Religion & Politics

This is bound to be a bit of a hot topic...

There are several churches in my area that have signs enabling them to post a short message which usually gets updated every week or so. Most of these messages are witty and usually have a religious undertone to them. For instance, a church around the corner from my house has been displaying "Some questions Google can't answer" for the past month. Witty and thought provoking, especially in the digital age.

While I was driving today, I passed a church that displayed a message that left me with a sour taste. The message was...

"Funny, you can't read a bible in school but you can in prison"

The reason this message bothered me was due to it's ignorance, which means "The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed", rather than any sort of religious tone or message.

There is no rule or law the prohibits someone from reading any religious text in any public school. If you want to read the bible during study hall or lunch, you are most certainly allowed to do so. It is your choice.

One of the major principles in the founding of this country was the right to religious freedom, and since the government helps fund the public school system, which was established to provide equal access to education for everyone, this holds true there as well. If public schools were to offer a class in Christianity, then, in the interest of fairness and equal treatment for all, they would be required to offer classes for all other religions, regardless of how many students in that school belonged to or were interested in it.

The simplest plan of action to take, one that does not offer bias to any religion, is to not offer any religious teaching at all in public schools. The responsibility for teaching any religion should belong solely to the followers of that religion, be it friends, family members, or religious leaders. Most organized religions already offer this teaching as part of their routine worship.

Peace is built on respect and appreciation of character, where religion is only a part of the whole. I may not personally like or agree with your beliefs, but I certainly respect and honor your right to them. I would also expect the same courtesy in return. The more people realize that our differences are far fewer than our similarities, the sooner the world will become a more pleasant place.