I come down very hard in favor of that, and for very good reasons. That easily constitutes the establishment of a State Religion, which is very intelligently prohibited by the Constitution.
My personal experience with prayer and Bible study goes like this: I was raised in Colorado, where prayer was not led in public schools. We moved to Kentucky in 1962 where prayer and Bible study WAS done. Each day they had a "devotional time" where a student was picked to read from the Bible and say a prayer. The kids made a mockery of it, snickering and laughing and offering up smart-ass remarks during the readings.
Not only that. I am an LCMS Lutheran; and, we are very particular about our doctrine. Most of the kids and teachers in the South are Southern Baptist. The conflict between their interpretations and mine were significant and terribly important. I was relieved when that was legislated out of existence, and would be distressed if it came back.
Public schools have no reason to teach religion in any fashion save as history and background information on historical events. In order to be done correctly, religious teaching belongs in the homes and in the churches.
The moral decadence you observe in today's society is strictly a reflection upon parents, home life, and the trend to stay out of church. None of that is a result of taking "mockery services" out of schools.
From another angle, if you don't like the way schools teach regular topics, would you actually want them to teach your kids about the Salvation of their soul? Seems like very poor planning.
If I've posted this once, I've posted it a million times.
“Public schools have no reason to teach religion “
In the ‘50s and ‘60s, our schools in NYS didn’t TEACH religion, but we sang hymns in Music class. There was a morning prayer over the PA system. We could go to church on Friday afternoons. For “religious instruction”.
People may not like religion in school, but the country was a better place when there was strong focus on it. The less religion, the less civilized and decent people there are.
No.
You misunderstand.
Has nothing to do with what’s taught.
The problem is students are not allowed to pray or read the Bible in school.
The solution is to remove the ban on individual prayer in school.
“The kids made a mockery of it, snickering and laughing and offering up smart-ass remarks during the readings.”
I know this isn’t true because it represents fringe behavior, even in today’s standards. In 1962, mocking Bible readings would have been unheard of.