“The public schools are supported entirely, in most communities, by public funds-funds exacted not only from parents, nor alone from those who hold particular religious views, nor indeed from those who subscribe to any creed at all.” SchoolParentCommunityReligiousViewsAtheismParticularPositive AtheismFundCreedsPublic SchoolReligious Views Author:William J. Brennan
“The modern public school derived from a philosophy of freedom reflected in the First Amendment ... The non-sectarian or secular public school was the means of reconciling freedom in general with religious freedom.” FirstsMeanPhilosophySchoolReligiousAtheismModernPositive AtheismAmendmentsSecularPublic SchoolFirst AmendmentReligious Freedom Author:William J. Brennan
“Public education is a good foundation on which to build a better life for each of us. And if we want to prove to these children who never made the mess in the first place that education is worth the trouble, our schools have to inspire them so they can do what they ought to do.” IfsWantFirstsChildrenMadeSchoolCan DoTroubleAtheismInspireOughtProveFoundationPositive AtheismMessBetter LifePublic Education Author:Bill Cosby
“Zealous groups threaten to infringe civil liberties when they seek government support to impose their own religious views on nonadherents. This has taken many forms, including attempts to introduce organized prayer in public schools, to outlaw birth control and abortion, and to use public tax revenues to finance religious schools.” UseGovernmentSchoolFormReligiousPrayerViewsLibertySupportTakenGroupsAtheismBirthTaxesIncludingPositive AtheismFinanceOrganizedAbortionIntroducingRevenuePublic SchoolCivil LibertiesBirth ControlOutlawZealousReligious Views Author:Norman Dorsen
“Half the Christian churches of New York are trying to ruin the free public schools in order to replace them by religious dogma.” TryingSchoolChristianOrderChurchReligiousHalfAtheismNew YorkPositive AtheismRuinsDogmaPublic SchoolChristian ChurchReligious Dogma Author:W. E. B. Du Bois
“The coercive effect of this policy is particularly pronounced in the school setting given the age and impressionability of schoolchildren, and their understanding that they are required to adhere to the norms set by their school, their teacher, and their fellow students.” AgeSchoolGivenUnderstandingTeacherAtheismEffectsPolicyStudentsFellowsPositive AtheismSettingSettingsNorm Author:Alfred Goodwin
“This issue is whether or not our government should be infusing religion into the public schools. Our churches are very strong in this nation and I think that's great and everybody should have the ability to worship as he or she sees fit. I choose to worship not believing in God and government should not thrust a religious idea down my throat.” ThinkingShouldBelieveIdeasGovernmentSchoolStrongNationsChurchReligiousAbilityIssuesAtheismFitWorshipShould HavePositive AtheismBelieve In GodThroatVery StrongPublic SchoolThrust Author:Michael Newdow
“I think evolution should be taught as an accepted principle. I say that also as the daughter of a school teacher, a science teacher, who has instilled in me a respect for science. I think it should be taught in our schools. I won't ever deny that I see the hand of God in this beautiful creation that is earth. But - that is not a part of state policy or a local curriculum in a school district. Science should be taught in science class.” ThinkingShouldStatesHandsSchoolEarthBeautifulClassPrinciplesTeacherAtheismPolicyCreationTaughtEvolutionDaughterDenyPositive AtheismAcceptedLocalsCurriculumHands Of GodSchool TeachersSchool DistrictsScience TeacherScience Class Author:Sarah Palin
“I'm anticlerical, not antireligion. If somebody believes there is God, I'm not interested in trying to persuade that person there is no intelligent design to the universe. Where I become interested and wake up is about the temporal power of religion, things like prayer in schools, or Catholic-secular hospital mergers.” IfsTryingBelievePersonsSchoolUniversePrayerAtheismDesignWake UpIntelligentCatholicPositive AtheismHospitalsNot InterestedSecularIntelligent DesignMergersPrayer In School Author:Katha Pollitt
“Right now religion has the romantic aura of the forbidden - Christ is cool. We need to bring it into the schools, which kids already hate, and associate it firmly with boredom, regulation, condescension, makework and de facto segregation ... Prayer in the schools will rid us of the bland no-offense ecumenism that is so infuriating to us anticlericals: Oh, so now you say Jews didn't kill Christ - a little on the late side, isn't it?” NeedsLittlesKidsSchoolHateSidesChristPrayerAtheismRight NowLateJewPositive AtheismBoredomRegulationOffenseAssociatesForbiddenSegregationAurasBlandCondescensionInfuriatingEcumenism Book:Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents on Women, Politics, and Culture Source: Subject to Debate: Sense and Dissents on Women, Politics, and Culture
“Because we are unqualifiedly and without reservation against any system of denominational schools, maintained by the adherents of any creed with the help of state aid, therefore, we as strenuously insist that the public schools shall be free from sectarian influences, and above all, free from any attitude of hostility to the adherents of any particular creed.” StatesHelpingSchoolAttitudeAtheismInfluenceParticularPositive AtheismAidsCreedsPublic SchoolHostilityReservations Book:Writings Source: Writings
“But the others, those who tried to bring Jesus to life at the call of love, found it a cruel task to be honest. The critical study of the life of Jesus has been for theology a school of honesty. The world had never seen before, and will never see again, a struggle for truth so full of pain and renunciation as that of which the Lives of Jesus of the last hundred years contain the cryptic record.” WorldYearsHas BeensSchoolPainLastsFoundJesusStruggleStudyRecordsAtheismHonestHonestyHundredTasksCriticalPositive AtheismTheologyBeing HonestRenunciationCryptic Author:Albert Schweitzer
“I learned very early on that it's necessary but not sufficient for scientists to go to school board meetings and say, 'We shouldn't be teaching creationism.' Being right doesn't mean it'll pass.” MeanSchoolAtheismTeachingScientistMeetingsPositive AtheismBoardsSufficientCreationismSchool BoardBoard Meetings Author:Eugenie Scott
“Public schools are where the next generation of leaders are educated and where cultural exchange will take place.” SchoolNextLeaderGenerationsAtheismPositive AtheismEducatedNext GenerationPublic SchoolCultural Exchange Author:Eugenie Scott
“I'll long remember the crestfallen look of a pious student when I told him the faculty of a divinity school he planned to attend included a large number of avowed atheists.” LooksLongSchoolRememberNumbersAtheismStudentsAtheistPositive AtheismDivinityFacultyPiousLarge Numbers Author:Gary Sloan
“I believe in the support of the public school as one of the cornerstones of American liberty. I believe in the right of every parent to choose whether his child shall be educated in the public school or in a religious school supported by those of his own faith.” BelieveChildrenSchoolI BelieveParentReligiousLibertySupportAtheismI Believe InPositive AtheismEducatedPublic SchoolCornerstonesAmerican Liberty Author:Al Smith
“I sincerely believe that the collective efforts of many secularists during the past generation, resulting in the expulsion from our schools and from the public square, has left us vulnerable.” BelieveHumorSchoolPastLeftReligiousEffortGenerationsPositive AtheismVulnerableCollectivesSquaresSincerelyExpulsionPast GenerationsCollective Effort Author:Jerry Falwell
“We are a people of many races, many faiths, creeds, and religions. I do not think that the men who made the Constitution forbade the establishment of a State church because they were opposed to religion. They knew that the introduction of religious differences into American life would undermine the democratic foundations of this country. What holds for adults holds even more for children, sensitive and conscious of differences. I certainly hope that the Board of Education will think very, very seriously before it introduces this division and antagonism in our public schools.” PeopleThinkingMenChildrenMadeCountryStatesSchoolDifferencesChurchReligiousRaceAtheismHe ManConsciousAdultsConstitutionFoundationDemocraticPositive AtheismSensitiveBoardsDivisionEstablishmentIntroducingCreedsPublic SchoolIntroductionAmerican LifeAntagonismBoard Of EducationReligious Differences Author:John Dewey