I just watched a Fox-News special on textbooks in American schools, hosted by Tucker Carlson. Two things stood out to me:
1. Because homosexual schoolchildren and the adopted children of gay parents are being bullied, many schools have embraced anti-bias curricula that present homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle. Conservative critics dislike this, maintaining (a.) that the curricula offend the religious sensibilities of many children and parents, (b.) that public schools are strapped for funds as it is, so they shouldn't spend money promoting homosexuality as acceptable, and (c.) schools should be enforcing the anti-bullying rules that are already on the books.
The cultural wars are here. There's no denying that. And my opinion is this: Homophobic bullies should be taught not to hurt people, yet I'm also against stomping on the religious beliefs of those who oppose homosexuality because they believe it's against God's law.
Why can't anti-bias curricula teach that people shouldn't beat others up or taunt them, even if they disapprove of their lifestyles, leaving untouched the question of whether or not homosexuality is acceptable? Or, if the schools want to touch on the gay issue, they can tell students that there are different lifestyles out there, as well as different beliefs about those lifestyles. But people with differences should still conduct themselves with decorum towards one another. That's preferable to enforcing conformity to a politically-correct standard.
Is there a way to stop bullying of gays, without forcing an agenda on students, or stomping on people's religious beliefs?
2. One woman said that Muslims students in American schools receive all sorts of "privileges." An example she cited was that they're given a special room that they can use during their prayer times. And she talked as if that's a bad thing.
Look, religious freedom is not a "privilege." It's a right. Assuming this woman's a Christian conservative, how would she feel if schools treated Christian groups on campus as a "privilege" that can be taken away?