We have removed God from our ... wait, WTF?

[PotatoChip]

52. I wouldn't have objected to

anything you described in your linked post. Unless the young lady reciting the Lord's Prayer had done it at the teacher's prompting, which doesn't appear to be the case... please correct me if I am wrong. With the exception of the Lord's Prayer, my own public school experience was pretty much the same as yours, I think. We too were tolerant and respectful of other people's faiths. It was just that religion, any religion was not formally taught. For that, there are churches, homeschooling and/or private school options.

Your mentioning of the USSC ruling in that link jogged my memory of some PBS program I had forgotten about regarding the McCollum vs Board of Education case, which is what I think you are referring to. Anyway, my point is that I stand corrected, but I really don't think we disagree on much from what I got out of your linked post.

Yes, there had been some type of religious instruction in public schools up until the ruling. For the record, I agree with the USSC on this, not because religious classes (of any faith) would have offended me, but because I see it as a slippery slope that potentially could have been very costly to taxpayers. Why? Because prior to the USSC ruling, it would have been a valid request IMO, for people of other faiths to insist upon their religion being taught too. Apparently no one had, but that scenario hypothetically could have happened, and legally speaking, I think they probably could (and should) have prevailed -prior to the ruling. Btw, I'm usually not a fan of 'the slippery slope' argument, but I think it truly applies here.

However, despite what fundies like Huckabee say, I don't think the 50+ year old USSC ruling has changed things a whole lot. The ruling just serves to make faith in public schools a more private matter. Students can still pray if they wish, and schools can even accommodate that by arranging for 'a moment of silence' type thing, if that is what parents and students want. As someone downthread pointed out, (and I don't disagree with) God can be anywhere people want him to be.