Re: Gay California teachers come out in the classroom

[Daniel Kronemann <kron4155@uidaho.edu>]

Rock on Melynda, Sister Friend!  ;o)

Daniel



On Thu, 13 Jun 2002 DonaldH675@aol.com wrote:

> John asks,
> >For example, can the government schools teach that God says that sodomy is
> >wrong?
>
> That's an easy one!  No, a public school can't teach that God says sodomy is
> wrong.  But it can teach that some religions hold that belief.  Likewise, the
>
> schools can't teach that people of African descent aren't actually human,
> although the fact that some religions hold that belief (the World Church of
> the Creator, for example, and other so-called Christian Identity groups) can
> be discussed.
>
> Every religion -- and by religion I mean specifically "belief in and
> reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor
> of the universe, and systems grounded in such belief and worship" (American
> College Dictionary) -- makes a truth claim.  Publically funded schools cannot
> mediate those competing truth claims.
>
> Refraining from endorsing one particular religious view does not amount to
> espousing another or competing religious view -- hence the impossibility of
> satisfying Doug Wilson's wish for an account of "what this worldview is from
> the defenders of it, or the enforcers of it."  We have many standards, many
> theologies, many philosophies, and many worldviews.  It's not a simple binary
> at all but an extraordinarily complex mixture of contingencies, compromises,
> dissatisfactions, and agreements.  At the risk of repeating myself and boring
> others, I can only reiterate that we all pay for public education because we
> have established, as a nation, a public interest in universal education
> available to all, which we fund through taxes.  That principle may not always
> hold: democratic action changes laws all the time.  Knock yourself out.
>
> Melynda Huskey
>