As an Atheist Jew I would be furious if my classroom were forced by law to display any version of The Ten Commandments other than the one I have chosen to reject.
Also, it's a classroom. They're supposed to teach the kids to respect and to cite original sources.
As someone who had their 2nd grade public school teacher, daughter of the superintendent of my school district, try to hold a nativity play with me as Joseph...and she cast me as him because I was the one Jewish kid in my grade and it somehow made sense to her...
Yeah, just outrageous.
Me an 8 year old kid, not understanding why my parents were so mad and why they were getting into a fight with the school. Just understanding after the play was canceled that when the pledge of allegiance said God, it didn't mean my God, and maybe I should not say that.
My school didn't do a nativity play (I would hope no public school would, but who knows) but I still remember sitting in the hallway while the rest of the class practiced its Christmas carols.
That happened in 7th grade French, I asked to be excused, the teacher yelled at me after class, I forgot about it(because relatively minor), and at one reunion, someone went up to me and wanted to tell me how brave they thought I had been at the time.
Recall way back in the 70's as a primary school boy of hindu faith being asked if I could take religious (Christian) studies. My parents had no issues with that. We have gone backwards at an alarming rate
Are you really saying it's a good idea for public schools to perform religious indoctrination? That we should go back to a happier time when "everyone" was Christian and the kids that weren't could darned well suck it up?
You misunderstand. I had a choice to take scripture classes, participate in Easter and Christmas events. Some non Christian kids did not. My folks had no problems. Today faith based teaching in the UK and here in Australia is largely around Christian ideals. Opt out is not there any more
Oh. That sounds dreadful. I hadn't heard any English-speaking country had recently, as a regressive move, implemented mandatory religious instruction in public schools.
People aren't going to church (at least here in the US) in the numbers they used to. The church is declining in power and influence (tho it still has far more than some of us are comfortable with) and so the people who rely on religion as a lever for social control are panicked, (1/2)
flailing around in desperation to try and indoctrinate kids as fast and early as possible. They don't get that they're the ones holding shovel, digging their own graves. They don't see that they're the ones driving everyone away from church. They also don't care about the 1st Amendment (2/2)
Very true. Incursion by bodies such as SCOTUS into areas that religion had a hold on makes one very uncomfortable. At least with faith one can ignore but legislated imposts or judge made cannot.
