Dear Editor,
Should anybody be required to hide their thoughts on religion during school? No, within schools, student and teachers should be able to practice their religion freely. Expressing religion and joining youth groups are examples of the freedom of religion all should be able to take part in openly.
Expressing religion openly without fear should be expected. Nobody should be scared to express their religion freely. It is a way of communication, and essentially creates another topic to talk about.
If students are curious about another religious belief, they should be able to ask another person for their reasoning or their beliefs on a certain subject where both religions differ.
In 2013, Claudia Gartner and Judith Konemann in an article titled, “Religion and All-day schools: Impact of All-Day schools on the systems of school and Religion” stated that, “This has consequences for students’ leisure activities, and in the last instance also for Christian parishes.”
A person practicing their religion should not have to face consequences for anything they feel they should express. We should be able to practice our religion at any time we want, as long as it does not hinder our school work. Practicing our religion could consist of openly praying or reading any religious literature. Someone could claim that it is disturbing their work, but while openly praying a person usually just folds their hands and generally thinks spiritually. Free reading time could be used to read religious literature as well, and free reading time is meant to be quiet.
Expressing religion simply should be done without fear.
Joining youth groups can be very helpful for someone’s interaction as well. Youth groups can be held during school in addition to Sunday school and Wednesday nights at church. The school board should think about creating church youth groups for our schools here.
A pastor can be asked to help organize a youth group as well. All religions would be welcome to join. Meetings can be held during any extra time given throughout the school day— before or after school, or during Wiser time on Wednesday mornings.
A 2009 article named, “What difference does youth groups make?” states, “While some students continue to grow in their religiosity later in life, others struggle and experience a decline from their religion.”
With youth groups, students won’t be able to go through that decline. While working with other students, faith is generally easier to gain. Also, church youth groups have been proven to help improve test scores and grades. The improvement varies from student to student, but on average students have had a 23 percent increase in grades and test scores.
Freedom of religion should also be taken more into consideration. The First Amendment says that we the people are able to have the freedom of religion, but people who want to express themselves through their religion are often too scared to show it due to the attitude of those who don’t want to know about it. People are too scared of the consequences that may take place.
In 2014, Paul Tiedemann in an article titled, “Is there a Human Right to Freedom of Religion?” stated that, “A human right to freedom of religion is not equivalent to a right to tolerance.”
This statement says that the right to tolerance is greater than the freedom of religion. If one tells a person who practices religion to stop practicing and the person practicing listens, then the opposing person has more of a right than the one practicing their religion.
Everyone is entitled to equal rights, and the freedom of speech should also be taken into consideration. Being able to voice our opinion on religion should also be allowed.
Someone may argue that conflict could happen, but if we establish freedom of religion more in school, the students will need to develop true tolerance.
Tolerance will be necessary to understand others that don’t have the same beliefs, but tolerance will also allow us to talk about someone’s religion.
Is religion shut out too much during school? Yes, it is, and any person inside of school should be able to practice their religion. Religion needs to be more established within schools because practicing religion in cultural ways, joining youth groups and practicing freedom of religion in school will help student’s spirituality.
—Ty Weeg