All or Nothing

My argument has always been thus: believe whatever you want to believe, but don't push that belief on other people or deride them for believing differently.

You'd think this would be an easy argument.

There are small-minded people who think that their way is the only way and that they have the right to determine how other people should think. We watch news broadcasts about the Taliban and talk about how evil they are, inflicting their oppressive dogma on the populace in other countries. And yet, the same people who call this "wrong" are often the same who want to make their particular dogma the standard in America.

What's wrong with this picture? Plenty. You can figure it out.

The religious right in this country has taken a Taliban-like approach, albeit it quiet and insidious. They try to make one religion the standard for all people, and -- even worse -- try to instill it into public schools where children have yet to make up their own minds about religion. (I could write pages on how the concept of the separation of church and state is dead. But I will spare you that diatribe.)

My point is this: either teach all religions or teach none. If this is truly a melting pot of cultures and beliefs, and if we honestly want to give children an overview of the world, then provide a course that teaches religions of the world: Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Hare Krishna, etc. All are valid in the overall discussion of belief. If you do not want to be exclusionary, then teach all of them or teach none.

What's that? You think yours is "the way" and "the truth"? Get in line. Just don't try selling it in our schools.