Teaching Religion In Public Schools

Is it ok for students to express religious beliefs in class discussions, or through assignments? If you were Brittany Settle you would probably answer “No”. Settle v. Dickson County School Board, 53 F. 3d 152 (6th Cir. 1995), Brittany’s assignment was a research paper and her topic was drama approved by her teacher, which she later changed, without approval, to “The Life of Jesus”. The teacher refused her paper and Brittany received a zero. The teacher gave six reasons why she refused Brittany’s paper. Court ruled that Brittany’s free speech was not violated, by having to abide by a teacher's curriculum, and the teacher has control over the curriculum and classroom.

important decision was the Engel v. Vitale case in 1962 which said that it was

Issues involving public schools and religion have been topics involving intense debate. It is difficult for the government to elucidate the appropriate boundaries of religion in the public schools. It is true that teaching about religion is permitted in the public education systems, but the real question is where the margin should be set between teaching religion and simply teaching about religion. It is almost impossible to teach about the history of the United States without teaching that religious beliefs associated with the history, artwork, and literature. More than the public is lead to believe, The Constitution permits religious activities in and around public school buildings. It is unfortunate that the

“Our government has been based on religious principles since the very beginning. The Declaration says,” We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by certain unalienable rights…”.” This shows that our constitution, made for independence, wants the American people to keep God with them in everything they do. Even George Washington declared that U.S. citizens need to obey God and his will. George Washington was the first president of the United States. If he wanted the people to listen to God and obey his will, why change that now? Religion in school is not harmful in anyway. People can get talked about and bullied for their religion they practice. That is life and no one should be judged because of their religion they practice or live with. This is a free country and religion in school would not only help the students and teachers, who do not know much about religion but help people to have a better understanding and respect for other people's culture. Maybe, some people prefer not to pray at school, which is not a problem. Prayer would not be mandatory. Everyone's prayers are different; students would not be forced to say their prayer. Only if they want to. “...the supreme court did not “remove prayer from public schools.” The court removed only government sponsored worship (“Ten Reasons”

I of course have my own opinion on this matter. I would have to agree with Mann’s idea. I feel that teaching your child values and morals, is a key aspect of life. I want my children to learn good values and morals, children today lack them if they aren’t getting them at home. I know when I was in school, we were able to pray or speak of our religion without being concerned of offending another person. Now working in the school, you alway have to watch what you say and to whom you say it to. God, needs to be in our schools. There has been so many tragic school shootings, that I strongly believe if God was brought back into our schools, they would be shielded by God’s protection. A lot of students lack the guidance God gives you. Even values and what is right and wrong is now nonexistent. So many teachers are afraid to say anything due to parents now coming in and defending their child. They fear for their jobs and families. This should not be. If we instilled, God, faith, family, love, values, and morals into our children from home to schools there would be a world of difference in our society today. I myself have a hard time separating my God from my daily life. I am who God made me. My values, religion and morals make me the person I am today. I do not feel religion should be forced on you. I do believe in “In God We Trust” needs to be brought back in to everyday life. Education and religion are truly very

Religion is private, and schools are public, so it is appropriate that the two should not mix. To introduce religion in our public schools builds walls between children who may not have been aware of religion differences before (Brochure produced by the Freedom From Religion Foundation).

I volunteered at Chiefland Elementary School, under Ms. Sidorenko’s supervision. After doing my twenty hours of volunteering at Chiefland Elementary School, I have gained new knowledge on how religion works in schools. If you grew up in a small town area like I did, you would know that religion around here is not a touchy subject with many people. Many faculty administrators who work in the school system happen to be Baptists or Christians. Therefore, people are able to throw in religious assessments here and there without getting into too much trouble. In this case, at this school, everyone goes to the same church or partners with each other’s churches. Before I go on, let me just say, even though I am a Christian, I think that religion shouldn’t be a topic talked during school hours. My reasoning for this is because children are there to get an education and to learn about the world around them. Teachers barely have enough time to teach the concepts that are mandatory, if we add religion it will just offend students and teachers won’t be able to get their job done. Now that society is changing and is starting to accept individuals more, I have noticed this school is having a hard time accepting that.

Religion is by far the most controversial and non-debatable topic in the world. The topic of religion is hard to speak about and debate because it is solely based on faith. Faith is defined as having complete trust and confidence in someone or something. Everyone has faith in something whether it’s having faith that a loved one’s surgery will go well or faith that they will win a race at a track meet. Many have faith on some things, but not someone like Buddha or Jesus or maybe Muhammad. But why is that? The answer is because the schools aren’t giving these kids any education when it pertains to beliefs and religion. As a result, young children and young adults do not know what they represent. Many atheists say that religion should not be discussed in schools at all because it offends their beliefs of not having any beliefs at all, but freedom of religion should express every type of belief briefly so kids have a true shot at picking a type of lifestyle to live.

The first amendment states that American citizens have a right to practice their own religion, and public schools protect that idea by not forcing that idea of religion on people. Removing public education could force parents to enroll their children into a school where their beliefs are not supported for an example being an atheist or being of Jewish faith. By removing public education, you are infringing on the student’s right to peruse their own ideas and not their parents and school’s ideas.

I believe religion should not be taught in public schools because it brings all sorts of problems. Religion should be taught only in religious schools because the children who attend that religious school are sponsored by their parents. They are allowed by their parents. If teachers teach religion in public schools some students may not seem to care and take it offensive because it’s going against their free will and going against their parent’s statement.

I say this to bring up the fact that it should really be taught in school for many of reasons on its own like religious beliefs within schools are really suffering and lacking. We should also teach it because of the diversity it could bring to all students. For instance, it will teach all children to think in many ways and cause not only them to be diverse but their minds to be as well. Another reason but certainly not the last reason would be like I stated before because of the history that the children and students need to know about. Like, students will never know that human belief for a long time back in time was dominated by

The subject of religion in public schools is one that has been debated vigorously and passionately. The warriors from the Right and Left fail to appreciate the facts because they are caught up in the rhetoric and have difficulty viewing this emotional topic dispassionately (Haynes, 2011). Both sides are right about one thing: this is an important subject.

Religion in Schools has proven to be a very controversial matter as of lately. Even though teaching about religion is allowed in public schools, there are still many questions that are being asked in order to provide a basis of what is appropriate for school, and what is inappropriate. The first amendment to the United States Constitution says that 'congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof' which implies that you have the choice of exercising your own religion, no matter what it may be. However, this poses an interesting argument within the public schools of America because we have such a diverse population with

Some teachers may have a personal bias against certain faiths or religion in general. These problems can be dealt with. According to this article, “To address the challenge of teaching about religion without proselytizing, we must explore the assumptions and causes underlying each set of factors…” (Passe, J., & Willox, L. 2009). We should ask ourselves what lies beneath the problems of teaching religion. We should look to see if prejudice and impartiality are factors motivating against religious teachings.

A considerable amount of research has been carried out on what should be taught in religious education, and how it should be taught in classrooms. REDCo was one research carried out in eight European countries with students from the age of fourteen to sixteen, this research really got me interested in the content being taught to students, as they expressed their own attitudes