Please note that I attended public schools from 4th-12th grade and graduated in 1995 (a lot more recently than the author of the attack piece) and my youngest brother graduated in 2003. Every day I check out the headlines at DailyEdNews and typically read several of the linked articles. These are all from the mainstream press, not religious media. So I don't just spout what Focus on the Family, Exodus Mandate, or my church has to say about public schools (FWIW, I've never heard any of the priests at any of the parishes we have attended preach about public education).
I do hold strong religious convictions, but I'm no fanatic. I attend church once per week, not daily, and it's a Novus Ordo (modern) Mass rather than a Tridentine or Byzantine one. I do not wear a headcovering to church. I would support the reinstitution of married priests and deaconesses should the Vatican decide to change Canon Law. I do not presume to know whether any given individual may be saved, as that's for God to judge. I have hope that a loving and merciful God wouldn't condemn a good person simply because he or she is not a Catholic.
The only jumpers I own are maternity ones and they were gifts or hand-me-downs. I wear pants, knee-length skirts and shorts, and sleeveless blouses & dresses so long as the necklines are modest. I've had short hair in the past and would consider wearing it that way again in the future.
I'm very much looking forward to the release of the 7th Harry Potter book, the 5th movie, and the movie adaptation of Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass. I do not believe that fantasy novels are any threat to a person who is secure in his/her faith.
My cousin is a SAHD while his wife is the primary breadwinner, and I think that's great!
I consider reason and faith to be complementary ways of knowing, and definitely do not believe in a "Young Earth" literal reading of Genesis 1. The best scientific evidence I've seen supports an age for the universe in the billions of years and for evolution as a mechanism. As there is no way of proving or disproving any role for God, atheists are free to believe that it's all just random, and I'm free to believe that it's divinely-guided. However, I do strongly believe that children need to hear the arguments pro and con for each viewpoint so that they can make an informed decision about what to believe.
What I seek is pluralism. I object to having only one worldview presented in public schools, whether it's atheism, Protestant Christianity, or even my own faith. If someone wants a school environment completely free from religion, that should come in a private or home school- the same as a person who wants one specific religion taught. Teachers and administrators absolutely should not show favoritism to one worldview over another, but that does not require secularism.
2 comments:
The problem with teaching "both sides" is that there are more than two sides. Nearly every religion has a creation myth. Would you teach all of them? In science class? Why? Not a single one is science.
Science is the seeking of rational explanations for natural phenomena. Under the rules of science, supernatural explanations are NOT permitted. So teaching public school students the (alleged) controversy in the name of diversity would be doing them a disservice.
Another great post.
While I only teach evolution in science class, I did teach the controversy in a political science class. And we enjoy learning about the myths of the different cultures we are studying.
I was also thrilled when Francis S. Collins came out with his book The Language of God about theistic evolution.
It was so nice to have a scientist say you could believe in GOD and evolution they are not mutually exclusive as some people seem to think.
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