I’ve thought about this issue for a long time. My article on the question of teaching scriptures in schools was published in Church and State, the magazine of Americans United.
Should the Bible be Taught in Public Schools?
Bible in Schools?
I’ve thought about this issue for a long time. My article on the question of teaching scriptures in schools was published in Church and State, the magazine of Americans United.
Should the Bible be Taught in Public Schools?
Friendly Freethinker 
Learning about the Bible in a public school neutrally—as literature or history—makes sense. But that stops the moment devotion or proselytism creeps in. It ends there because that’s where coercion begins.
Teaching religion about religion? Fine. But teaching religion for religion? That’s surveillance state’s theater, not education. If your classroom can’t distinguish between study and sermon, you’re not enlightening—you’re indoctrinating.
Agreed. Any hint of coercion or indoctrination nullifies the attempt. As I say in the C and S article, the challenge is to find (train) the appropriate teachers for these lessons. Of course, even “training” is a major challenge. Who, How, Where???
Chris, exactly—who trains the trainers? If the system can’t guarantee teachers who separate study from sermon, then the whole “Bible in schools” project is already compromised. Neutrality isn’t something you tack on later; it’s baked into the foundation.
If the state can’t supply educators with the discipline to resist coercion, then what you’re really doing is laundering dogma through the language of curriculum. That’s not education—that’s indoctrination in slow motion.
I was blocked from opening for some reason.