Public Schools and the Inevitability of Religious Inequality

[richard duncan]

Just a small anecdote about the continuing struggle for freedom of
religion and freedom of thought in public schools. In the current
issue of Christianity Today there is a story about 13-year old Timmy
who took a science quiz recently. One of the questions asked: "Where
did the earth come from?" Timmy answered "God created it." The next
day, his quiz came back and Timmy's answer had been marked incorrect
and 20 points were subtracted from his grade. It seems the correct
answer was The Big Bang.

I know some of you will respond, that's tough. This is a science test
and Timmy gave a religious answer. But I don't know. This is a
speculative question that has no certainly correct answer. By marking
Timmy's answer wrong the school is sending a powerful message to an
impressionable mind (and one that is being held captive in a
government institution to boot). Steve Arons might say that the state
is "compelling belief" in the Big Bang theory by insisting that it and
only it is the correct answer to a question about the origins of the
earth. I might remark that this confirms my belief that the government
school monopoly inevitably results in religious inequality. God might
say: "Where were you [teacher] when I laid the earth's foundation?"
Job 38:4.

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             Rick Duncan (rduncan at unlinfo.unl.edu)

"The rational basis test is a test not an applause track."