decide what religion should be there without causing a huge outcry from all the ones who are not allowed there?

Answer 10

Because "religion in schools" usually means one thing to most people-- THEIR religion. Public schools are for EVERYONE, not just Christians or Muslims or whatevers. Why is NO religion in schools so difficult for people accept? Why is the absence of something so offensive?

Answer 11

Because there is no one "right" religion and there are thousands of religion....and some people don't believe in religion. However, if they taught WORLD religion as they do in college, I would have no problem with that, (from an Education standpoint, not a religious one)