Gary Reed9 said:There’s really just one glaring issue here... it's an elective. Nobody is forcing you to enroll your kid in it—and if you do sign them up, you can always just pull them out the following year. I see where you're coming from to a point, because I'm also a big believer in quality parish-based religious education—actually living out your faith and building community—rather than just grinding through dry theory and rote prayers like it's some chemistry exam. But if we follow your logic, there’s no point in teaching English, French, German, Italian, or Latin in any American public school either... people should just go to private schools for that. A quick mention in geography or history classes is enough to let them know these things exist, maybe throw in a phrase or two...
So, as long as there’s a choice and a variety of electives available—whether it's religion, ethics, or whatever else a specific community finds meaningful—those subjects deserve their spot in the curriculum. 🤷
Look, faith is based on belief—literally, that's what the word means! Foreign languages, especially English (though I mean, does anyone even consider English a "foreign" language anymore? But that's a whole other debate...), are super useful to know, they're part of our actual reality, and they mostly rely on facts and established rules.
Learning languages is crucial for both your career and everyday life, plus it actually boosts intelligence, which isn't exactly something you can say about religion class, so that comparison of yours just doesn't hold water.
And don't even get me started on how religion class often isn't the first or last period of the day, leaving kids who don't participate to just sit alone in the hallway or something.
Because of all that, I really don't think it belongs in public schools. Again, I'm saying students wouldn't be cheated out of learning about the existence of religion; that stuff can all be covered within other subjects. If someone loves it and finds themselves drawn to it, hey, nobody is stopping them from being an active member of a religious community, going to Sunday school at their local church, and all that. I have nothing against that at all.