By Filings on
Society & Culture
Public Education
Church and State
Islam
Connecticut

“A new state provision, passed as part of a larger education bill last month, directs the Connecticut State Department of Education to develop instructional resources on Arab and Islamic studies, offering public schools optional materials designed to expand how students learn about the history, culture and contributions of Arab and Islamic civilizations.” - RNS

Discussion

Tue, 08/04/26

It’s more complicated than many seem to realize.

If you’re going to have the 10 commandments, why not also the 5 pillars (Islam)? And where does it stop? The four noble truths? The threefold path? The five constant virtues? (I think Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism respectively.)

Do you base it on the local community?

If you base it solely on history, then it’s the 10 commandments and no more, I suppose. But that was 250 years ago.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Tue, 08/04/26

And herein lies the problem of Christian Nationalism, or the continuing drive since the 1950's to embed Christian religious elements into our national systems. At some point, the tide will shift. We are going to have the same problems with what Trump has done in expanding the executive branch. When a socialist democrat enters office and takes advantage of the same power that Trump has expanded into, everyone will throw up their arms on where the checks and balances are, and will slowly realize that they were the ones that removed them. Yes, our public school systems are not Sunday morning Children's church. If you want your religous symbols highlighted, than prepared when everyone else wants theirs.

Tue, 08/04/26

I fear you’re probably right about most of that. The law of unintended consequences.

I’m not sure what the solution to the school situation is. The idealist in me that refuses to die wonders why a ‘secular’ school system couldn’t also be ‘pro-religion’ in general without being pro-Religion in particular.

There’s ‘aggressively secular’ and there’s pro-religion but neutral. Not the same thing, though there is overlap. You wouldn’t be able to allow ‘proselytizing’ in that environment, but you could certainly live the Faith and let it be known that you’re happy to answer questions. There’s a lot of gospel conversation space there on the compliant side of not proselytizing.

Just musing out loud. It seems like the spirit of what the founders intended. Everybody free to come to their own conclusions about the ultimate questions—but the state not hostile to ‘faith systems.’ Isn’t that the obvious intent of the First Amendment? I’ve never understood why there’s so much confusion and controversy on that.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Tue, 08/04/26

Remember back in the 1700's, 1800's and early 1900's schools were one room, teachers were paid by the community in which they taught, and most communities had the same shared values and beliefs. So a teacher called by a Quaker community would get a Quaker teacher, and one called by a Baptist community got a Baptist. And even those that didn't all share the same faith, they were close enough that they all believed in God, prayer and the Bible in general. We are trying to hold onto a bit of that model today, by trying to legislate that into the schools. But it is a loosing battle. The problem with the idea of "faith systems" is that there is a growing percentage of the population that views any religious faith as hostile.