Peter Greene was not surprised to learn that Oklahoma’s State Superintendent Ryan Walters was angry at the state Supreme Court, which overturned a state-funded religious charter school. Even the Satanic Temple got into the act, proposing to open its own charter school to teach Satanism. And a Hindu leader insisted that the Bhagavad Gita should be posted in Louisiana classrooms right up there with the Ten Commandments.
Greene concludes:
Attempts to inject Christianity into the public school classroom can only end one of three ways–
1) All religions must be allowed to get their pitch into public school classrooms
2) The state will start requiring religions to receive official government recognition in order to be considered legitimate
3) The courts will rightly decide that no religions belong in public school classrooms
1 and 2 almost certainly go together. The correct choice is 3, a religion-neutral public school system that keeps religions from messing with schools and government from regulating religion. That is, in fact, the very best way to protect “Oklahomans’ constitutional, God-given right to express their religious belief.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Since Hammurabi’s Code came first and all Republicans believe in an eye for an eye, I think that should be posted in the classroom as well…
Paper all the walls of classrooms with the credos of religions around the world.
Do not pass a child through the flames to Molek. –Leviticus 18:21
That sort of thing.
Kids never pay attention to what’s on the walls anyway…
Only when they are REALLY BORED and their eyes wander. But yeah, pretty much true.
If you give the kids a Handmaid’s Tale environment, what will they do?
Rebel against and reject it.
Europe is full of countries that had state-established religions (in the sense in which “establishment” is used in our Constitution. How did that work out for them? Well, in Europe, today, religious belief is in STEEP DECLINE, and the churches are almost empty on Sundays. In the U.S., with its separation of Church and State, in sharp contrast, religion is booming. It’s not what it was, but it’s still big here. The dominant religion in the United States, btw, is Vaguism–belief in “something, sort of, you know, like energy or whatever.”
I make fun of Vaguism, but in fact, the proper response to the mysterious is to say, “Hmmm. That’s a mystery.” Deterministic Lucretian/Laplacian Materialism is not tenable. Hasn’t been for a long time. People who cling to that as “science” need to learn some more science.
All of that is pertinent to Diane’s post today because when people have such broad, general, vague ideas about religion it is particularly egregious to try to force upon them and their kids specific, fundamentalist, narrow, narrow-minded religious ideas. Me, I consider ancient Hebrew religious law of great historical interest. Teach it as part of World Cultures/World History and Geography.
And besides, Christo Fascists like Mike Johnson demonstrate their ignorance of scripture when they state that they follow the republican model in the Bible. There’s no such thing. They can memorize verses, but they never seem to know what they mean.
Sort and separate…
Beliefs are divided by who sponsors them. State beliefs vs Religious beliefs. A State belief system, proctored by State actors, is far from being belief-neutral. Calling the State belief system “Religious-neutral” doesn’t end the State Religion created by the founding apostles (Geo, Tom, Jim, Ben…), or negate the State Bible (Constitution), or exclude the Supreme being of the SCOTUS. The high priests (Congress) preach their faux salvation under the pulpit of the wholly demand-er in chief. Mumble in the Jungle, doesn’t fix or change any more than didn’t from the start…