Schools & Religion
Offline I was working today and a customer was wearing a t-shirt saying:
"Dear God why is there so much violence in school?"
-Student
"Dear Student Im not allowed in school."
-God
I like to start a debate...
I. Does the lack of religion the actual reason for violence in school?
II. Should religion be replcaced back into school?
My Answer No to two on the following accounts:
I. I live in New Orleans... In 1960s we had religion in school and yet the school violence was threw the roof. Why? Easy, Intergration.
II. Having a religion in school is bais. Unless they have a way of adding Judaism, Christiany (That would be funny, from Catholic to Witness), (We also need to include the lack of) Athiest/Angostic, (and on the rare accounts) Islam, Buddaism, Hindu, and various others. No one can out take another.
I. Of course Religion (or lack thereof) is not the cause of violence in school. If anything, introducing religion into school would cause more violence, A) Because Most religions are religions of hate B) Blatant violation of church and state, likely to cause more violence by people of other faiths. C) There is no evidence to claim that violence in schools is caused by the lack of religion in schools. If anything, a true believer wouldn't need the 10 Commandments and a Daily Prayer to keep from punching a guy in the face, and saying those lacking religion are the ones starting violence in schools is ridiculous.
II. Religion should definitely NOT be allowed in schools due to Separation of Church and State. It will cause only more violence, more hate, and more prejudice. There is a Muslim girl who covers her head every day. One of my best friends is a Buddhist. There are several Jews that go to our school, a few atheists, and a MASSIVE amount of Christians. Either you take time to worship all these faiths equally, or not at all. If you don't give equal time to each group, than insult to religion is bound to in sue.
1: Lack of religion is not a cause of violence in school. Bad staffing, lame parenting, and other outside influences are much more likely to affect violence levels.
2: Religion must not be allowed in school. Why? Because every time you switch religions (you can't only do one) somebody is gonna get pissed and throw a chalkboard.
I think the only way we should put religion in classes would be to allow *students* to defend their beliefs in a philosophy class. I woulden't mind the teacher trying to put forward an unbias presentation of the major philosophical schools of thought.
of course this would lead to a rise in atheism among young people because the only preachers who are giving their flock even a basic rudimentary understanding to defending their beliefs are Atheists. The Evangelical Church in America has never and probably will never educate its followers in the basic tenets of the faith or methods of defending it.
Here's a good example. I go to a fundamentalist Baptist Church. I have been researching apologetics for the better part of hte last 7 months and so far have read over a dozen books on the subject. I personally have never learned ANYTHING of apologetic value from my church. The ONLY time my pastor responded to a criticism lobbed against Christianity was that monstrosity "The Da Vinci Code"