Iowa policy puts religion in school

No. School is mainly 90% conditioning for the repetitive and social nature of the work place, 10% learning. To include any religious activity in a PUBLIC system displays a clear bias that may not be welcomed in an other child's family.

I think religious people have some doubts themselves . This is not allowed in faith based thinking , so , to compensate , they force it on people for which it has no value . For their own good , of course . Out of compassion and brotherly love , at first . If you look at history , though , it always always turns bloody ... Doesn't even matter what religion . So , NO . What should be included in schools , is education on coping skills . Community building skills , and internal motivation for morality . Replace religion , with reason .

If anything to replace religion with, is to replace it with education, common sense, and confidence...

For Christianity that is, should not be allowed, only words of it, but never teaching of it,because it would only enforcing the competition between different religions (You should know humans), and the violation of freedom from religion....

I think religion should be allowed at school, but strictly on a voluntary basis. Teachers should not be allowed to encourage students one way or another about the subject.

How about a comparative religion class , instead ?

...what exactly IS the the scientific criticism of darwinism from a creationist standpoint?

No. Simple reason is that if its allowed, that people will focus more on their than others. Christians (or anyone) will spend 8 weeks talking about theirs and one week talking about everyone else's. It already happening in school with certain subjects. Recently, my bio teacher spend more time on the life cycle (about 4 weeks) and then hit every type of living thing in one week at the end of school.

Its the school board cycle in the mid-west. Insane Bible-thumpers elect like minded local officials (cause who really votes in local elections other than the elderly and people with an axe to grind), said officials try to pass sweeping legislation basically turning the Bible into the math textbook, normal people find out and reinstate sanity. Rinse and repeat.

Uuuuuummmm no

I agree with ashcatash somewhat, it should be completly voluntary, with views being un bias and more of a religion awareness...not generalizing on one religion but teaching about all of them.

I agree with ashcatash somewhat, it should be completly voluntary, with views being un bias and more of a religion awareness...not generalizing on one religion but teaching about all of them.

How about we start teaching Star Wars as history and Desperate Housewives as Home Economics? They are basically throwing logic and reason out the window with pushing the fantasy of religion as fact. So why not teach something fun and harmless like Star Wars? It's got to be better than lying to children about a fictional afterlife and fantasy universe. Religion is mind control and fantasy, nothing more. If you see deeper meaning in fiction you are a retard.

maybe have a class on different types of religion but not a class just about christianity because that would be unfair to use tax dollars for something like that. also, if students want to pray at school, kewl, but not so kewl if the teacher leads it. i say that teachers, being role models for all students, shouldn't be allowed to express religious opinion or belief so that the students that don't follow that type of religion or religion at all wont feel left out. i don't believe but that doesn't mean that some kid who wants to pray before his track meet shouldn't be able to.

this is already an issue determined by the supreme court to be against the constitution.

it doesn't matter what iowa does, the federal government will rightly adjust the problem

religion should never be taught in school, unless in a historical context. this is a ridiculous waste of time and tax money

Sunday School was terrible. High School was bad enough. Now they want to combine the two. Fuck off...

These people want to turn the class room into a church. So what's new?

The Kansas Board of Education tried to do this stuff several years ago. During the next election every one of them was voted out of office.

This story made me think of PInk Floyds "Another Brick In The Wall".

"We don't need no thought control!"

It's just what the school districts in Iowa need during this recession: a high cost legal battle that will inevitably rule against their policy! The law is really clear on this, and Supreme Court decisions have further clarified that funneling taxpayer money to religious indoctrination is not allowed under our Constitution. Sorry guys, but no means no.

Ok so you woant religion in the Schools... whoes religion?

Jews do not believe in Jesus how do you make a Jewish child feel welcome in an Christian School?

Dont get upset when all the Muslim Children stop an bow to the east twice daily.

Its a nice idea, That is doomed to failure to allow any religion in school. School is for learning. Church is for Religion. Let us not confuse the two and our Children

Yes. If all children are allowed to bring their own religions or lack of religion to school. ALL of them. Even if it means Christian kids will be in the minority. I would have loved to see this when I was at school. I had to take comparative religions in Gr 12 before I could find something like this anywhere.

I want to see Native practices, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Taoism, Flying Spaghetti Monster, EVERYTHING. *cough* but maybe not Scientology.

The only way I am going to allow Religion into a classroom is as a comparative religions class. Teaching only Christianity and Judaism would be advocating a state religion and unconstitutional.

Iowa sure is a state full of ironies and dichotomies, contradictions and turmoils.

Well said omarty. How can anyone expect an idea like that to work? A really stupid person could. The kind of stupid person that would be our elected official. I am against indoctrinating our kids with a theory based on blind faith. If the parents choose to do so that's fine, keep it to yourself and respect other people. They're all just good theories. Reason would be a good thing to start teaching... maybe with a side of common sense.

I am bothered by this because I think that religion has caused and continues to cause most of the worlds problems. People think it is good because some of its teachings loosely throw around the idea of compassion. What they don't talk about is how the concept of an intervening god is utterly ridiculous. I think that it is dangerous to tell children that an invisible man in the sky can save them. I think that kind of fantasy is dangerous for the mind of a child. I think it puts reason and logic on the back burner. I think sabotaging reason and logic is a form of child abuse. It's an intellectual neutering so to speak.

Can you imagine the outrage if a proposal was made to teach the theory of evolution in Sunday school...turn about is fair play.