On Religious Education

I’ve been thinking lately about vouchers for religious education. My views are mixed.

First, charter schools in general.

It concerns me when public educational institutions fail the public. I believe strongly that parents have the right to strike out on their own to do better for their children and their local communities. And as taxpayers, they have a right to funds with which to do so. I realize that a lot of charter schools fail. So for that reason among others, I believe that there should be some level of oversight by state educational departments. There should be minimum educational attainment standards. There should be a “big brother” who can shut down charter schools that are simply defrauding local communities. But basically, I believe that parents have the right to public funds to educate their children outside the public school system.

But what about religious education? This is where my views get more complicated. Let me tell you two stories.

My niece and her husband are raising their family in a major metropolitan city. Before they had children, she worked for the city. That meant that she had to live within the city limits. They decided to buy a house. It’s a solid little three bedroom ranch with a big backyard in a safe neighborhood. A few years passed and they had two daughters. The public school system is a disaster. They send their girls to a private Lutheran school. Tuition is a struggle. Taxes are a struggle. Why shouldn’t they have some of their tax dollars back to help pay for the girls’ schooling? It’s only going to get worse as the girls age out of elementary school and need tuition for a private high school. Once again, the public high schools are simply not an option.

Story two.

We all have values that are passed down to us. Values that we hold dear from our earliest experiences and that we embrace as adults. Values that we hold so good and true that we want to see them passed on to others. Not just to our own children but to the children of the society at large. For me, one of those values is the separation of church and state.

I was raised by atheists in the bible belt. The mixed signals raged. I knew that classmates and classmates parents thought my family was going to hell. I knew my parents thought that was plain silliness.

My parents taught us that everyone was entitled to their own opinion about God. And that everyone was entitled to the same social rights and responsibilities regardless of what they believed. My elementary school covered the same ground.

I felt a little threatened being from the “outsider” family. No one else stayed behind during bible study at school (they brought a church bus to the curb where classes were held to avoid “teaching religion in the public schools”). Religion was a really big deal in the South of my youth. Atheism was a staunchly held belief in my parents’ household. And the glue that held all of that together was that the government couldn’t tell us what to believe and would protect us equally from the beliefs of others.

I want that value passed on. I want the atheists and the Baptists alike protected from the tyranny of the other. I want an equal social playing field regardless of belief. And I want everyone in America to be really, really clear on this point. I want it taught in the public schools. I don’t want a generation of littles raised without that tenant of American government.

For that reason and that reason alone I am iffy about vouchers for religious education. It is really, really, really important to me that everyone’s beliefs are respected and that everyone understands that that is a core value of our government.

I like it when my leaders have some religion in their background but I believe that too much religion in a government is a bad thing, whether that’s in Iran or the U.S. of A. I’m concerned that if religious education teaches that their worldview is the only worldview, or the best worldview, we’ll raise a generation of leaders who will not respect the separation of church and state. That is the worldview that I believe is best, and it does not conflict with my own religious views.

But what about my great-nieces whose parents pay into a school system they can’t send them to? It’s a conflict I can’t reconcile myself to and it’s really bugging me.