Religion is an important part of many people's lives. Church not only teaches us many important things. It gives us insight into our lives, and it cultivates values. You listen every Sunday morning, and find you questioning yourself and asking how you should live your life. In many ways, religion is similar to school in teaching behaviors that will make you more successful when you grow up. School teaches about rules of government and nature, while religion teaches rules about living responsibly.

Before we proceed into looking into school prayer and learning about creationism in school, we should make a clear distinction between indoctrinating ideas and giving people knowledge and the ability to decide between choices. For sure, elementary and high school for most kids in the United States is compulsory. There is little choice in attending. Yet, those same schools do not have to dictate only one behavior or way of living a life, they can do multiple versions. Some argue that religious studies or anything else should be left to college, where there is totally free choice. That suggestion is thoughtful, but ignores the fact that most values are largely formed at the youngest of ages.

School Prayer

Prior to a mid-1960s era court decision, many schools particularly in rural areas started their day with a prayer of some sort. Today do the secular version of the prayer each morning when we say the pledge of allegiance. The pledge is more nationalistic then religious, but it still creates and instills certain moral values. Think about it for a moment: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United State of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We not only emphasize liberty and justice for all, we also mention god in it. Some rabid secularist and atheists get rather upset over those words. They have reason to get upset: that's the only prayer and only god that schools acknowledges.

It would be so much better if schools started doing a variety of prayers in the morning, beyond the pledge of allegiance. They could one morning do a Christian prayer, the next a Buddhist prayer, and the next a Jewish prayer. They could discuss the differences in wording and meaning, and emphasize the commonality that religion has stressed in our American society. There is also an argument that school prayer should largely be centered on those who attend a school. If the dominant group is largely Catholic in a particular area, then it makes sense for that relgion to be predominately considered.

Do not teach kids to accept religion without criticism. Look at the weakness of each and every prayer that is recited every morning, and compare it to other ones. Do certain ideas portray a greater sense of morality? Are some words more relevant to the troubled times we facing today? We need to open our young minds, and not deny them the insight that religion gives to us as a society. We don't want to force any set of values or behaviors on any particular group, but we do want to open minds and force people to think.

Creationism

A similar critique can be made with creationism. It is an interesting theory of evolution, while not widely accepted by contemporary scientists, had a profound impact on our society today. To deny kids the right to know about the theory of creation provided by the book of Genesis would do a real disservice top kids. Darwin's theory of evolution is important to study, but it should be questioned on grounds that so many people in the past have rejected it. Even the best scientific theories are just theories. There is no way to prove Darwin definitively.

Students should be encouraged to see if they can reconcile the two theories, and weight the evidence for truth. Instead of constantly worshiping a valueless god, start to see the value in thinking about life as a complex thing possibly created by a higher being. Nobody knows for sure if there is any truth in religious theories of life, but many a man has died or suffered for those beliefs. To do anything but tell the full truth about the religious debate would be dishonest to the student.

Conclusions

School should ultimately be about open minds, and challenging the status quo. It should inspire kids to go for higher highs. When we create limitations on the seeking of knowledge, and prevent kids from finding out about morality and religion, we do them a disservice. Classroom hours are limited, but it is essential we try to use them in ways the further a wide variety of knowledge to the students that sit in the classroom.