Religious Freedom - In the Classroom?

Religion. This 8-letter profanity is an integral part of our world, our history, and our lives. I do not wish to discuss the origins of religion, or the superiority of one religion over another, but rather the role that religion plays in today's world. While some are ardent believers, there are many more dissidents, choosing to criticize and undermine the beliefs of others, all the while purporting some sort of truth. I am neither.

I was brought up a Mennonite, but as I grew older, my beliefs slowly moved away from organized religion, to agnosticism. I only say this to establish the fact that regarding religion, I hold a very moderate, and unbiased view. While I do not support religious teachings, I am also not one of those people out to slander all religions as part of the Knee-Jerk Movement.

Two issues have been brought to my attention; the constitutionality of teaching anti-religion in classrooms, and also the boundaries to religious freedoms. In this discussion, we will take a look at how sentiments have evolved over time, and the new problems we face today.

Backtrack eighty-five years, and you will find headlines regarding the unconstitutionality of religious teaching in the classroom, or Creationism. This came as a back-lash to years of forced religious teachings, namely creationism in textbooks. When Darwin's theories of evolution and natural selection came along, the byproduct was a monumental change in the content of textbooks and teachers' course syllabus. The conflict between those that believed God provided all the answers, and those that believed in "science," is best underscored by the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. The fundamentalists won, of course, but the verdict would be overturned by the Supreme Court later on.

In today's school system though, evolutionist sentiments are taught over creationism. However, this format is not without its problems. While it is now almost unheard of for teachers to purport the legitimacy of religion, what we are seeing a lot of is the denunciation of religion. Carried out by educators of today's young, I am deeply concerned for tomorrow's future. There are several inherent problems with such action.

First of all, the denunciation of religious beliefs is unconstitutional. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states that, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The free exercise clause basically guarantees the free exercise of religion as being a right retained by the people. The establishment clause, purports the belief of separation of church and state. While the government cannot establish an official religion, remaining purely secular, the government must not hinder the practice of religion either.

Now, you must be wondering, how this has to do with the classroom. If a teacher denounces religion, then that is a act of hindering the practice of religion. Students, are especially susceptible to external influences. If trapped in a environment which expresses hostility towards religion, the student is likely to throw away religious beliefs. Some might argue that parents influence the child to follow religion in the first place. However, the parent is not an organ of the government, and so under the Freedom of Speech clause, he/she is legally allowed influence a child's opinion.

The teacher however, is representative of the Ministry of Education, a government organ. A teachers' words and actions are, therefore, representative of the views of the Ministry of Education, and thus representative of the government. Should a civil servant denounce religion, and influence the student's beliefs regarding religion, then would it not thus be rendered unconstitutional, and illegal?