Linda K. Wertheimer, a former education editor of The Boston Globe, is the author of Faith Ed.: Teaching About Religion in an Age of Intolerance. Find her on Twitter @lindakwert.
Posts By This Author
Fight to Stop Bible Class in Public School Resurrects Troubled History With Religion
Image via RNS/Creative Commons
Legally, the federal civil suit the mother and the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation recently filed against Mercer County schools is clear-cut: It is unconstitutional to preach the Bible to students in school. But there’s another pressing reason to keep these classes out of public schools: to prevent ostracizing of religious minorities and atheists.
Indoctrination of Islam Is Not the Real Issue in Public School Lessons on Religion
Image via Linda K. Wertheimer/RNS
Opponents of lessons on Islam often claim that Christianity takes a back seat in public schools’ religious instruction. That’s what an Augusta County, Va., mother argued recently when she opposed a teacher’s use of the Muslim statement of belief in a calligraphy exercise. She held a forum at a local church to protest how her religion wasn’t allowed in schools, but Islam was.