RE: Wrong place. Wrong Time.

By and large they are. America is a Christian country, despite scottb's assertions to the contrary.

From Wiki:

79.8% Christian

1.4% Jewish

0.3% Muslim

0.2% Buddhist

0.1% Hindu

Yet we're supposed to give "equal time" to all religions? In the name of what- diversity? What is the purpose of said diversity? There are 266 times as many Christians as Muslims in America, 399 Christians for each Buddhist, and 798 for every Hindu?

I can certainly see merit in studying these religions as a means to understanding the world, particularly the part of it where people's religion permits them to fly planes into buildings. That said, I don't understand what purpose Vnutz would have for giving "equal time" to a practiced by a sliver of the population.

Understanding Christianity, on the other hand, is central to understanding American history. All respect to the handful of Buddhists in the US, Buddhism didn't have a lot to do with what made this country what it is today.

I know you whining, rabid secularists will put a carat in front of the above quote and quote chapter and verse about how the Constitution protects all religions and guards against the establishment of any particular religion. I agree. However, explain to me how understanding any of the "less than 1% of the population" religions is central to understanding American history, and why every hour spent discussing Christianity should be balanced by an hour of discussing Hinduism.

I read the transcript after MarkMcB's illuminating post. It's hard to know the context of the conversation without seeing how they got to the starting point of the transcript, but my observations are thus:

1. The guy gave too much info about his chosen religion.

2. The student set him up.

The NY Times article is a typical liberal hit-job--for example where is the context and quote of the Muslim girl being damned to hell?

Finally, it appears the community has rallied behind the teacher, with the minority of whiny secularists and the ACLU taking a predictable stance.

Thank God -- or Allah for you 0.3% -- we live in a country where the majority rules.

Sure. I actually think it'd fine to do comparative religion in schools - if it were done appropriately. That is, to make it clear that these are things that some people believe, and that any justification for believing them must be sought elsewhere - the school has none to offer, and that applies to Christianity.

A public school teacher must not offer justification for any religious belief - even their own, and even if asked. Teachers weild far too much influence over their impressionable students to take any other position.

Again, sure. People can believe what they want. But when we talk about the nation, we're talking about the values we hold as a group. America, as a nation (not as a culture) is defined in an essential way by the Constitution. That document explicitly rejects the idea of affirming any particular religion, which implies the rejection of affirming any particular god. America, as a nation, is athiest.

On the other hand, America's cultural history is closely tied to that of Western Europe. The early years of American cultural history - the 18th century - precisely correspond to a time in European history where society was working hard to throw off the bonds of Christianity, which had completely dominated the contintent for the previous millenium. The founding fathers incorporated this as a fundamental principle in the Constitution, in the First Amendment.

They believed in it enough that an early treaty with a foreign Islamic power (the Treaty of Tripoli) explicitly started "As the Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded upon the Christian religion..." - this treaty was read and ratified by the Senate, who apparently didn't find the language at all unusual.

To whatever extent America is represented by its government, it is an explicitly athiest nation. It's shameful that so often, those who represent the American government don't seem to hold to its ideals.