cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/28920677
this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2024
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Yes, there should be a wall between church and state.
However, I disagree with the statement, religion _absolutely belongs in schools. Students should study religion as part of cultural studies because it's such a huge part of our social interactions. Religious students should have accommodations granted, such as Muslim prayer time (and their Friday holy day), Sikh head coverings, etc, and students should learn about why these accommodations are important.
At least in the US, we have a constitutional amendment that bans the government from making any law preventing free exercise of religion, and to me that means restricting expression within schools. It also bans the government from establishing a religion, and to me that means giving preferential treatment in schools to any particular religion.
Religion should absolutely be a part of education in our schools, and it should absolutely be separated from government. These are absolutely compatible.
When I went to school in Sheffield, UK we had a course for religion. I think it was obviously just the major ones and I got grouped into 'non-relgious' where we studied other religions. I'm assuming it's probably without the piety and single-focus of the other classes, but I can only assume.
I also think there's value in learning other religions due to their connection with history and the arts and stuff.
We briefly covered religion in K-12 education, but only when religion was directly related to world history. We touched on religions, but only for like a day, and only as an explanatory factor in other world events. We didn't learn much of anything about those religions themselves, even as much as what day of the week they worship on, or the core tenants of their religion (though we did learn the name of the big religious texts though).
It wasn't until I did concurrent enrollment at a local community college where I actually studied other religions. We read excerpts from the Qu'ran, Bhagavad Ghita, the Bible, and others, and learned about the connection between the various religions. That class was amazingly instructive and I think something like that should be part of the core curriculum for K-12 education (perhaps around grade 10 or 11). A little bit of understanding goes a long way to establishing tolerance and mutual respect.
A lot of people don't actually understand their own faith, they just attend services because that's what they're culturally expected to do. I think a secular education about religion can go a long way in helping people understand their heritage, as well as understand their peers.