Last year, I found myself agreeing with Christian parents who raised concerns about Bibles being distributed in government schools. They called it unconstitutional, but I don’t think it was.
My concern wasn’t whether it passed constitutional muster. The Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses don’t prohibit religious books in government schools. It restrains the government from establishing a national religion and interfering with the people’s right to practice their religion.
Here’s my problem with Bible distributions and lessons in government schools: America’s freedom of religion makes me nervous in the sense that any old group calling itself a religion would get equal time, as it were, with Christianity. As far as I’m concerned, people may worship whomever and whatever they want, but I don’t want people pushing those doctrines and beliefs in tax-supported schools.
For instance, I oppose distributing Korans to children in government schools. Wicca pamphlets, too, or whatever they read. I wouldn’t want my tax dollars paying for Koran lessons. In a previous post I wrote:
[L]et’s look at this a different way. Although a majority of Americans would identify themselves as Christians (as opposed to Muslims), the country isn’t religiously homogenous anymore. How would you feel about Muslims distributing Korans in public school classrooms? If a Muslim teacher visited your kid’s classroom every week to give a Koran lesson, what would you do? I wouldn’t like it. I’d probably file suit.
I oppose the so-called Bible resolution for similar reasons. Republican Paul Broun recently introduced the resolution in the House of Representatives in an attempt to honor the Bible’s influence in shaping our country and to declare 2010 the “Year of the Bible.” The resolution is non-binding, which means it can’t become a law. It merely expresses the sentiment of Congress. The resolution is a noble sentiment, for sure, but one that leaves open the door for a “Year of the Koran” resolution. The Koran wasn’t influential in shaping our great country, but that’s beside the point. On what grounds could we allow one but disallow the other? Would we disallow the other?
I don’t want my tax dollars paying congressmen to declare 2011 the “Year of the Tripitaka,” would you?
I wish every American were a Christian, but that’s not the way it is. America is no longer religiously homogenous, either. To be logically consistent in opposing a “Year of the Koran” resolution, which I wholeheartedly would, I must also oppose a “Year of the Bible” resolution.
(Concerning handing out Bibles and receiving biblical instruction in government schools, Christian parents can provide such instruction in the home, or send kids to Christian schools, or home-school their kids, which I highly recommend for Christian parents in any case.)
