And so much for the God factor.
Rising atheism in America puts 'religious right on the defensive' | World news | The Observer
And so much for teaching the Christian God is wrong:
Teaching religion and the Bible in U.S. public schools
The fact is over the decades, school children have been increasingly indoctrinated with the concept that their God and their religion is not welcome in the public schools. A teacher is discouraged from including ANY religious music in a school concert which means the children will not be exposed to many works of great masters such as Bach, Handel, Mendelsshohn. Even if one or two traditional Christmas carols is included, a teacher can be fire for including one too many. In fact Christmas is no longer tolerated in most places. The traditional student led generic prayers at school assemblies, football games, and other events have disappeared from most of the American scene. Schools no longer have a Baccalaureate service which was a highlight of graduation for most of us in my day--the first chance we had to wear our cap and gown.
This is one of various ways that government is imposing its own form of social engineering on the school kids. The Founders are no doubt rolling in their graves and crying out that this is happening.
I'm reading through the stuff on your last post-she says jokingly.
I'm sorry that the first amendment is bothersome. We have Christmas carols at my sons school, in fact, no one is left out. Bach, Handel, Mendelsshohnn have a greater chance of being known if the parent knows them. We grew up with that and, therefore, my son grows up with it. However, if the parent does not care for it or does not like this music then you actually have to wait for the kids to be old enough to be in a school with band. If you have a school that removes music then I guess they are doomed. Doomed, I say. Music is usually the first thing on the chopping block.
The Founders most definitely would not be rolling over in their graves. Their history, or their most recent history compared to those of us today, was the religious bloodshed in Europe. Elizabeth, Mary, William and Mary--the whole nine yards. Proselytizing is not allowed. Pray in the hallway and by the flag pole but not in the classroom. No, we aren't going to promote any one Christian sect over all others nor over students that do not believe in Christianity. If you want something more than you can always teach kids at home or take them into a private religious institution. You can teach about religion but you cannot teach religion. No, creationism is not a valid theory.
Christians are NOT persecuted in this country.
Sorry but your education re the Founders' beliefs seem to be woefully inadequate or misguided.
Not a single person who signed the original Constitution would have agreed that the Constitution was intended to give the federal government power to order municipal schools to remove The Ten Commandments and the Bible. Or would have suggested that traditional Christmas carols, including the religious ones, would be inappropriate during a federally recognized national holiday.
The Founders' opinion of the Bible, and of its use in schools, was clear among the documents and writings that we still have at our disposal. Not only did they approve but promoted Bible reading and/or prayer in the classroom. What they would not have approved was the requirement that any child (or adult for that matter) be required to pay attention to the reading or the prayer or to agree with it or comment on it in any way nor should any child be disallowed from appropriately doing so.