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Parents enlist their children in the public school system, because of a specific curriculum, extracurricular activities, and staff experience etc, not for religious foundation. As long as a teacher is not preaching the words of any God to students, they have all the right to place the Bible, Torah, Qur'an or alternative religion texts on their desk. It is a public school after all!

The morals in the many books of many Gods are seldom relayed without biased opinion and in some cases, are relayed fanatically. Morals are up to parents to teach to their children not public school teachers. On the other hand, freedom of speech, which can be interpreted 1000 ways, is also an American foundation and seeing a book of some God on a teacher's desk will not scar your child for life. An inquisitive glance at a material book on a desk is not as harmful as a teacher saying "Glory Be To God" at the end of an algebra solution.

Separation of church and state is so phony all you have to do is listen to any of Bush's hilarious speeches. "Axis of Evil!" "God bless the United States of America!" "Evil Muslim folk." We even have currency with "In God we trust" inscribed on it. I don't trust any God or flock, but am I really going to make a stink about it? The freedom of religious choice the early Brits sought after was Christian based, which does not reflect the reality of America today! America cannot expect newcomers to adopt Christian religious values.

This debate is about fear and freedom! Our country cries freedom, yet tenses up, if freedom is exerted in our backyard. It is all a matter of interpretation and context. Would there be a problem, if a Mormon teacher in a Salt Lake City public school places the book of Mormon on his or her desk? I highly doubt it! If the teacher did the same thing in a Manhattan, I am sure there would be a heated debate, but teachers have the so-called, "American" right to do so! Don't they? Americans are overly hyper sensitive for perfection in their own eyes! If there is a sign of imperfection, self-absorbing interests groups go lawsuit happy and distort the reality of being human. There could be a solution to this debate.

There should be a class in public school on the history of world religions. This does not mean that a teacher preaches the word of any God, but teaches students in an unbiased manner the dates, people and facts about the many religions and their roles in shaping the world we live in today, for good and bad. A class like this will better prepare students to accept world-views and the diversity beyond insular classrooms and neighborhoods.

Learn more about this author, Salvatore Oliva.
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