Released-time religious education

[sprite6]

I had never heard of released-time religious education until I read this article posted yesterday at Slate.com. It seems some communities set aside a half hour each day for students in the younger elementary grades to get religious education. Not to worry: it is constitutional because the students a) get bused off school property so that government

Comments

[aerynalexander]

Religious freedom is religious freedom. By doing this, the government is still infringing upon that right.

Not only that, they are setting up a hierarchy that favors the god-squad kids. These sickening little I'm-better-than-you-I'm-a-Christian fucks don't need anymore advantages. I knew their kind back when. I still know them now. They're all going to grow up to be like the shites I have to deal with on campus everyday: holier-than-thou and unable to think for themselves.

Also, schools are a tool for socialization, and this is very bad socialization. We're going to get a society of homophobes and wife-beaters out of this. Just wait and see.

[sprite6]

By doing this, the government is still infringing upon that right. I don't see how. The government is forcing no one to join a religion, nor preventing anyone from using public services for holding a religion

[aerynalexander]

An extracurricular should be "extra," as in "outside of," school time.

That's probably the only point we're going to agree on, because I'm totally against anything that will advantage the god-squad kids over the nice, normal ones.

[the_gentleman]

There's no religious education in the US? Or am I missing something here? Cos in England, R.E. is basically an education in different religions and philosophies, rather than an indoctrinating course. Sure, it concentrates on Christianity, Judaism and Islam, but they're the big three in the West, so it makes sense. Or are we talking religious indoctrination by a church here?

[alchemine]

By law, there is no religious education in public (government-run) schools in the U.S. That's why the group in the article sends the kids off campus for religion classes -- there aren't supposed to be any activities relating to a specific religion on school property. There have been all sorts of lawsuits regarding Christian clubs meeting on high school campuses because of this.

If you live in the U.S. and want your child to receive religious education in school, you send him/her to a private school affiliated with a particular religion or denomination. They're usually run by churches/temples, but not always. In that case, the child will receive education in whatever religion the school adheres to. As far as I know, comparative religion courses of the sort you mentioned don't exist until the college/university level, although some private schools may teach them as part of their religious education programs -- I went to public school myself, so I couldn't say for sure.

[the_gentleman]

I find that pretty bizarre, I have to say. Sure, religious indoctrination is something for individual parents to take care of, but I think comparitive religious study is highly beneficial, particularly in the current political climate. You're not going to gain any insight or knowledge of other religions (or religion at all, in the case of atheistic/apathetic families) from just private worship, so teaching kids from a young age the differences between religions and where they're similar can only be a good thing

[magnolia_mama]

It tends to depend on the sponsoring church, but mine did (I went to Episcopalian schools all the way through). We had World Religions offered as an elective when I was in high school, and our weekly chapel services incorporated traditions and festivals from other faiths, particularly those of non-Christian students who attended my school. My elementary school even incorporated lessons on Jewish festivals and traditions when a Jewish family enrolled their children there.

That said, in response to spritebmc's original post: one person's discomfort is not by itself reason to end a program. Chances are there's only one family raising a stink about this. But what if it's more than one family? What if there were, say, 20 students in a given class, 15 of whom come from Christian families, and 5 from Jewish families. If all 5 Jewish families object, does that justify eliminating the program? What if only 4 of them object? Three? And what does the religious education entail? It is Bible-centric? Then what if there are 5 Buddhist or Hindu or Sikh

[zany_ified_girl]

Rock on lady...I agree completely

very appalling, glad you put this up, I had no clue about it. It's very interesting as to the civic and social ramifications of American public education. I'm glad we're making sure that kids who are not engaged in school and have probable below average achievement are getting their faith-time into the school day. God forbid we teach kids to read and reason. The school board passed a motion to make sure that the kids who opted out weren't just sitting around and coloring, but were getting an active education, well excuse me, what the hell are the religious ed kids doing. I don't mean to compare coloring to religious ed, but it's clearly not active time in the classroom. I just get annoyed by stuff like this, people who don't take the civic responsibility as educators of young American citizens to heart seriously disgust me. These are the people who don't want us to teach evolution and To Kill a Mockingbird. So frustrating.

UGH...this makes me angry...I'm never teaching in VA ;)

[sprite6]

I don't mean to compare coloring to religious ed, but it's clearly not active time in the classroom.

I know, and I don't understand why, if they're bussing the kids off the school property anyway, they can't just do it after school when all the kids are leaving on buses. Every kids gets to use all the public school classtime, and the religious ed kids still get their religious ed. Why is this such a crazy concept?

But maybe it cuts into their soccer practice. *snort*

Re: Put away the pitchforks and torches

[sprite6]

I think it's a given that kids will feel left out if they're among the handful not in the program, even if they don't want to be there. No, we don't have statistical evidence, but you and I both know that's how people are. And since people are like that whether it's a religious program or a cool class or an extracurricular like a sports team or choir, I don't see the point in getting up in arms over a few kids' discomfort. There's no way we can legislate things so that every kid feels happy all the time