The Boston Globe published this little snippet recently:



Questions for debate:

1.)Are public schools anti-christian?


2.)If you are a high schooler, in what context has religion been mentioned in the classroom?

3.)Does T.C. Pinckney have a clue as to what he's talking about since he doesnt' teach, and most likely, doesn't have a kid in the public school system?

4.)Is Pinckney just upset because his own exclusive views don't trump any and everyone elses?
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles...madrid_bombing/

Well, I was raised a Baptist, and experienced several versions of Baptist since my mother was looking for something she never found.
SOME of the preachers out there are are beyond "out there". Narrow mindedness is a badge of honor with them, they are right, everyone else is wrong, and they manage to find small congregations to follow them.

I don't believe public schools are anti-christian just because they don't allow religious expression. That would make them anti-religion, not anti-Christian.

TCP doesn't have to have a clue in order to get followers, there are plenty of other clueless people willing to listen to him.

Religious views like his are based on very selective readings of the Bible, and it seems to me that many so-called Christians know very little about the teachings of Christ but a lot about the teachings of Paul. I had a conversation with a friend who called himself a New Testament Christian, but he seemed to not recognize some of the more important words and sayings of Christ.
As long as people are willing to follow false shepherds, this kind of thing will always be around.

Between Nebraska29 and lethe's threads I'm going to implode.

Short answers.

Are public schools anti-christian?

Not anti-Christian. Pro-nothing in a religious context. And that's the way it should stay. There are private schools and parents can do home schooling in all 50 states, or they should be able to. If parents have kids in public schools chances are it's because they want their kids in public schools.

If you are a high schooler, in what context has religion been mentioned in the classroom?

Religion was mentioned most often in history, but it wasn't restricted. It just depended on the occasion. Kids started conversations about it if it applied. No sightings of an ACLU boogey man were ever reported.

Does T.C. Pinckney have a clue as to what he's talking about since he doesn't' teach, and most likely, doesn't have a kid in the public school system?

More importantly does he have a clue about Church and State. I skimmed the article. Instead of injecting his religious beliefs on godless citizens the good Reverend should donate his time to fighting racism and corruption.

Watch out there. They do allow religious expression and even prayer; so long as it's on your own time, like lunch or recesss, and doesn't interfere with class instruction(unless it's silent). It is a common misconception, but you're totally free to read the bible, form a bible study, pray to allah, whatever.
What the school doesn't do (or shouldn't) is promote religion or have any administration run prayer.

It turns out that T. C. Pinckney has been sending out this same message for a long time. Here's a speech he made one week after the horrors of 9/11:

We Are Losing Our Children

Some interesting quotes:



In other words, the public education system is worse than the terrorist attacks of 9/11.



Clearly, T. C. Pinckney believes that everything that is not Christian is anti-Christian.

Are the public schools anti-Christian? Well, only if you agree with T. C. Pinckney that it is impossible to be neutral. What really puzzles me is how the public schools can be anti-Christian when the vast majority of all school officials, and the vast majority of all politicians and bureaucrats who make the rules, and the vast majority of all judges who enforce the laws, are Christian.

I have not been a high school student for a very long time, but as I recall this was not a controversy at all. The idea of having prayer in the classroom would have seemed absurd. Certainly, I never heard anything anti-Christian in public school.

Does T. C. Pinckney know what he's talking about? It's hard for me to judge this, since he is stating an opinion so strongly opposed to my own that it is difficult to be objective. Let's just say that I think that his speech is more from the heart than from the head.

As far as his being upset about his views not trumping all others, I'll willing to accept that he sincerely believes that Christianity is the only truth, and that all human institutions should be based on it. Fortunately, the government of the United States is not yet ready to accept his view.

I grew up in T. C. Pinckney's culture- Christian schools and the whole bit. It is really the American version of the Taliban. It is also extremely racist, sexist and hate filled. It is one of the primary reasons I am so anti-republican to this day - these poeple are scary for real- and are really no different in behavior to the Wahibists of OBL. I just can't describe how evil these poeple are- and they are God directed in thier little universe to kill or convert everybody in the world.

I wouldnt say they are anti-christian however i would say more wordly. You can express your religion to a point in the cleveland munciple school district,but only to a certain extent. I am a highschooler and it really hasnt been mentioned, but you occassionally run into the statements. Now i am a fundamentalist baptist and my church believes that seperation of church and state is good, but hey its America we cant necessarly change everyone's view about a subject. Now it is possible to start a prayer group in schools etc, but teacher(s) cant ask students We can also carry around bibles, and give out pamplets to churches. Girls in the hallways do that all the time.

In response to question number 2, I am a senior in high school and religion has been mentioned quite a bit. My sociology teacher talks about it often and sort of assumes that everyone in the class is religious. Of course, in a class like this, religion is a method of describing a society but I don't see a need to bring the students into it. Also, in my English class, we read the Book of Job and compared it to the JB (Archibald MacLeish), a very religious play. This was done in a completely literary sense, so there wasn't really any talk about God or religion in particular. I am not religious at all, and I don't see much of a different between reading this and Greek drama, which has a lot of religious influence.

I don't think that public schools are anti-Christian. They seem to be more neutral to religion and don't address it usually, but in some cases (like my sociology class) there seems to be some pro-Christian or at least a pro-religious overtones.

1.)Are public schools anti-christian?

Nope, they are not religious, and therefore can't be anti-anything. Public schools don't broach the subject, which is the way we should keep it.

2.)If you are a high schooler, in what context has religion been mentioned in the classroom?

It has been a few years, but I went to high school in Texas. When I was in high school it was never mentioned in any context. I also I can't remember there being any religious groups or people wanting to pray at school, that is all a pretty recent phenomenon.

3.)Does T.C. Pinckney have a clue as to what he's talking about since he doesnt' teach, and most likely, doesn't have a kid in the public school system?

Nope, just another extremist nut and his rhetoric.

4.)Is Pinckney just upset because his own exclusive views don't trump any and everyone elses?

Who knows what his deal is. In my book, guys like this are no different than the Taliban. Extremists like this just want to mold the world in their image, anyone that doesn't follow is the enemy. They are always trying to stir things up. If we examined this guy's record I'm sure he has been making statements like this his whole career.

1.)Are public schools anti-christian?

Non-Christian, yes. Anti-Christian, no.

2.)If you are a high schooler, in what context has religion been mentioned in the classroom?

N/A

3.)Does T.C. Pinckney have a clue as to what he's talking about since he doesnt' teach, and most likely, doesn't have a kid in the public school system?

That remains to be seen. A talk (argument?) with one science teacher who believes in evolution might have been all the "proof" he needed to form that conclusion. It is fallacious as there are many Christians who believe in evolution as well.

4.)Is Pinckney just upset because his own exclusive views don't trump any and everyone elses?

No, he is likely upset because he sees himself as so willing to share his faith and other people don't see it the way he does."Trump" in this sense suggests that it might be like a game to him; it most certainly is not. There are a lot of people who believe as he does, and they genuinely believe that it is their purpose in life to share their faith. They don't associate with people of differing beliefs because they are afraid their faith will get diluted.

But it's interesting, because the founder of the Christian faith did not restrict himself to visiting synagogues, temples, and houses of prominent Jews. It was quite scandalous at the time, because he associated with publicans (tax collectors) and sinners (prostitutes, former lepers, Romans and other Gentiles, etc.). These people had value in his eyes, and they were aware of it. This made them a lot more willing to listen to him, because he really cared about them, not about meeting a celestial quota.

1.)Are public schools anti-christian?
To some extent academia in general is going to be anti-religious. Almost all smart, academic people don't believe the same things as the far right christian groups. If you were comparing secular private school to public schools I'd bet christianity would be more prevalent among the public school teachers and students.

2.)If you are a high schooler, in what context has religion been mentioned in the classroom?
In my history classes religion is mentioned very often since it's impossible to talk about the history of the world without it. In upper level courses we'll read a NY Times article about the Passion and compare it to catholic counter reformation artwork. In my lower level class we talk about it but nobody ever gives an opinion including the teacher who is actually a christian. For me looking critically at religion is much better for actually learning something. Of course there is no belittling but challenging beliefs is a healthy educational process.

It's a huge mistake for christian parents to prevent their kids from getting alternate opinions. Religion is more personal than a family. A person needs to decide what they personally believe. Not letting your kids do that harms their education. People are different and religion has to be tolerated and respected. Schools need to absolutely tolerate and respect but also tell the full story. If that involves talking about uncomfortable things for certain groups, so be it. That's life and education is supposed to teach you how to deal with life, not cloister you from it.