Local people, finding local answers, sensitive to the local needs, is nearly always a better answer than the omnipotent all knowing central government deciding for us.
I'm glad you said "nearly", or I might suspect that you think we should go back to the days when local people had the right to keep people with darker skin out of their schools, or force them to sit at the back of the bus, or hold them as property.
I just don't see what the fuss is about, really. Why does anybody need a prayer in school, or a moment of silence, or any other such thing? All I want my kids to do in school is sit down and learn the basic academic subjects. I don't need anyone to teach them faith, patriotism, or values. That's my job, not the government's.
And please do not pretend that declaring the school a religious neutral zone is the same as teaching atheistic secularism. It isn't. If schools opened the day with a quote from John Stuart Mill, and teachers told students that there is no God, that would be teaching atheistic secularism. Leaving the entire issue for parents and the churches of their choice is not teaching atheism, it is a simple acknowledgement that a publicly funded school in a society which must respect a multitude of religious beliefs is not the right place for religious beliefs to intrude.
The problem with our schools is not that they don't respect God, it's that they don't respect basic education. That's what we should be working on, not dithering over whether to allow moments of silence. |
