setback for atheists

Kids being given time to voluntarily recite the pledge is costing you money? It takes less than 20 seconds to stand up, face the flag, recite the pledge and sit back down. What if they were given time to voluntarily recite the old version of the pledge, without the "under God" in it. Would you be upset?

 

So you are saying that Christian families would have the right to demand that their flawed theory of creation be given equal time with science's flawed version? Should a history of religion be taught as well?

 

yes it is. i don't mind if they congregate prior to class and have their little ritual. if they were required to recite a pledge without "under god" i would question to rationale. if they were given class time to voluntarily recite a pledge, i would still consider it a waste of money, tho without the religious aspect, it might fall on this side of acceptability.

 

if you could find an unbiased source for a history of religion, i would think it's a valid topic for study. but i think that's more a college level course (like ancient history is generally).

i think it's best not to teach religious theories in public schools. how would that christian family feel if little johnny is told that "day" doesn't litterally mean "day" in the bible. what if they believe it really does mean "day"? would they complain that it wasn't the right version of the bible interpretation? what about other religions and their creation stories?

evolution is a worthwhile subject. there's plenty of scientific evidence and that's where it should be taught -- in a science class. students would learn about how it came to be and the arguments against it. i remember learning the different theories of selection including ones that we believed at the time were bogus. in a sense, i was taught the evolution of the theory of evolution. religious arguments were presented as well, insofar as they were based on science (like explaining old bones were remnants of the great flood).

i don't recall ever learning the big bang theory in public school, tho. no learning the origin of life.

 

It ain't costing you shit.