Religious music should not be sung by elementary school choirs

"First of all, If a child wants to sing in a school choir at all, he will most likely have to sing at all of the carol events, including those with religious music." So, because one kid objects, the rest should not be allowed to sing what they want? That hardly seems equitable. "There is plenty of good, wholesome, non religious music that could be sung instead of church hymns or other such music." For instance? Secular Christmas music is about as crappy and unartistic as you can get. Moreover, why should we sing secular songs during a holiday that is based in religion? It is not as if school choirs arbitrarily sing religious songs during the year. If a kid doesn't want to sing Christmas music but wants to sing in the choir, he can do that. Just skip the Christmas concert. "Though our country is also based on the simple need for separation between church and state, and especially in public schools we should not be making curriculum choices based on religion because of how many people in our country are one religion or the other." Our country is not based whatsoever on the separation between church and state. Neither that exact phrase, or anything approximating that concept can be found in the constitution. It simply states that the government should not establish a state religion. Almost all of the schools in colonial America included unmistakably religious themes, including Bible reading and prayer. Even their primers contained Bible verses. If this is unconstitutional, why did none of the founding fathers speak against it? Instead, they encouraged it on numerous occasions!! Why shouldn't we be making curriculum choices based on religion? Isn't this country all about choice? Why should the government decide that religion can't be taught in the classroom? If a majority of parents want it to be, then sobeit. What is going on in today's classrooms is not some innocent, neutral philosophy. It is blatant atheism, which is as much a religion as Christiantiy, Judaism, or Islam. Many parents are offended by the content of science text books. According to you, we should quit using those text books if it offends even one student or parent. If we shouldn't, then why should we quit singing religious songs during religious holidays in a religious country because one person or parent is offended? "What about religious Jewish, Muslim, Hindi, or buddhist music? You have not thought of a single rebuttal for the fact that not all religious music is christian." I think that even a brilliant debater such as yourself would find it difficult to argue that all religious music is Christian. "Learning about the history of a religion, or a piece of artwork is not the same as preaching the religion to your peers and your parents." Who said anything about preaching? Music is art, just like any painting. If we shouldn't throw out the study of religious paintings, then we shouldn't throw out the performing of religious songs. And once again, nobody is forced to be in the choir, or sing religious songs. "When you learn about religion in art work and history, you are simply learning to appreciate art and the learn about religions affect on history." When you sing a religious song in the context of a religious holiday among religious people, you are simply learning to appreciate music and learn about religion's effect on culture. "Fourthly, we cannot and will never divide schools based on religion. That is back tracking 40 years and re-adopting segregation, except this time the original constitution clearly says that there will be a separation between church and state. I hope that i will never see the day when my children are sent to a school across town because they are jewish and most of my home town is not." First, you clearly did not read my argument. When did I ever say we should "force" childrend to go to a particular school based on race? I said that parents would have the option to send their kids wherever they want! That's the exact opposite of what you're accusing me of saying. Second, as I mentioned before, separation of church and state is a lie. But assuming it's not, my proposal would still not be unconstitutional because it would involve PRIVATE schools. The state would not be involved. Thus, no violation of this clause is possible. "Firstly, There is absolutely no reason not to ban this unconstitutional practice." I presented several reasons why we shouldn't ban this perfectly constitutional practice. "It is unethical to have a young child preach a religion to their peers that they themselves have no religious affiliation with." I agree. Unfortunately for the sake of your argument, nothing of the sort is happening. "And, there are thousands of songs out there, why to we have to use music that offends people or forces children to decide between the joy of singing, and preaching a different religion from theirs." What else should they sing ON A RELIGIOUS HOLIDAY? And I repeat again: NOBODY IS FORCING THEM TO SING, LET ALONE PREACH, ANYTHING. If you mention that one more time I'm going to tear my hair out.