Comparative religion courses often act as a vaccine for fanaticism.

Only if it is taught along with all other religions just as a idea of what all is out there but not as a way to indoctrinate into a specific religion. It should be a personal choice not something brainwashed into anyone.

No, not religion, but what SHOULD be taught is: how to treat people, how to be empathetic toward human beings, how to ACCEPT all kinds of people-----and GET ALONG!

Only Christian schools.

I have respect for others right to believe. I find the stories in the Bible are too rediculous to be true. I don't appreciate religious people judging others for their lack of faith.

Well, the fastest way to become an atheist is to read the bible and all of it's contradictions. However I can't imagine how they would go about giving every religion it's equal time.

Absolutely not in public schools.

Absolutely not. Let children be allowed to learn what took centuries of study to become validated knowledge. Then if they feel the need to have a religious connection to a higher power let them chose the one that makes sense to them. Nowadays religions seem to perform indoctrinations than conversions.....

Religions as a course... sure along with all mythologies. Keep in mind all paths not just christian. I doubt that this coul be done with out demonizing all but the local slant what ever thst might be.

As part of history, its effect on politics and philosophy, but not as religion itself. Religion is a personal choice and has no place in the public system.

Only at university level.

No. When religion is incorporated in to lesson plans, it becomes indoctrination .

I believe that a relationship with your chosen God is a personal relationship and is to be kept out of public schools. It is and should be a choice outside of an academic curriculum created for all that attend.

Yes in a balanced equal way. if children say freshmen are educated on the real history and not all religion and their true origins and all the oppressive and vile aspects of religion they would likely reject the concepts. But as it is they are indoctrinated into the religion of their families, their region and their time with little or no knowledge of the vast abundance of religions and deities that do and have existed

NO, definitely NOT. Schools should focus on the Golden Rule, and that is all that society needs to grow and survive.

I don't see it as a Useful course but if you want to teach religion in schools, it should be relegated to a philosophy coarse or history coarse, and cover all religion's their impacts on the world good and bad. Not one religion's brainwash propaganda. Religion has been apart of human history a long time. lots of things we can learn from its short comings.

Strictly from an academic perspective, with all of the contradictions and evil it brings. No leaning towards belief, just a cold, factual class.

In religious specific schools, sure, why not? If the entire school is based around stone age doctrine, they have the 1st Amendment right to teach the idiotic things they believe.

In tax-payer funded schools? We should teach the damage that mindlessly following religion can cause.

As an academic subject. For instance, European and Middle Eastern history is hard to understand without a discussion of religion. But definitely not as a religious subject.

Religions have all been created as control structures to gain power over others (some of them MUCH more than others). Teaching several of the major religions might allow students to see and understand this link. Thinking on this question from a curriculum standpoint, it is difficult to imagine how many class hours it would take simply to cover the myriad sects of Christianity, let alone the sub-groups of Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism, the huge number of tribal belief systems...

In a secular setting:
As a Historical overview, the basic doctrines of each of the major religions and their impact on history.
As philosophical myths in Literature, and as a Theoretical viewpoint in Science.
The teaching of religion, or religious acts, should be confined to institutions that are set up for that purpose, and at home.

Religion, a part of human history and cultural studies, has a place in secular education, but only a long as ALL religions are taught similarly, without one being set apart. Having said that, in this country, it will not practically be carried out this way in many, many locations in primary and secondary schools. Better to err you the side of not teaching it at all if it can be "managed" by some trie believer bent on proselytizing.

It's a very slippery slope. We're humans and are unable to handle such a responsibility properly.

I have no problem with teaching kids about the different major religions as long as they are all taught as different religions, not one of them as being "True".

Public tax funded schools, should however, not teach a class only about one religion, especially if it is being taught as "Truth".

Comparative religion, yes. Religious indoctrination, absolutely not. That should be treated as a criminal offense.