Because They Took God Out of Our Schools

One of the side effects of not announcing that I'm not Christian is that people often don't think about it. I admit it, long ago, I didn't really think about it either. But, it makes for some rather uncomfortable circumstances.

A friend of mine sent me an e-mail recently, one of those silly forwards, with a video about taking god out of schools. Ten years ago, I wouldn't have thought much about this video, and that's part of why it scares me so much now. So, I'm taking a moment to respond to each of the claims in the video.

It all started when Madeline Marie O'Hare said she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said “Okay.”

Prayer is still allowed in our schools. It's just that now it can't be led by the administrators or sanctioned in any way. If you want to get a group of students together to pray on their own, fine. There is absolutely nothing stopping you. If a teacher wants to sponsor a Bible student group, that's fine, as long as it doesn't take place during class time. The schools I've been to have had a designated moment of silence, where you can do anything from praying to finishing up that last bit of homework.

And as someone who is not a Christian, I appreciate this rule. I like the fact that I'm not required to pray 'in Jesus' name' when I go to a school sponsored event. I feel awkward enough when I go places with my mom and everyone there decides it's appropriate to pray 'in Jesus' name,' I don't want to have to deal with it when I want to celebrate my little sisters' accomplishments as well.

Going a step further, I think they should go back to the original wording of the Pledge as well, but that's a discussion for another time.

Then, someone said you shouldn't have to read the Bible in school. The Bible says “thou shalt not kill” and “thou shalt not steal” and “love thy neighbor as thyself.” And we said, “Okay.”

See above. You are not prevented from reading the Bible in school. You just can't make it a required part of a class, outside of classes with an appropriate curriculum (such as a religion class). Furthermore, the Bible is not the only source of morals in this country, and if you are still thinking that after being on this site for even a couple weeks, you really need to study something besides Christianity for a while. Check out Buddhism, for instance.

An expert says we shouldn't spank our children, and we said, “okay.” [paraphrased]

I'm iffy on this one. I think in young children, spanking is one of the only ways to discipline them, if done appropriately. Timeouts can be good, but you have to stay focused in order to keep the child focused on the punishment. But, you probably shouldn't be spanking a fifteen year old. Punishments have to be refined as the child gets older and can understand more of why he or she is being punished.

And the school administrators said, “No faculty members in this school better touch a student when they misbehave.”

Well, duh. It's not a teacher's responsibility to punish children physically. They should be doing other forms of punishment, whether it be additional homework, loss of recess, or detention after school.

And someone said, “Let's allow young girls to have abortions, without even telling their parents.” And we said, “That's a grand idea.”

Well, based on the abortion debates we see today, I'd hardly say that the general public said something like 'that's a grand idea.' Even several of those who are pro-choice, such as Blackout, feel that girls need to inform their parents if they have an abortion. It is, after all, a major medical procedure with its own set of complications.

Then some wise school board member said, “Boys will be boys, so we should provide condoms so they can have all the fun they want without worrying about the consequences.”

Because abstinence-only education sooo works. Better we provide the means to having safe sex “just in case” then to force these actions into the dark where we can't help the teens that deal with these issues. This doesn't promote sex, merely offers a way to keep it safe. Explaining the common STDs is still a popular tactic in high school health classes.

And we said, “It doesn't matter what anyone, even the President, does in private, as long as the economy is good.”

I can only assume this refers to the elimination of the bedroom laws that prohibited homosexual activity. In that sense, no, it shouldn't matter what you do in private. It shouldn't matter what happens in the bedroom, so long as no one gets hurt. Abuse is still a crime, last I checked.

And someone took that a step further and published nude pictures of children on the internet, and we said everyone is entitled to free speech.

Last I checked, child pornography was still a crime. Seeing as how one of the parents I know went to jail because of it, I'm pretty sure that's an accurate statement.

I'm getting bored with all the quotes, but the video goes on to talk about how the entertainment industry has focused on movies that promote sex and violence, and how the music industry allows music that promotes (!) rape, suicide, murder, and satanic themes. Not even sure what I can really say to that.

Finally, the video concludes that the current generation of teens and young adults has no conscience, doesn't know right from wrong, and have no problem killing strangers. And all of this is presumably because we don't allow god in our schools.

As John Stossel would say, “Give me a break!”

If indeed these problems are as bad as the video claims they are, I'd suggest the problem is not with allowing god in our schools, but rather parents spending less and less time with their children, leaving them to raise themselves.