I think that children should be taught evolution and comparative religions and not creationism.

I don't think you are going to find much disagreement on that here.

What do quadratic equations have to do with this fall's most fashionable colors?

Where the hell is Lennie?

...they should be taught how creationism is a giant load of made up nonsense with no grounding in real world evidence of any kind that flies in the face of every scrap of data we have on the subject... no. No they should not be"taught Creationism". Any more than they should be taught astrology.

there are over 30,000 Christian sects in the world today. Each one has it's own interpretation of the Bible and think the others will burn in hell. That'll make their heads spin.

who are yachting about.

I highly recommend them.

And no I don't want public schools teaching creationism.

to help you off the floor.

Do you need the footman flown up to NYC? I can send the Gulfstream for him.

One picking up lobsters from Maine and the other picking up some children from Eastern Europe. Hush, hush on that one.

It's mad, I tell you.

Justin, dahling, help is on the way!

or hell…..

Give the butler the day off.

I will have some sent directly to you when one of my jets gets back.

In the meantime, please enjoy the foie gras I sent.

It is a wonderful story.

dilemma that it presents.

Which why we don't teach comparative religion to children.
If parents or their church want to teach this, fine. Does not belong in public school.

I think it is foolish to ignore it. The more kids know, the more they can rationally analyze what is going on. Plus, I think that it could have an impact on prejudice and increase tolerance across cultures.

I do not think it should be taught in any way that would encourage certain beliefs, but I do think it should be taught as an academic subject.

I don't think it is possible to teach it to children without encouraging certain beliefs. Even saying it has a large role in the politics of this world gives belief a weight that I think is invalid.
It would be like, in a way! - teaching young children about the KKK and its beliefs.

I think it's very possible to teach religion without encourage beliefs, just like it's possible to teach about political parties or any number of things.

If you do not recognize the role that religion plays in the politics of this world,then I could see why you might not agree that this is important.

Comparing religion to the KKK? Really?

OTOH, do you think that children should not be taught about hate groups?

SPLC has a great program called "Teaching Tolerance". It is a good template for this kind of program.

hating a group of people is wrong, just like if they are surrounded by religious trappings at home during the holidays, they might not realize that religion is just a belief, not based on facts. There is that notion that if so very many people believe something, it must be true.

The thing about political parties is that they are tangible in a way that religion is not.
Very regrettable that religion plays any part in politics, in my opinion.

You know I was not actually comparing religion to the KKK, right? Because the KKK hates people because of their race, not their differing beliefs or lack of beliefs.

Politics is a long long way from Creationism, too. Teaching creationism, which is where theists usually want to start in public schools, is just a way to open the door to proselytizing, IMO etc.

was wrong from the time we could hold a conversation.

And I taught my kids about all kinds of different religions and exposed them to all kinds of religious people without instilling in them any specific beliefs.

You may not want religion to play a role in politics, but it does all over the world.

I am totally with you about creationism. It has no place in school curriculums except as an example of how religion can interfere with the teaching of science.

I also agree that there are risks that teaching religion can open a back door to proselytizing and that would have to be guarded against.