Activist Judge Imposes Religion on Schools
by TChris
This is an activist judge.
A federal judge on Thursday blocked a county school system from instituting a health curriculum that includes discussions of homosexuality.
U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams in Maryland evidently believes that teaching tolerance of homosexuality advances governmental support of religions that accept (or at least tolerate) homosexuality over religions that condemn it. But sexuality is not an intrinsically religious issue. Religious organizations take competing positions concerning sexual practices and education about sexuality in general, but religious organizations take any number of competing positions about all sorts of things. By Judge Williams' logic -- and maybe this is where it's leading -- a school could not teach evolution because it would be advancing a particular viewpoint to the detriment of a competing religious (albeit unscientific) viewpoint. Nor could it teach any fact of history (like the probable age of the planet) that is contradicted by a religious belief.
Tolerance (like intolerance) might be held as a religious value, but teaching tolerance neither advances religion nor intertwines government with a particular faith. Teaching tolerance of others, like teaching respect for the law, has social value independent of and apart from any corresponding religious value. Telling a school that it can't teach the societal benefit of mutual respect is a stunning display of judicial activism.
< Microsoft About Face: Will Support Gay Rights Bill | Tip Thanks > |