To the editor:
Starting with religion is not science and should not be taught as science, there are various options to consider. 

Teaching a class on the world’s religions may be reasonable as long as they are treated fairly and one religion is not given more importance or significance over other religions. This of course would require restraint on the part of school districts, teachers, and parents and would likely be in short supply, as strongly religious people will push their version of religion.

This already occurs in many schools, certainly on the streets, and in the airways, and would likely become even more of a problem. Another option could be to subsume religion into history classes, which may be a better approach. Of course we could just maintain the status quo and not teach religion in public schools at all and this may be the best course of action given the history, emotion, and conflicts of religious belief.

While I think the idea of teaching about the world’s religions is a good; I think this is something that could be better done in the world’s churches, mosques, and so on by inviting guest speakers from other religious faiths or even no faiths and actually having a conversation.

David Gould
West Seattle