Any social studies class that excludes a discussion of religion is leaving out a key social dynamic that is very real. Ignoring it's existence makes the class completely irrelevent with regard to true social conditions that are encountered outside of the classroom and even within it...

Secondly, how can science be taught without some discussion of the moral questions that science raises or has raised in the past? Isn't the scientific method itself a sort of moral code? Why is there a scientific method? What if a scientist gathers scientific data in an immoral way? Who deciede what is moral or immoral in such cases? Is the work of an immoral scientist to be discounted out of hand or does the science itself more important than the scientist and his subjects?

What about art? Can you really appreciate art without understanding the role that religion has played in inspiring it? Why do some cultures seem to venerate the human form while others cultures are offended by it?

Are schools supposed to prepare children for the "real world" or do we pretend that they are designed to prepare children for a "dream world" for which religion is not a key element?

I'm not arguing for religous indoctrination in the schools, just that religion shouldn't be treated as completely off limits...By making it completely off limits, we are fostering the idea that we don't need to understand people who's religious beliefs are different than our own...and in so doing, we might be causing greater problems than those we seeking to avoid.

In summary, school should be the perfect place to teach people to respect one another despite their religious differences...By ignoring those differences and pretending that they don't exist we are handicapping our society's ability to deal with problems that occur as a result of those differences.

Scott Evil