Religion in Public Schools

"...Schools do more than train children's minds. They also help to nurture their souls by reinforcing the values they learn at home and in their communities. I believe that one of the best ways we can help out schools to do this is by supporting students'rights to voluntarily practice their religious beliefs, including prayer in schools.... For more than 200 years, the First Amendment has protected our religious freedom and allowed many Faiths to flourish in our homes, in our work place and in our schools. Clearly understood And sensibly applied, it works."

President Clinton. May 30, 2006

June 25, 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that school prayer and Bible readings would cease in all public school systems. It became a reality; God had been removed from the classroom in the United States of America. Some time later, Canada jumped the bandwagon to become one of the few countries to publicly declare the extermination of religious practice in public schools. Neither prayer nor Bible studies were tolerated nor the theory of creation was no longer acceptable to the new curriculum; instead, evolution or the “big bang theory” was taught. This mass controversy caused countless problems throughout the US and Canada and it continues to impact society to this present day. With the recent introduction of homosexual studies into some curriculums, more parents are starting to question whether the public school system is taking things too far. Issues involving religion and education are repeated topics of public debate. Members of diverse faith traditions often find themselves on opposite sides of issues related to school prayer, the teaching of evolution and creation and teaching about religion openly. While some religious groups dispute that religion has a central role to play in public education, others maintain that a strong wall of separation is needed to protect religion from becoming diluted or being used improperly. (A Pew Forum)

One of the most talked about controversies in recent years related to religion in schools was in March 2006 when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled to allow Sikh teenagers’ to wear there dagger-like kirpans to school. It was said by the legislator that accommodating these Sikhs and allowing them to wear there kirpans under certain conditions demonstrated the importance that Canadian society attaches to protecting freedom of religion; yet, bringing a seemingly harmless bible to school can lead to a severe punishment or a likely suspension. It’s ironic to see how a potentially dangerous weapon is favored over an undisruptive book (Chartrand, Fred). In West Virginia, a picture of Jesus was the center of a legal battle, claiming that it goes against the law separating church and state. The artwork had been displayed in the high school for over thirty years and a large part of the schools history. It was stated that the portrait may be offensive to some students. How can a little picture be so insulting to people? The logic surrounding these situations don’t seem to be fairly balanced.

With an ever increasing demand for private schools, more parents are becoming concerned with what there children are being taught. The reasoning behind removing the creation theory from the curriculum never sat well with many people. According to Statistics Canada; approximately fifty-four percent of Canadians fall under the religious grouping of Christianity. The foundation of the Christian belief is that God created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh; this is known as the