Religious Holidays in Public Schools

Bit · 07-20-2010, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chancie

I like having an extended period of time off for Christmas, but of course we celebrate those holidays in publically funded institutions because most of our 'Founding Fathers' were Christian.

I disagree, Chancie. There weren't any public institutions at the time of the Founding Fathers. Heck, there was barely an army! It was a fight to get banks; the first government fell apart and had to be replaced.

And schools? There were NO public schools in the US until the 1800s, and education was not compulsory before 1852. All the Founding Fathers were dead by then, so we cannot blame the Christianity ingrained in the system on them; it rightly belongs to the officials in the mid-1800s to the early 1900s.

I believe it's a mistake to confuse Deism and Christianity, btw. Deists believe in a non-specified Supreme Being, as well as in the ability of reason to explain the world, no faith or religion needed; Christians believe in a very specific God named Jehovah/Yahweh, in the primacy of faith over reason, and in the need for institutionalized religion. The majority of the Founding Fathers were Deist.

View Poll Results: what do you think about adding holidays to school calendars?
I think we need to be more inclusive and add other religious holidays	39	41.49%
I think we need to pare it down, we have too many	11	11.70%
I think we need to take all religious holidays out of public school calendars	27	28.72%
I don't care	17	18.09%
Voters: 94. You may not vote on this poll