Working to put "church" in public schools

[Silver]

In short, a lot of public schools rent out space on weekends — and church leaders have taken full advantage of that. While that may be fine on the surface, it’s part of a larger strategy of getting “in” with the schools, and pushing faith in other illegal ways. We’ve already seen how footballs teams are often infused with Christianity and team-sponsored prayers. We’ve seen Bible distributions at schools. Stewart has already written about Good News Clubs in elementary schools. These things are all connected.

A 2007 national survey by LifeWay, a Christian research agency, found that 12 percent of newly established Protestant churches met in public schools. Today, that number is surely higher. In many cities, just about every public-school auditorium is rented to a church plant on Sunday morning.
In some places, houses of worship have operated inside public schools for years without paying any rent at all — a situation that, in New York City at least, has led to an ongoing battle in the courts. Even when rent is paid, the arrangement is a boon for churches, which are able to obtain safe and comfortable facilities, as well as furniture, heating and air-conditioning, and other benefits, for a fraction of the cost of financing their own facilities.
…
The new interest of these groups in public schools reflects a significant shift in missionary strategy. It is now accepted wisdom that the most fruitful targets of their efforts are young children, who are thought to be more susceptible to conversion. The focus on schools stems in part from the realization that students, especially in the younger grades, invest a lot of authority in their school, and typically can’t distinguish between what is taught in the school and what is taught by the school.

Get ‘em while they’re young, right?
There isn’t a way to stop churches from meeting in public schools — but the best thing we can do is be a watchdog in our own communities. Make sure the churches are paying fair rent, make sure the school isn’t promoting church meetings, make sure church beliefs don’t seep into the regular curriculum, etc.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyath...ic-school/

[Norman Humann]

Church representatives teach in schools where I live. It's a subject called religious education, which is basically just priests or nuns preaching, a.k.a basic indoctrination.

Spoiler: It sucks.

[Minimalist]

In short, a lot of public schools rent out space on weekends

As long as they do impose any sort of content requirement... and by "any" I mean ANY I don't see anything wrong with it. It's the jesus freaks who bitch when muslims or satanists rent space - not the schools.

[dyresand]

I am not surprised at all. And most kids nowadays really don't seem to care about church or religion anyways.

[Jenny A]

There's a lot of church/school cooperation here in Salem, Oregon, that doesn't offend me. My kids' elementary school shared a parking lot with a church which benefited both organizations as the school used it all week and the church mostly on Sunday. The church loaned the school its sizable auditorium for school shows, and in return the school let the church use it's playground on the weekends. The relationship is mutually financially beneficial. No indoctrination is involved.

Similarly religious organizations like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts rent school space (often for maintenance labor) on the same basis as other organizations such as Big Brothers. That's fine too. The Mormons pay the school district to drop their kids at Stake Houses rather than home. Also fine. Frankly, if the cost is the same as dropping them off at home, I don't think they should pay at all.

Bottom line is that school buildings are more economical when renting the off time to other organizations. As long as there is no discrimination based on the type of organization, that's a good thing. Similarly, if renting or buying from a church is the cheapest option for a school, that's what it should do as long as no indoctrination is involved.

[Spooky]

There will be no win for atheism/separation of church and state/etc. without christians thinking it is some sort of "holy challenge". As Stimbo would say "Martyr Chip".

[dyresand]

Church representatives teach in schools where I live. It's a subject called religious education, which is basically just priests or nuns preaching, a.k.a basic indoctrination.

Spoiler: It sucks.

Its not education if your not learning anything useful. Like i read one of the Christian private schools books that kids have to read and learn from in that book it says it rains because god wants it to rain.. note this is a family friends school mind you i... just had to put in a sticky note with a link to google why it rains.