children banned from singing god bless the USA.

[Reg]

Except schools are not solely about education; primarily yes, but that's not all that goes on in them. There are performances/plays for example, and if you want to police those then be my guest to try. When I was at school I played the parts of both Moses and Jesus in a couple of plays; didn't bother me in the slightest, I enjoyed it, as did the other kids; even a Hindu friend in the class, to name but one example, and I myself have always been somewhat undecided on the matter of religion too.

Not everything is an elaborate brain-washing/indoctrination scheme.

And in my opinion and even the opinion of our great founding fathers who everyone loves to cite as references, that play should not have been put on. Thomas Jefferson admitted that there should be a separation of church and state because it's never secular and someone always gets hurt in the end. Religious freedom can not exist in a public government building because there are way too many religions to appease. Remaining neutral is the only way, and the Supreme Court has upheld decisions to keep church and state separated.

[jackofwind]

Slightly off-topic comment, but I've already properly contributed:

Rabid and aggressive atheists are becoming just as much of a problem as rabid and aggressive religion pushers.

For the most part, at least where I live, there are way more offensively-aggressive atheists than there are members of any religious community.

[Creeper]

Gotta love the rabid atheists out to get rid of any mention of god anywhere.

I think this whole thing works both ways. Granted this is just one big assumption, but I think if a bunch of atheist children got together to sing about the inexistence of God and Darwin's blessing, or something along those lines, a lot of religious people would be offended and want to put an end to it, right? It just makes sense. When someone spits in the face of your beliefs, you want to stop them.

TL;DR I see nothing wrong with this, because if the tables were turned I'm sure things would play out very similarly.

[stabetha]

What's wrong with following the constitution?

please show the part of the constitution that is being followed.

[Venant]

Anyone else think that children shouldn't be used as tools for a political agenda?

[Reg]

So if a group of children want to sing "God Bless America" at their graduation, why can't they?

If the graduation is held on school grounds, a government facility, they can't sing it because of separation of church and state. Singing about "God" infringed upon my belief in another "God" or no "God" at all. They have to remain secular. I have no idea what is so hard to follow here...

[Jeina]

And in my opinion and even the opinion of our great founding fathers who everyone loves to cite as references, that play should not have been put on. Thomas Jefferson admitted that there should be a separation of church and state because it's never secular and someone always gets hurt in the end. Religious freedom can not exist in a public government building because there are way too many religions to appease. Remaining neutral is the only way, and the Supreme Court has upheld decisions to keep church and state separated.

The separation of Church and State was put into place so that Congress would not make laws favoring one religion over the other. It has nothing to do with keeping religion out of politics.

[Tastyfish]

A lot of Buddhist beliefs don't.

Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion, so anyone who has any kind of religious or atheistic issue with it, is misinformed.

[Viscoe]

This is not an issue of a school forcing non-Christian children to sing a song with the word "God" in it. It's an issue of telling children they can't sing a song with the word "God" in it.

The problem with that is the parents. As a person who was raised Jewish and then later became an atheist because of my studies of religion, I personally am going to raise my kids without religion in the picture. Not saying it's bad or vile or evil, but just sort of ignoring it. So I can see where some people come from - you know, keep your God out of my kids's lives. I think the school was just trying to not step on anyone's toes, and if the kids wanna sing about God, they can do it at home.

Like I said earlier, religion is not something the schools should have a hand in. If the kid comes home crying because they can't sing a song about the God they love or whatever (remember they're in Kindergarten so honestly they probably don't even have a concept about that yet) then it's the parent's job to explain to them that there is a time and place for everything.

[Reg]

The separation of Church and State was put into place so that Congress would not make laws favoring one religion over the other. It has nothing to do with keeping religion out of politics.

I didn't say it had to do with politics, I said it has to do with government facilities.