>Morality is a complex of principles based on cultural, religious, and philosophical concepts and beliefs, by which an individual determines whether his or her actions are right or wrong. These concepts and beliefs are often generalized and codified by a culture or group, and thus serve to regulate the behaviour of its members. Conformity to such codification may also be called morality, and the group may depend on widespread conformity to such codes for its continued existence.
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>So given the above, I think that you too quickly dismissed the notion that removing God from schools does not cause a problem. For a long time God was in the home and in the school. Why? Because that was what we believed as a society. So morality was being taught and the members of the society (Americans) were conforming to such codes that were being taught at home and in school. You take away the teaching of basic codes from school and you then jepordize the very existence of the group. Why? Because nothing filled the void left behind by the removal of God in school, other than teaching that makes a person drift from one concept to another. As a society we are becoming a rudderless ship.

The problem is that God has been in the homes and schools of many who've done great evil in the world, too. I think you'll find that most of the slaveholders in the American South believed in God and that what they were doing was moral. Similarly, their descendants who terrorized blacks over several generations were mostly churchgoers, as were most of the Germans who slaughtered the Jews of Europe.

Without getting into an argument as to whether all those people were truly Christian as they proclaimed to be, it's clear that raising children with God in school isn't sufficient to make them good people.

It's my view that it isn't necessary, either. As the mother of two young men (now 19 and 23), I've spent a lot of time in the past two decades with young people. The ones who come into our home have almost all been educated in public schools that respect the religious backgrounds of their students, but don't cater to any one group. Their homes vary from quite observant (both Christian and Jewish) to virtually no religious content. Almost invariably, these kids are polite, well-mannered, focused, and headed for successful lives. Why? Because they were raised by parents who love them, in a community that values them, and given opportunities to learn and grow.

Tamar