"Why, then, is there not divisiveness in a system which allows the STATE to determine what shall or shall not be indoctrinated? Because that is precisely what the public school system is- -a state owned and operated indoctrination machine"
Of course it is; but I made no claim to any relationship between indoctrination and divisiveness. The answer to your question is simply the pith of my assertion: the puiblic school system does not concern itself with indoctrinating the divisive dogmas of conflicting religious ideologies.
My assertion was that the indoctrination of religious dogma would likely tend toward divisiveness and social conflict. Not indoctrination per se. Your insinuation that indoctrination of secular studies ought to suggest a parallel, or to urge a comparison, fails to take into account the fundamental disparity between the respective subject matters.
Reading, writing, arithmetic, and so forth are objective and rational tools which have earned broad consensus amongst educators and parents as being pertinent to the goals of education. Religion, on the other hand, is controversial in the extreme and addresses sensitive areas of human meaning and relationship. A quick look at the many religious wars both current and historical assures us that religion is often a proxy for social grievances, cultural differences, tribal ambition, and attainment of Governmental favor and power.
Wars are not generally fought over the best way to find the square of the hypotenuse of a hippopotamus. Everybody knows it starts with a protractor, a ladder, a stool, and a slide rule.
Almost all religions (the B'hai being an exception) stress exclusivity as a central tenet. There is generally an alpha male "God" who is dictatorial, jealous, and subject to extreme violence and anger. There is always the proviso that those not accepting the Supremacy of the God in question are to be assigned a stigma and treated to a different level of regard and respect. There is usually an exhortation to "convert" the deluded unbelievers and to bring them to either the fire or the Truth.
Here is a good summary of some of the religious wars going on today:
religioustolerance.org
"I would think THAT would concern you much more than vouchers if the above is really a concern."
I have expressed that concern. Indoctrination per se is not necessarily devisive or antagonistic to freedom. In the context of Constitutional rights and democratic input it may be benign. The situation of vouchers is precisely an example of where I think it may not be benign.
I think there is a rather striking difference, btw, between a relatively few of the affluent sending their children to relatively benign religious academies, and the potential of creating a multicultural competition for the minds and loyalties of young children. We have all seen such coverage as the brainwashed rantings of Palestinian kids to kill the Jews, or Paskistani kids training to kill Americans, and we are all sickened by the manner in which religion may be used as mind control--effective because it never needs to meet the challenge of reason or sense as do secular studies in geomety, calculus, and the like.
"Religious education has been an option for Americans since before the founding of the Republic. If what you say is true, why is the United States still here"
I said nothing about the option of religion being a threat to the bedrock principles which have preserved the Union from within and without. I spoke about education being given over to "partisan religious interests" as setting the stage for endless acrimony and bitter contempt. This is certainly not the only danger to the authority of the people...but it is a significant one. "Given over to" is not remotely comparable to any current situation. However, certain outcomes are naturally consequential to certaion concessions given sufficient time. For want of a nail the shoe was lost--then the war and all that...
Although, the people are the prime authority under actual and secular law, some "God" is the Supreme authority under the thousands of different religious ideologies. With rare exceptions, there can be no easy marriage between such natural antagonists. Lovers of freedom do not naturally submit to the Truth claims and demands of supernatural alpha males and their worldly representatives, spokespersons, and generals.
Most believers in the Certain Truth of their one true religion believe that believers in other Gods are evil, deluded, in the power of Satan or the equivalent...or just plain stupid. Welcoming the indoctrination of children with these kinds of messages (whether overt or subtle) is a concession to the ugly forces of bigotry and intolerance...those very forces which impelled the founding Fathers to put their lives on the line so that people could be free from the contemptuous authority of whichever religion had subdued weaker religions...without losing the right to faith. |
