LETTER: Don't bring religion into our schools

As an American, who is also a Christian and the parent of young children here in Aiken, I have been alarmed by several recent letters and opinion columns that suggest the answer for many of our community's problems lies in instituting organized prayer and teaching "Christian principles" in our public schools.

First, as an American, I recognize that not all of our "public" is of one religion. Our fellow Americans in Aiken include Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and other believers who also pay the taxes that fund our public schools. Our Founding Fathers gave us the First Amendment to our Constitution to guarantee all Americans that government money would not give preference to one religion over another. If you are a member of a religion, would you want your tax dollars supporting the teaching of another religion to your children? Neither did our Founding Fathers.

Second, as a Christian, I do not want public schools having the authority to instruct my children on what is (or is not) part of the Christian faith. If their third grade teacher is Catholic will my children be taught that the Pope is infallible, protected from even the possibility of religious error? If their fourth grade teacher is a Southern Baptist will they be taught that their baptism as an infant was not proper and they must be born again? If their fifth grade teacher is a Mormon will they be taught that in 1823 God sent an angel named Maroni to Joseph Smith in New York and gave him multiple gold tablets that updated our Bible? If their sixth grade teacher belongs to the United Church of Christ will they be taught God recognizes heterosexual and homosexual marriages equally? Each one of these beliefs is a significant "Christian principle" according to at least one major Christian denomination.

To those who would respond that our public schools would only teach "the fundamentals" of Christianity using only non-denominational materials I ask: Which government bureaucrat are you going to give the authority to make those decisions? The Catholic one? The Baptist one? The Mormon one? An atheist? The very reason our different denominations all exist is because we as Christians do not all agree on "the fundamentals."

I also find it more than ironic that those in the right wing of our body politic, who favorably cite President Reagan's quote "The most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help,'" want the government to "help" teach our children the Christian faith. I personally do not want to give the government, through our public school system, any role or responsibility in deciding what being a Christian means.

Let us all support our public schools in educating all the public's children in math, science, language, history, etc. If you believe your children's education would also benefit from religious instruction, you have the right to send them to the religious school of your choice or take them to your church on Sunday.

Dan Haltiwanger

Aiken