Now, I’m all for freedom of religion, but this story talks about a situation where it goes too far…
The bill requires public schools to guarantee students the right to express their religious viewpoints in a public forum, in class, in homework and in other ways without being penalized. If a student’s religious beliefs were in conflict with scientific theory, and the student chose to express those beliefs rather than explain the theory in response to an exam question, the student’s incorrect response would be deemed satisfactory, according to this bill.
The school would be required to reward the student with a good grade, or be considered in violation of the law. Even simple, factual information such as the age of the earth (4.65 billion years) would be subject to the student’s belief, and if the student answered 6,000 years based on his or her religious belief, the school would have to credit it as correct. Science education becomes absurd under such a situation.
It is perfectly acceptable and indeed constitutional for a private school or home-schoolers to conduct classes in such a manner. As a scientists I still think it’s batty, but they would have every right to do so, and parents have a say in what their children are taught. But I have a problem with publicly funded educational institutions accepting this as education. Pushing any religious doctrine into non-religious areas of education breaches the separation of church and state. Not to mention, I doubt that this legislation would be applied in a fair manner. If a student answered their honest and true belief that the earth was flat, or created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster, would he or she be given the same good grade? It follows that when one unprovable belief system is given equal footing with fact, then all beliefs must land on that plane, or else there is a prejudice. How can the wisdom of centuries of science and history be wiped away by the ancient belief passed on to an impressionable child?
The author of the article agrees, and goes on to say,
If a student chose to take his opportunity to speak to a group of students in a school-sanctioned assembly to tell them they must accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior or go to hell, then that student would have a right to do so, according to this bill… The same would be true if the student chose to tell the assembled students that they would not go to hell, that there is no hell and that those who promote belief in hell are liars. What if a Wican student chose to tell the assembled students that the only true God is Nature, or a member of a radical religious sect advocated assassination in order to preserve God’s will? According to this bill, those students would be free, in a forum supported by the school, to do so. Any or all of these scenarios would lead to lawsuits.
Maybe educational choice is the answer here. Allow parents to opt out of public schools with tax credits, which can be applied to private schools. Let those parents who choose to fill their children’s heads with myths and legends, I think that those who master reality will flourish in the end. Call me an optimist 
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P.S. RIP Arthur C. Clarke
Nicole
Tim
