catholicsphere

Following up on a story I blogged on a few weeks back, a judge dismissed a suit by parents objecting to teaching homosexuality in the public school classroom. (Certainly seems another reason to home school! Unfortunately, there are obstacles that prevent that option from being open to everyone.)

U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf said federal courts have decided in other cases that the constitutional right of parents to raise their children does not include the right to restrict what a public school may teach them. Those earlier rulings also have held that teachings that contradict a parent’s religious beliefs do not violate their First Amendment right to exercise their religion, Wolf said.

This raises two questions on opposite sides of the spectrum. The first question is whether schools are free to teach issues that relate to morality. The second is how the moral teaching in the home squares with the free exercise allowed in the classroom.

Schools are already making provisions for “moments of silence” as opposed to prayer, in order to allow students to opt-out of anything resembling prayer. Further, teachers are not allowed to express things related to faith, and in fact, many are instructed to disallow any discussion of religious belief. The purpose behind this seems to be an attempt to create an amoral environment in the classroom.

Yet, this ruling contradicts all that.

Furthermore, schools are opening themselves to classroom debates, and more fights such as the beating of the Parkers’ son. If they are going to talk about these types of subjects, then they have to be willing to allow all students to express their beliefs on the matter — including those which relate to faith. Stifling or disallowing such conversation represents discrimination on the basis of religious belief; a violation of Constitutional rights.

”This is not a case about teaching about homosexuality. This is a case where Lexington sought to teach about diversity and about having respect,” said Sarah Wunsch, staff attorney for the ACLU.

And, yet, with one fell swoop they trampled on both.

Such “diversity training” will actually have a negative effect in breeding precisely the type of hate it is seeking to eliminate. The direction of such behavior will be reversed, however. A student who speaks his/her beliefs in contrast to the “diversity” being taught in the school may become a victimized minority.

All around, this needs to be recognized and reconsidered.

Besides, with kids having difficult in reading, writing and arithmetic, should those things be concentrated on more, instead of “diversity training”? The answer to that seems a quite logical, yes!

[tags]law, justice, diversity, homosexuality, public schools, judge, court, constitution, freedom of religion, catholic, news, catholicsphere[/tags]