Should Religions Be Taught in Schools?

[The Greater German Reich of Europe]

I don't see anything wrong with religious tolerance and secularism. If one person is of a different religious faith, neither you nor the school should be upset that he doesn't simply follow along with another faith's practices. Whether his father was on the no-fly list or not means nothing. The son and many other people of other faiths deserve respect regardless.[/quote]

Is it tolerance if the school can call it a Christmas party? If we have tolerance for the kid to do all that he does the we shouldn’t we be able to call it a Christmas party without getting sued for thousands of dollars? Answer honestly and tell me if you think that that the kids mom should of sued the school because a mom said Christmas party. Either we have our Christmas party and Easter and all and he gets his prayer mat and dosen't do the pledge or nobody gets anything it’s that simple. No Christmas party no prayer mat, Period.

[Satuga]

@kernen, the school accommodated the kid by letting him get out his prayer mat before a dodge ball game and pray to Mecca. Also the school had called it a Christmas party for years upon years and not a single person thought it was wrong. 85% of the community is religious Yet we let him do all of this. How would you like it if instead of calling soccer soccer we called it football just because one kid was from Europe. How is this any different? Also the kid can’t just go around and say he hates America and that our soldiers throw rocks at his people. Oh and the kid’s father was on the no fly list.

Dude I'm a right winger, and I think that you're being ridiculous.
First off the schools stopped calling it Christmas party because not every celebrates christmas, this however does not stop students from calling it a christmas party or christmas break. They also let him pray because they are legally required to, as well as it doesn't affect anyone else.
Second why cant he say he hates America? It's freedom of speech buddy, I might not agree with him but that doesn't mean we should be able to silence him. Also his father might not be a good guy, a lot of peoples fathers aren't that doesn't mean anything really though. Instead of trying to silence him why don't you try and talk with him about it and see his reasons for not liking America and tell him about all the things that America IS good for.

[Geneviev]

@kernen, the school accommodated the kid by letting him get out his prayer mat before a dodge ball game and pray to Mecca. Also the school had called it a Christmas party for years upon years and not a single person thought it was wrong. 85% of the community is religious Yet we let him do all of this. How would you like it if instead of calling soccer soccer we called it football just because one kid was from Europe. How is this any different? Also the kid can’t just go around and say he hates America and that our soldiers throw rocks at his people. Oh and the kid’s father was on the no fly list.

He's religious too. What gives you the right to not allow him to practice his religion? Also, sorry, but he does have free speech and is probably right about the rocks. He has those rights and you shouldn't take them from him just because you don't like it.

What does his father have to do with this? Nothing.

[The Greater German Reich of Europe]

@satuga, I understand your opinion and I’m not a really really religious person but he sued the school. I again said above that he can do all of that but it’s ridiculous that they can just sue the school for thousands after the school already has sent out emails to the whole school about how if your child doesn’t want to go to the veterans assembly they don’t have to, they changed the names of the parties. Had the mom come in and teach the whole class about Islam, sent the parents guidelines about how to treat him, the list goes on and yet people here defend the kid who absolutely hates everything everyone here lives in.

[Kernen]

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Is it tolerance if the school can call it a Christmas party?

Clearly the school was wrong.

If we have tolerance for the kid to do all that he does the we shouldn’t we be able to call it a Christmas party without getting sued for thousands of dollars?

Nope. It costs you nothing to call it something else

Answer honestly and tell me if you think that that the kids mom should of sued the school because a mom said Christmas party. Either we have our Christmas party and Easter and all and he gets his prayer mat and dosen't do the pledge or nobody gets anything it’s that simple. No Christmas party no prayer mat, Period.

You guys got lucky it was only thousands. Could have been tens or hundreds of thousands. and I'm all about suing schools. I look forward to the opportunity of representing an angry parent against a school someday.

Christmas parties arent religious. Prayer mats are.

The pledge isnt an accommodation. nobody has to say the pledge for any reason in US schools.

[Qabea]

Is it tolerance if the school can call it a Christmas party? If we have tolerance for the kid to do all that he does the we shouldn’t we be able to call it a Christmas party without getting sued for thousands of dollars? Answer honestly and tell me if you think that that the kids mom should of sued the school because a mom said Christmas party. Either we have our Christmas party and Easter and all and he gets his prayer mat and dosen't do the pledge or nobody gets anything it’s that simple. No Christmas party no prayer mat, Period.

Do you have any link we can read about this lawsuit? Stuff like what you're talking about at least makes it on the local news.

[Daves Computer]

Is it tolerance if the school can call it a Christmas party? If we have tolerance for the kid to do all that he does the we shouldn’t we be able to call it a Christmas party without getting sued for thousands of dollars? Answer honestly and tell me if you think that that the kids mom should of sued the school because a mom said Christmas party. Either we have our Christmas party and Easter and all and he gets his prayer mat and dosen't do the pledge or nobody gets anything it’s that simple. No Christmas party no prayer mat, Period.

It's not respectful if an academic institution only celebrates one faith and ignores all others, nor is it beneficial for the students themselves if all their life they only fixate on one religion and don't have the opportunity to explore other faiths if not to at least build some respect towards other's beliefs. The fact that you think one mother's reaction to a Christmas party justifies us turning a blind eye to the fact that schools unfairly favor certain religions while ignoring or degrading others is a ridiculous strawman.

[Geneviev]

@satuga, I understand your opinion and I’m not a really really religious person but he sued the school. I again said above that he can do all of that but it’s ridiculous that they can just sue the school for thousands after the school already has sent out emails to the whole school about how if your child doesn’t want to go to the veterans assembly they don’t have to, they changed the names of the parties. Had the mom come in and teach the whole class about Islam, sent the parents guidelines about how to treat him, the list goes on and yet people here defend the kid who absolutely hates everything everyone here lives in.

The kid has 1st amendment rights. People here are defending the Constitution.

[Kernen]

Is it tolerance if the school can call it a Christmas party? If we have tolerance for the kid to do all that he does the we shouldn’t we be able to call it a Christmas party without getting sued for thousands of dollars? Answer honestly and tell me if you think that that the kids mom should of sued the school because a mom said Christmas party. Either we have our Christmas party and Easter and all and he gets his prayer mat and dosen't do the pledge or nobody gets anything it’s that simple. No Christmas party no prayer mat, Period.

Do you have any link we can read about this lawsuit? Stuff like what you're talking about at least makes it on the local news.

I'd bet it never made it to court. Sounds like it settled early on, or the kids would have graduated by the time it was resolved.

[The Greater German Reich of Europe]

It didn’t make the news because the school just gave them what they wanted, 8,000 dollars and all of their children get to go to a private school which costs tens of thousands

[Kernen]

@satuga, I understand your opinion and I’m not a really really religious person but he sued the school. I again said above that he can do all of that but it’s ridiculous that they can just sue the school for thousands after the school already has sent out emails to the whole school about how if your child doesn’t want to go to the veterans assembly they don’t have to, they changed the names of the parties. Had the mom come in and teach the whole class about Islam, sent the parents guidelines about how to treat him, the list goes on and yet people here defend the kid who absolutely hates everything everyone here lives in.

The kid has 1st amendment rights. People here are defending the Constitution.

Imagine thinking the 1A only protects what you like, right?

[Kernen]

It didn’t make the news because the school just gave them what they wanted, 8,000 dollars and all of their children get to go to a private school which costs tens of thousands

Settled out. Good for them! That's how to get it to work.

[Satuga]

@satuga, I understand your opinion and I’m not a really really religious person but he sued the school. I again said above that he can do all of that but it’s ridiculous that they can just sue the school for thousands after the school already has sent out emails to the whole school about how if your child doesn’t want to go to the veterans assembly they don’t have to, they changed the names of the parties. Had the mom come in and teach the whole class about Islam, sent the parents guidelines about how to treat him, the list goes on and yet people here defend the kid who absolutely hates everything everyone here lives in.

See this is where I say they are going too far, no she shouldn't have been able to sue, and no they shouldnt have let her come in and teach about Islam. However I know exactly why they did, because had they not the mother likely would have gone to the media and that school would have become the new headline. She's a bitch yeah, but her kid still is allowed to have his opinions, and likely just doesn't know anything other than his families words, which make him bitter. That's why I'm saying to encourage him to learn about new things than just staying a bitter religious zealot.

[Geneviev]

The kid has 1st amendment rights. People here are defending the Constitution.

Imagine thinking the 1A only protects what you like, right?

I can't tell if that's serious or not.

[Qabea]

Do you have any link we can read about this lawsuit? Stuff like what you're talking about at least makes it on the local news.

I'd bet it never made it to court. Sounds like it settled early on, or the kids would have graduated by the time it was resolved.

That's what I was thinking. It just sounds far fetched that a court would rule that the state should have to pay for someone's private education because of a scuffle over a Christmas party.

[The Greater German Reich of Europe]

The school didn’t want to have bad publicity. There’s never been an incident that has ever happened here like this and now they have strict regulations for all students on how to treat people of other religions. And the school is not just an all white school by the way full of right wingers. 20% of the school population is Chinese, Korean plus some French and Spanish speakers.

[Kernen]

@satuga, I understand your opinion and I’m not a really really religious person but he sued the school. I again said above that he can do all of that but it’s ridiculous that they can just sue the school for thousands after the school already has sent out emails to the whole school about how if your child doesn’t want to go to the veterans assembly they don’t have to, they changed the names of the parties. Had the mom come in and teach the whole class about Islam, sent the parents guidelines about how to treat him, the list goes on and yet people here defend the kid who absolutely hates everything everyone here lives in.

See this is where I say they are going too far, no she shouldn't have been able to sue, and no they shouldnt have let her come in and teach about Islam. However I know exactly why they did, because had they not the mother likely would have gone to the media and that school would have become the new headline. She's a bitch yeah, but her kid still is allowed to have his opinions, and likely just doesn't know anything other than his families words, which make him bitter. That's why I'm saying to encourage him to learn about new things than just staying a bitter religious zealot.

It may depend on what the teaching was about. It may have been an educational explanation so the kid isnt seen as a witchdoctor. That's not uncommon when a homogeneous class gets a diverse addition.

[Satuga]

See this is where I say they are going too far, no she shouldn't have been able to sue, and no they shouldnt have let her come in and teach about Islam. However I know exactly why they did, because had they not the mother likely would have gone to the media and that school would have become the new headline. She's a bitch yeah, but her kid still is allowed to have his opinions, and likely just doesn't know anything other than his families words, which make him bitter. That's why I'm saying to encourage him to learn about new things than just staying a bitter religious zealot.

It may depend on what the teaching was about. It may have been an educational explanation so the kid isnt seen as a witchdoctor. That's not uncommon when a homogeneous class gets a diverse addition.

Yes it depends on how it was taught by my guess is since they had the mother come in and teach it, I doubt it was anything less than biased.

[Geneviev]

The school didn’t want to have bad publicity. There’s never been an incident that has ever happened here like this and now they have strict regulations for all students on how to treat people of other religions. And the school is not just an all white school by the way full of right wingers. 20% of the school population is Chinese, Korean plus some French and Spanish speakers.

That sounds like a red herring to me. Anyway, ignoring the languages that are spoken, showing respect to other religions is just polite, if nothing else.

[Kernen]

Imagine thinking the 1A only protects what you like, right?

I can't tell if that's serious or not.

I'm agreeing with you and mocking the implication that the 1A doesnt apply to people who hate America and arent Christian. Chill.

The school didn’t want to have bad publicity. There’s never been an incident that has ever happened here like this and now they have strict regulations for all students on how to treat people of other religions. And the school is not just an all white school by the way full of right wingers. 20% of the school population is Chinese, Korean plus some French and Spanish speakers.

Good for you? Doesnt give Christmas a pass. Or make the pledge mandatory.

[The Greater German Reich of Europe]

Did I say the pledge was mandatory??? It’s a free country. It’s just if he has free speech then why can’t we have free speech? A person did say Christmas party which they should be allowed to say because of freedom of speech. Anyhow I would prefer the Ending of this conversation since I’m a lot better at politics than a little school religion scuffle.

[The Greater German Reich of Europe]

@ satuga, again you are right they actually recorded the presi and I watched most of it and it was completely biased. I’m not Muslim though so I can’t really tell what it all meant... Anyhow thxs for bringing in reason. I don’t understand people who still think the mom was right.

[Kernen]

Did I say the pledge was mandatory??? It’s a free country. It’s just if he has free speech then why can’t we have free speech? A person did say Christmas party which they should be allowed to say because of freedom of speech. Anyhow I would prefer the Ending of this conversation since I’m a lot better at politics than a little school religion scuffle.

Politics without law...imagine!

People can call it what they want within the bounds of Tinker's disruption test. The school cannot.

[Satuga]

Did I say the pledge was mandatory??? It’s a free country. It’s just if he has free speech then why can’t we have free speech? A person did say Christmas party which they should be allowed to say because of freedom of speech. Anyhow I would prefer the Ending of this conversation since I’m a lot better at politics than a little school religion scuffle.

I mean if you want to end it thats, fine but talking about things like this is still politics.

[Geneviev]

Did I say the pledge was mandatory??? It’s a free country. It’s just if he has free speech then why can’t we have free speech? A person did say Christmas party which they should be allowed to say because of freedom of speech. Anyhow I would prefer the Ending of this conversation since I’m a lot better at politics than a little school religion scuffle.

You strongly implied that the pledge is mandatory when you said that the kid should say it when he clearly disagrees.