(10-10-2011, 01:45 AM)DeeBye Wrote: I'm not against the idea of religious education in schools, as long as it is taught in a sociological sense. Religion has a huge impact on the way society functions, and it would be foolish to ignore that in schools. Religion and religious beliefs can be taught in a useful way in schools, as long as the focus is on "This is what some people believe, and this is what other people believe" as opposed to "This is what you should believe period end of sentence".
Of course, none of this belongs in a science class.
Indeed there are 2 different things here. You can teach children what the opinions of different groups in society are. So some people believe this and some people believe that.
However, you cannot teach children that creationism is a fact, and this happens a lot more than we might think. And not only in the US, but also in countries like Spain, Italy, Poland, the Arabian countries etc.
Science deals with facts, language deals with the exact way of using your language.
Religion is about opinion....they don't call it faith or belief for nothing.
(10-10-2011, 04:27 AM)kandrathe Wrote: It clearly states in the Constitution, "establishment". "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion".
Having a moment of prayer at a public function is not the establishment of anything, as much as it might annoy those who think it's silly. There should be no preference shown, so these things are generally worded anyway. In some cases, I think the Lemon test's "secular purpose" constraint violates the free exercise clause as it is applied to individuals.
You are wrong. You as a libertarian who is for a smaller government etc. etc., just look at the private sector. If I work for a big consumer goods company....say I am a higher level manager at wallmart. If I am in a public situation (say something with a lot of press present) and I will express myself, just by saying I am an atheist I WILL be fired.
Wall-Mart does not appreciate this and will make sure I will get fired. Probably by law they are not allowed to, but they can probably prove that my comment has been very bad for business.....which is a legitimate cause for firing me.
I personally have absolutely no issues with people saying god bless you when you sneeze, or with people wishing me a happy christmas instead of happy holiday season. We are talking about culture here, not religion. But president or presidential candidates making remarks about america and the will of God (like Romney did recently) should be illegal.
Using (your) religion to gain more votes should have no place in a western democracy.