Funny thing is I went to 13 years of Catholic school... they always had a "religion" class, but we had all of the sciences (including evolution and such), and the only time anything that ran counter to this was discussed was in Religion, where they essentially shared the faith's perspective on such things.
Even with a class specifically called "religion", none of us were denied a proper education with the latest sciences and such, and while some of us were either fond of religion or even embraced it, what we were taught in Biology/Chemistry/Astronomy/History etc always seemed to take precedence in our minds when it conflicted with Religion, which was treated more like a calling and culture. The point being, essentially, that kids are smarter than we give them credit for.
Obviously religion shouldn't be taught as a "truth" in public schools, but I do believe we need to stop being phobic about teaching kids about the various different influential religions of the world.
Much of our flawed ideas regarding foreign policy are rooted in a lack of understanding of the cultures and faiths of other parts of the world... In a strange twist, I learned more about Islam in Catholic school (such as via a book called Understanding Islam that I have to this day that explains the history and interactions of the many different branches of Islam) than many college-grad senators, governors, and presidents know.
It is vital to improve our understanding of the world's most prolific and influential religions/cultures, and that doesn't mean teaching them as if they were true; rather, we just need to stop launching some social-media-fueled "FIRE THIS TEACHER" campaign every time a student is given some assignment about Islam in general.
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