Mora 1

Tania Mora
ENC3315
Argumentative Writing
Professor Marinara
Fall 2014

Religion in Public Schools

I truly believe Jesus is my savior and I fallow Him because it is my decision to do so. By
this, I do not mean I fallow religion in order to be safe or accepted. I do not believe people would
not be able to live without religions rules and regulation, but I do believe religion should be part
of our school system. Since I have the autonomy to make my own decisions and the intellect to
analyze what I believe or not, I question religion in every way. That is why I am not promoting
teaching religion in our public school curriculum as a salvation tool. However, I do promote
religion as an education tool for kids to be able to make informed decision after being presented
with the creation and the morale of the world from the scientific point of view as well as the
religious point of view.
In elementary, middle and high school, we learn everything from the scientific and
nonbeliever stand. Teachers have to be very careful not to mention God in their lecture. This
means that our school system is only oriented to teach facts that will be use in creation of things
and development of ideas but does not support any longer morale or beliefs thought at home.
Many people may argue that parents should be responsible for imparting the religious beliefs and
morale in our kids, yet I believe just as it is important for parents to be involved in the education
of their kids, it is also important for teacher and school staff to be part of the formation of our
youth.

Mora 2
When I went to school, I remember my teachers being able and willing to correct me
when I was irresponsible, respectful, fault mouth, rude, inconsiderate, or behave improper in any
way. The basis for their correction was that a kid is the responsibility of the community and their
family. My school was a Christian school and always thought us about the love of God, the
importance to love others as we love ourselves. Perhaps this is why I think religion should be
part of the elective classes in our schools. I do not suggest that Christianity should be imposed to
those who are not interested in it. In the contrary, I am advocating that instead of restricting
Christians, schools should give the opportunity for other religions to be part of the education as
well. I truly believe that the suppression of Christianity does not bring equality; in the contrary,
the acceptance of other religious ideas in the school system will promote acceptance of diversity
and a more balance environment. It seems to me that once we try to restrict religion in the
schools, teacher who have other values than survival of fittest are restricted to the point of
teaching any subject under that assumption. As Nord sees it, No religion in public schools is the
equivalent of Christian Schools requiring two years of religion, not teaching science (Feinberg,
433).
I have two teenagers at home, and we are not what you would call a religious family. My
husband and I always teach Matthew and Ethan to love others and treat them, as they would like
to be treated. They are thought to respect elders, to share their blessings and to do their best, we
teach them all this with the specification that it is not only for their good to do so, but also for the
good of those around them. The basis of these teaching is that Jesus gave his life for us to have a
good life and not be condemned for our mistakes even if we do not deserve his sacrifice. Many
people think that this way of thinking brings people to believe they can do whatever they want
because Jesus already pays for our sins. I do not see it this way, actually this idea helps many of
us to try harder to be good for ourselves as well as for others under the basis that if The Son of

Mora 3
God willingly sacrificed himself for us why we would not do it for others like us. Matthew and
Ethan learn this at home. We try to teach by example and by request, yet many times, they come
home with the intention of breaking the rules. Their reasons for it are: why do you worry so
much about being polite to others if our teacher do not care about it or most people do not
greet elders every time they see them just because they are older than us and many other
comments they have come up with since they started going to public school.
Religious education should be offered in public schools because instead of cutting off
Christian education from schools it should be the students and parents choice whether they want
to take the classes or not. It should be offered as elective because many people would agree that
to support religion freedom is not restrictions against Christianity. Subjects are thought
exclusively through a secular frame in both public schools and universities, and this silence
about religion constitutes bias against religion (Feinberg, 435). Freedom of religion should
promote and give opportunity for all to share and be able to choose whether they want to
embrace their beliefs or not.
Many religions in the world have differences in their basic beliefs. Most of them though
teach as basic morale selflessness and love for others. When people have something in common
such us love your neighbor as yourself, diversity is more accepted. For decades we have
emphasize diversity, yet repress it in many ways. For example in one way or another, the public
school system is resegregating through zoning. Kids from low-income neighborhoods are subject
to schools where not event the basic education is truly emphasized on, let along religion. The
teachers that truly make a difference in low income schools are those who really want to make a
difference and are not afraid of criticism, because criticize they will be. Most likely these teacher
have a sound set of values and most of them have some sorts of believe about someone greater

Mora 4
than themselves. The idea that teachers with religious background tend to emphasize more in
teaching values to the youth, comes from the studies that in
"In a 10-year longitudinal study, Perkins(1992) found that strong student religiosity was
linked to a reduction in prejudice[]Moreover, Kristin Paredes-Collins and Chris
Collins(2011) demonstrated that religious commitment and an ethic of caring about
race interact with one another. Religiosity can inspire racial understanding and
appreciation for diversity [] Religiosity has the evocative power to unify students as
human beings created in the image of God, while, at the same time, helping them to
understand and appreciate their differences (Reichard, 84).