Mississippi School District Fined $7500 for Opening Assembly with Prayer

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic
So, "the giant elephant" is that the states with the highest rates of STDs, teen pregnancies, low test scores and poverty also have the highest percentage of black people. So, clearly, religion is not to blame for all of this, black people are... Black people are the "elephant in the room".

Yeah... I don't know what else to say.

Funny how the professor I was listening to give lectures on the Civil War, mentioned how ferociously the South clung to slavery as their God given right and apparently used the Bible and prayer to reinforce those views. Both sides vehemently believed God was on their side, actually.

I wonder what gave them the idea slavery was something God approved of...

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic
Wow! "How can an African-American person evolve from a white person"? The teacher clearly has done a total crap job of teaching the evolution "side"!!!

That answers for some of the low test scores.

So, I'd say religion is the "elephant in the room".

originally posted by: starwarsisreal
a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

Here's a sad video about the state of a lot of our schools.

Personally i don't think religion has any place in the curriculum, if you are a parent who is religious and wish to instill religion in your child then do it at home, send them to Sunday school, take them to church etc, that's ample, the whole point of education is for children to learn life skills, math, English, etc and to open children's minds, not to indoctrinate.

A whopping 83% of the population in the US indentify as christian, does this mean that religion needs to be taught in school to facilitate those who are christian? certainly not.

originally posted by: kellyjay
A whopping 83% of the population in the US indentify as christian

Wow, that is high.
In the 2011 Census it was 59.5% Christian in the UK, 32.8 No Religion, 4.4% Islam, and the rest made up of Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and other.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

This is a very interesting point, I find it very telling that the states that are the most religious, are the states with the highest rates of teenage pregnancy. Mississippi weighs in at number two, sounds like all that praying is working out for them. So much for abstinence!
Link

Mississippi also ranks in at 8th in highest divorce rate and ranks last in national survey of educational performance!
Sounds like praying is the only thing that can save them! *sarcasm*

originally posted by: grainofsand

originally posted by: kellyjay
A whopping 83% of the population in the US indentify as christian

Wow, that is high.
In the 2011 Census it was 59.5% Christian in the UK, 32.8 No Religion, 4.4% Islam, and the rest made up of Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and other.

Yep, which is strange being that the UK is a secular country, but there is something like 300 odd million people in the US so that is a LOT of Christians...still don't think their faith should be accommodated in education though that goes the same in the UK.

originally posted by: kellyjay
Yep, which is strange being that the UK is a secular country, but there is something like 300 odd million people in the US so that is a LOT of Christians...still don't think their faith should be accommodated in education though that goes the same in the UK.

I agree, and in UK schools religion is just taught as an awareness exercise about all the conflicting faiths, probably explains the 32% identifying as no religion in the last census.
Certainly it's changing each generation as my son tells me he doesn't know anyone who believes in any gods.

Regarding the 'secular' status of the UK, it is all a bit 'pseudo-secular' to be honest. In our unelected upper chamber (The House of Lords) Church of England bishops get an automatic seat there, and have full voting rights on national legislation.
The whole unelected second house is a scandal as it is, but the bishops voting on laws which affect non-Christians, that to me is just outrageous in a modern developed nation.

...I now rely on the next generations to fix this.

a reply to: grainofsand

Indeed, id assume with a country claiming to be secular, that religious education wouldn't be a mandatory class in it's schools, i'm 37 now so i'm not entirely sure if this is still the case in high schools in the UK, however my son attends a non-denominational school (hes 5) and comes home telling me about stories of "god" and references to god in his homework, so i know at least in primary schools it is still part of the cirricculum.

a reply to: pheonix358
Yeah agreed. I was about to post something similar, but you already said it well enough.