We already know the Religious Right gets mad that religion has been taken out of public schools (even though they’re wrong about that).
So you might think if schools taught about many religions, those religious types would be ok with it. Of course that’s not the case.
In Quebec, Christian parents sued because of a required course for students that teaches them about “a broad range of world religions” — they lost the case:
In the Canadian province of Quebec, a trial court judge has rejected a challenge by Christian parents to the mandatory new course in grades 1 through 11 in Quebec schools that teaches about a broad range of world religions. The Ethics and Religious Culture course covers Christianity, Judaism, aboriginal spirituality, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism… It replaces parents’ choice of one of three separate courses that focused on Catholic or Protestant thought, or moral instruction.
Those parents have already spent around $100,000 fighting this broader education.
“The course shouldn’t be compulsory, because it changes completely how parents keep their moral authority over the education of their children,” said Mr. Décarie, of the Coalition for Freedom in Education. “We’re not talking about mathematics or French or English here. We’re talking about something that involves the essence of the culture of people.”
The classes are not there to discuss what’s right and wrong. They’re all about simply exposing the students to what different people believe. By trying to withhold that information, the religious parents seem to be sending the message that no child should even be aware of the existence of non-Christian people. Their desire is to teach their children ignorance of the world around them. It’s absurd. The courts ruled the correct way.
Reader Jeff wants to go a step further:
I think any child who is home schooled should be required to show proficiency not only in the standard courses but in comparative religions, too. That would drive the nutjobs up the wall. Of course, the one modification I would want would be to include a significant section on the history of non-belief.
I thought conservatives preferred teaching multiple theories…