General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How Much Religeon Should Be Discussed In Our Public Schools? [View all]northoftheborder
(7,636 posts)religious power plays a major role in much of European and world history. How can you teach about the Crusades without explaining the power of the Catholic Church, and the Muslims in the Middle East they attempted to annihilate. England, France, Spain, ireland and their kings fought lengthy battles over which religion would be the official one. The wars between ancient Romans, Egyptians, Greeks, and ancient China all had periods of various battling over religious belief.
That said, teaching detailed religious beliefs of any religion, unless ALL are included in a general study of Religion such as many universities have, should be not allowed. All of the questions you posed above would be out of bounds in my mind, and have nothing to do with religion's place in history.
The founders of our country had first hand knowledge of how detrimental having an "official" religion had been in their own histories; that is why they made the point to separate government from religion; allowing complete freedom of religious choice was the aim then, and should be the goal now.