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As a Brit living in the US - I am fascinated by this debate.

I think Stephen's suggestion of incorporating religion into social studies
is a smart one - but one that should be instituted by schools not by
science museums.  In compulsory "religious education" classes from
11-14years at my secondary school in London, we covered Christianity,
Judaism and the Sikh & Muslim religions, which gave me a basic
understanding of these different religions in terms of their belief systems
& practices.  Then in Biology we covered evolution - which was taught as a
scientific theory, supported by a large body of evidence.

I hope that my son (who is 12 weeks old) will be able to experience
education free from the confines of religion (separation of church &
state???!!!), whilst learning about different religions in an unbiased
fashion.............

Tammy


Tammy Astor-Jack, PhD
Post-doctoral Fellow
Center for Inquiry in Science Teaching & Learning
Washington University in St Louis
Department of Education
Campus Box 1183, 1 Brookings Drive
Saint Louis, MO 63130-4899
Dept Fax: (314) 935-4982
http://www.education.wustl.edu/astor-jack.htm
http://cistl.wustl.edu
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