Christian Right Whines Upon Learning That School Teaches Children About All Religions

According to the United States Constitution, public institutions are prohibited from endorsing any particular religious viewpoint. So when a public school covers all major religions as part of the curriculum, it’s not an issue because no single religion is being touted over others. When conservative Christians discovered a Kansas public school treating all religions equally in this fashion, they whined about it.

Minneha Core Knowledge Magnet Elementary school in Wichita, Kansas takes great pride in giving their students a well-rounded education. As part of that education, students are required to learn about the historical, cultural, and geographical context of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. According to the Wichita Eagle, the effort to teach about all religions included a bulletin board outside a fourth grade classroom depicting the Five Pillars of Islam. Unfortunately, one conservative took offense, snapped a photo and plastered it on Facebook to further their right-wing agenda.

A photograph of the bulletin board, reportedly taken on the first day of school Wednesday, was posted over the weekend on a Facebook page titled “Prepare to Take America Back.” It has since been shared on several conservative blogs.
Students at Minneha Core Knowledge Elementary School in Wichata (sic) Kansas were met with this their first day of school,” a caption under the photo said. “This is a school that banned all forms of Christian prayer. … This can not stand.”
As of Monday, the photo had been shared more than 3,500 times.

In fact, Christian prayer is not banned at any public school in all of America. Students may pray silently to themselves or in prayer groups as long as it doesn’t disrupt or distract. The Christian Right is only whining because what they really want to force ALL students in school to recite Christian prayers even if you don’t practice the religion or none at all. In short, they want to indoctrinate children, which violates religious freedom.

Minneha Elementary responded to the bulletin board issue on Monday, stating:

Minneha Core Knowledge Magnet students cover the five major religions of the world – Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam – as part of their Core Knowledge magnet curriculum. The students study civilizations throughout time, throughout the world, and cover religion with a focus on the history and geography in the development of civilizations. The bulletin board that originally caused the concern does represent the 5 Pillars of Islam – in a historical context of their studies. There is also a painting of the Last Supper hanging in the school as part of the study of art and the Renaissance period. The students at Minneha have received these lessons for years as part of their Core Knowledge curriculum.

Translation: conservatives wouldn’t be bitching had the bulletin board been a Christian display. And even if it were, they would still be complaining later on when the board switched to a display of Islam. The Christian Right adamantly objects to any other religion being present in school because, again, they want to force students to learn Christianity and Christianity alone. They certainly had no problem with the Last Supper painting. It takes a real petty and hateful person to snap a photo of a display they know nothing about and encourage vitriol against a school, especially when that person also seems to be in desperate need of an elementary education themselves. I’m assuming the person who took the photo is a Kansas resident, yet they couldn’t even spell ‘Wichita’ correctly. You would think that would be common knowledge in Kansas.

This religious crusade being waged by the Christian Right has to come to a swift end. It is alienating millions of Americans and is embarrassing America in the eyes of the world. We are supposed to be a tolerant nation that welcomes people from all nations no matter what religion they happen to practice. But we’re not practicing what we preach because Christian Righties are preaching hate against others. Such hate makes the world more dangerous for Americans and renders it more difficult for us to cooperate with other nations and certainly causes nations to think twice before cooperating with us. We can’t hate Muslims and expect Middle Eastern nations to help us and be our allies.

This is also harmful to our children. How are they supposed to learn about the world around them if they are banned from learning about the other four major religions in the world? If it were up to the Christian Right, they’d only learn Christianity and how to hate everyone else. That is most narrow-minded point of view and a dangerous one at that. America needs bright new minds who can help America compete in a ever more connected world. America needs people who can work around the world and represent our nation positively. We can’t build a wall of hate around our children and expect them to succeed in a world where cooperation and trust are more important than ever before. America risks being left behind even further if we allow the Christian Right to win.