Because religious education and discipleship belong in the family and in the church - whatever church the family chooses - not in government institutions. I would oppose mandatory Bible reading in the county schools for which I pay taxes, for the same reason. State imposition of any religious practice is unsuitable.
A religiously neutral education is **impossible**. All schools must choose between either a godless worldview or a God-centered one. Neither are religiously neutral in content or consequences. Therefore government schools should be BANNED!
Solution: Begin the process of privatizing universal K-12 education. Get government OUT of the education business. It is impossible to be religiously neutral.
“State imposition of any religious practice is unsuitable. “
Firstly, the American public schools had Bible reading for decades, many decades. My pastor grew up in a Maine public school where the Bible was read every day, and they all stood and recited the Lord’s Prayer.
Secondly, the state imposes religious practice every day. Everything they teach has a religious component in one way or another. The ABSENCE of Scripture is in itself a state imposition of religious teaching. It teaches that we can all get along without the Bible just fine; that it has no impact on anything we learn; and that we are the final arbiters of truth, right and wrong.
So, the school will always impose religion. The question is, which religion?