Whatever happened to the conservative dogma that teachers aren’t supposed to teach things that make students of a particular background feel bad? They’re not allowed to teach the truth about slavery, Jim Crow or the Holocaust, because it might upset some folks, but it’s okay to try and force the Christian religion down people’s throats and urge them to “torture” Jews?  They haven’t tortured enough over the centuries? There is no need to teach this course. Different religions have different “bibles”. The Jewish Torah has been so seriously mistranslated in its Christian form that it’s not the same thing, no matter what one might think, and people who are not adherents to that version of Christianity should not be forced to hear this proselytizing propaganda and hate. There is no need for a course like this. It’s not education; it’s brainwashing with hate. If the school thinks they need to teach anything about the relationships between Christianity and Judaism, how about teaching how this teacher’s brand of thinking has led to endless persecution; let them teach the students how many Jews were forced to convert or were killed if they refused, and about the expulsions from European countries. Oh, it might make children of certain backgrounds “uncomfortable?” Like teaching children to “torture” Jewish people by debasing one of their cultural landmarks? There is no chance of Jews  joining their religion, but do they seriously believe the proposed torture is an effective method?  If parents want their children to learn about any sacred text outside of purely scholarly and educational studies, they are free to send them to churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples of various religions. Our current situation informs us that what we need to educate our citizens about are science, American history and the Constitution, not one religion’s narrow, intolerant and offensive views. Religion is a private matter, not a government concern.

On his tombstone, at Thomas Jefferson’s request, the only references to his achievements is the drafting of Virginia’s law separating church and state. Many historians consider it the basis of the First Amendment’s command that “Congress shall make no laws respecting an Establishment of religion.” (Both the Fourteenth Amendment and Supreme Court case law apply this to the states.) So let’s not make any mistakes about what the Founding Fathers intended. Apparently the attorney for this school board has never read the Constitution or American history. 

It’s simply impossible to defend any of this in any place, but it absolutely has no role in education, because that’s not what it is.

Is it any wonder we are devolving into a nation of uninformed idiots, ignorant of our history and Constitution, let alone science?