I got polled today. Most of the poll was pretty straightforward, asking what I thought in general about the president and a few basic issues. Along the way, though, there was a single question that made me angry and frustrated.
The question was whether or not I supported teaching of religious values in public school. What a horrible question to ask, because if I were to respond to the clear intent of the question's wording, the answer would have to be "no". Because that implies a specific religious content from a specific religious sect, presumably required, which of course would not be appropriate in our pluralistic society.
But that is so far from an accurate picture of my opinion on the real topic. If, as I interpreted the question, the proposition is to set up a class that is required of all students teaching, say the United Methodist brand of Christianity, then absolutely not. But that's nowhere near the same as asking whether religion of any kind should be allowed past the doors of the local school.
But what the poll would not allow me to communicate was that I totally support academic classes on religion. And elective classes on specific religions - in other words, if a local Rabbi wants to come to the school and provide an elective class on Judaism, fine! Likewise a Mormon class, a Catholic class, an Islam class, a Comparative Religion class; just not anything evil like Paganism or Wicca or Satanism. Students should be free to choose to attend elective classes on religion, as long as it does not interfere with the primary mission of public education. They also should be free to organize, on their own, specific religious clubs or bible study groups or music groups, whatever they wish, meeting at lunchtime or study period or outside school hours.
The problem with the poll is that when they report the results, they will say something like, "over 70 percent of respondents said they did not support the presence of religion in public schools". And that's not just a distortion, it's a lie! Religion should be embraced by the schools as a positive influence on the development of children's values and morality, but no single religion should be given preference over another.
The lesson we all need to learn is to never fully believe the results of a poll you might hear reported. Because the results are driven by the way the pollster phrased the question, which obviously has the goal of achieving a particular outcome.
3 comments:
just not anything evil.
essentially, there's your problem. religion will never be settled because everyone has their own narrow-minded view on evil. no one, NO ONE, is truly open-minded.
wicca is evil, according to you. so do those who believe christianity is evil get no say?
religion is essentially exclusionary. it is always an us-and-them thing. i am "Catholic", unlike many people. so if someone else thinks that catholicism is evil, then i am being discriminated against when they won't teach it to me, because it is "evil" by someone else's arbitrary definition.
Bravo.
In "evil" religions there are also the different variations of specific religions to take into consideration. Wica can be a beautiful religion about your inner strength and the power of nature OR it can be witchcraft bordering on paganism. Is one considered evil and one not? It's all opinion. No matter what is done no one will be happy.
So when did everybody become Pagans? Are we moving back to the middle ages? (They don't call them the "Dark Ages" for nothing!)
I'm talking about objective evil. For example, if the Islamic class gets into the jihad, "kill the infidels" sort of stuff, that class will be cancelled. Objectively evil.
To me, paganism is objectively evil, from my understanding of it's practices. So I would exclude it from the schoolhouse.
Anyway, I am worried about the fact that we're so worried about offending anyone that we won't say something is evil when it clearly is.
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