Should we have religion in public schools?

As often held today, science has taken the place of religion in the contemporary man’s thinking. To be perfectly honest, I largely agree that it has. However, I disagree that the idea of faith, believing without seeing, is one which is best left behind in the ages of barbarianism and mysticism. Not only do I think it not beneficial to try and banish it, in fact I believe it utterly impossible.

            Most anti-theists hold to science as the sole governor of our natural world and with it seek to answer the questions as to man’s origin, and purpose or lack thereof. Often they turn to the Theory of Evolution as the specific lens through which they view the evidence and see our world. They hold some ideas as certain, though unproven and indeed not provable, since there is no way to scientifically measure what cannot be observed. The same is true for all scientific theories and indeed all logical pursuits. Just as in a dictionary some words must be taken as inherently understood to begin to define the other words, so in the scientific method some beginning assumptions must be made to start to formulate other conclusions, making no science and no thinking truly objective.

            There can be no such thing as a vacuum of belief. It is intellectually damaging and dangerous for students to be taught that such a vacuum is possible, as evolution is now masquerading as exactly that. Even if only on the grounds that it is wantonly deceiving its students and thwarting intellectual honesty it should be removed from our schools as faulty and replaced with Christianity as our founders clearly intended.

            It is clear from the recent article in the Wall Street Journal that our country’s education was at its origin Christian. The authors speak of Belgium which uses state money to fund religious schools successfully as a good thing and one which we have sadly gotten away from. In Oklahoma right now, “A proposed bill…seeks to allow schools to offer ‘an elective course in the objective study of religion or the Bible’ without fear of legal liability.” Taken from the article off of huffingtonpost.com, this suggests a step in the right direction, and something more states should add to their agenda.