http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/11/29/swiss-minarets.html

I used to think of Europe (in general) as a leader in human rights, tolerance, and other such noble things. But over the last few years, hearing the stories (and meeting some people) it's becoming clear to me that Europeans are just as prone to fear and bigotry as the rest of us.

Not sure how much you guys have heard about Muslims in places like Britain, Netherlands, France, etc etc but racism runs strongly in a lot of countries. Crazy...

racism infest every country just about. in the U.S it's institutionalized.
ignorance, fear, and lack of education about other races, religion, and countries is what keeps it going.

Well now..
i) Hating muslims isn't really racism. It just means that one dislikes the religion, what it stands for and people who associate themselves with it. Racism is hating someone because they're born a certain way, not hating someone because they behave a certain way.

ii) In 50 years or so, a majority of the EU population will be muslim. Immigration will do this - no wars or terrorist attacks necessary.

iii) There isn't a single muslim country out there that has a decent human rights record.

iv) If a majority of the EU popluation is going to be muslim, they're likely to push for institution of Sharia law and succeed - they've already succeeded in Britain. This means one set of laws applies to one group of people, and another set of laws applies to everyone else - there may as well not be a country at that point.

v) In order to preserve existing ideals of Western human rights, EU governments will have to act now (in the near future) to safeguard them.

Ofcourse, banning minarets is the dumbest possible way of achieving this - Islamophobia and laws created that single out muslims only shows weakness on the part of Switzerland. If they're concerned that having lots of muslims around will somehow erode their rights, freedoms or way of life, then they should move to enshrine those in the separation of church and state, make sure that the constitution and the judiciary keeps things rock solid by having plenty of precedent.

Sigh. I'm personally getting a little sick of hearing those guys bend to the whims of these extremest religions left, right and center these days. I mean, this does seem small in comparison to some of the stuff that goes on these days (although not by much), but still... If they keep getting everything they ask for the second they throw a temper tantrum, we'll be back in the dark ages before we know it.

true, now I agree with you that there cannot be two sets of laws, if they come to another country, they must follow the law as it is written, and no chance for it to be changed to a groups religious laws. but allow change based on ethnics if a minority group of people are getting the shaft.

the bigger problem that incites these types of issue are fear, ignorance and privilege.

Exactly.

I find it worrisome that extreme right wing groups have this kind of power in parts of Western Europe. Perhaps this is just a symptom of a slightly different form of democracy. I know quite a few people in Canada that thought important issues should be decided by popular vote. I was one of them. Now I'm really rethinking that. Giving this kind of power over to a population that can be so easily manipulated by lobby groups is a rather scary thought. The government itself tried to discourage the people from voting yes to this.

In any case, those who voted for this are eroding the very ideals they feel are in danger. This destroys Swiss credibility, damages the EU's credibility, and harms the credibility of any Western nation that's pushing for better human rights in certain countries. Now anyone can shoot back with: "what happened to religious freedom in Switzerland?"

If it was indeed decided by popular vote, then it's acceptible to me. I don't agree with the decision, but that is what democracy really is.

A popular vote recently overturned a law allowing gay marriage in my state. While I disagree with the decision, I feel popular vote shows a more accurate representation of the people's opinion in a given area than allowing a small number of people to decide for them. Besides that, we've seen over and over that politicians are just as easily swayed by lobbies as general populations are....maybe more so.

This will probably be overturned eventually. I see it as a temporary lapse in judgement...kinda like freedom fries or the Patriot Act.

I don't see the Patriot Act ever going away.

It's actually been law there for many years.
It's not just for muslims.
Any religious building can't build large spires/towers etc. to be seen over other buildings on the skyline.
I think it's actually a good idea.

but yeah, there is a lot of white supremacy there.
Seems to be big over there.
Oh, wait, I guess there's some of that going on over here too...

The patriot act most definately won't go away
they'll just name it something more "comfortable"
like
The Big Brother Sam Act...


LOL

Sams big brother at the end of the street beats me me up act. *shivers in fear.

I personally disagree and also what is being voted on.
when it comes to probiting someones civil rights I have a problem with it.
like your example of gay marriage. who am I to say that they cannot have what I have in a straight marriage? it's no different that when blacks weren't allowed to vote or asians weren't allowed to own property.

this is the reason why we have so many problems as it is. too many people in others business that doesn't affect them not one bit despite all the rhetoric being preached.

but that's just me and how I see things.

well the only problem is where does it stop? should we allow beasteality for those who enjoy that junk??
why not legalize hookers. there only making a living right?? why not let kids take guns to school. they need to protet themselves.

the world in general is getting seriously sick and moral-less..

in the last 10 years the worlds got horrible.. its gonna get way worse in the next 10....

Laws should not preach morals. Everyone should be free to do whatever the fuck they want so long as it doesnt interfere with the freedoms of other people/groups/animal butts.

Of course thats where it gets fuzzy, but you get the point.

well you can drink bear and smoke cigerettes but cant buy pot. not that i care much for that , but lots of people do.. morals should play a big part in the governement. i mean the worlds pretty messed up when a person can kill someone and get 6 to 8 years of prison, yet someone who makes money sending spam, gets 10-20 years.. with the governement. somethings really wrong. we need morals more now then before..

if people are stupid enough to believe we came from monkeys, why cant people marry monkeys?? whats to stop people from wanting to? after all there dumb enough to think we came from monkeys, and by using there same stupid thought process, why shouldnt people be able to marry a monkey....

do hookers hurt people? or is it simply illegal because the pimps hurt the hookers?? lol

bank executives ripping off people with there gimicks to rip off peoples money from a huge number of illegal lending, and point blank stealing, with no punishment at all, yet a person can file share one song with one person and your gonna get a 2 million dollar judgement against you..

the worlds got some serious problems. its now the more corrupt you are the less trouble you get into. but people who do some thing mundain, minor, ensignifficant, who get the hammer of the law up there back ends...


in short, once you lose your morals, the gross desires, un moralistic wants, and pure evil gets more and more evil and spreads faster then a wild fire, until its a train out of control and its to late to stop it..

so whats wrong with peple who see the eventual crash wanting to put the breaks and steer past it..

as for stopping people from worshipping muslim, im surprised, since the worlds been pro muslim since 9/11
my thoughts, if people want to worship the devil, its there business, but that article seriously surprises me, since governements have been very pro muslim the past few years.

here comes that old scare issue. the gay rights issue is not the same as a critter-sex issue . lumping the two just don't add up. as it stands it's okay to be gay, live a gay life, have laws against gays being beat up or killed, yet they can't live or try to live a normal life like a married straight couple? sorry bro, one persons morality is not someone else's. as for the world getting less moral, you sure can't blame gays for that. there's a whole lot more crazy weird stuff sraight people do. why is it getting worse? those with holier than thou ake morals trying to force their beliefs on others, they're also the same ones who get caught wearing pampers full of their feces, getting spanked while wearing lipstick and having carrots shoved up their butts.

I could care less what others do as long as it doesn't impact my life or my family's life.

no, common law for all. morals is for religion.

that is not a moral issue, that is the result of corruption, goverment allowing the rich to walk but locking up the poor, and just supid loopholes created by lawyers.

guy robs a store for 500.00, he'll get a ong sentence, a big corp. exec robs people and companies for millions, they get bullshit time in a countryclub jail, and out on good behavior in a year or less.

crack and cocaine. both are illegal, same product just made differently, one you smoke, one you sniff. get caught with cocaine the sentence is less than crack. cocaine cost more hence the rich man's drug, crack is cheap, the poor man's drug.

you keep linking two human beings of the same sex getting married as the same as a human being and a animal. that's just plain madness and repeated scare/fear rhetoric.

when it comes to morals, all you can do is live by your own, you have no right to force your beliefs and moral alues on others.

Racism runs pretty strong in parts of Europe.

In Denmark, the open and lovable country, the second largest political party wants to ban immigration.

Anti-semitism and neo-nazism is quite common in the former russian republics around the Baltic Sea and elsewhere.

In several European countries, extreme right wing political parties are trying to change their image (actually, hide their agenda) to gain acceptance.

In Italy, fascism is alive and strong and one of the major political views.

And on the topic of Switzerland, did you know that women gained the privilege to vote in federal elections in 1971, and in local elections in FREAKIN' 1990??? That's just plain sad.

Oh, and the Romani people (often referred to as gypsy), are still being treated like trash all over the continent.

In my first post I might have given the impression that I agreed with the ban. I certaintly don't. I was speaking mainly of popular vote vs representative vote.

Deion, there is so much in your post I disagree with that I don't think I could fully address it all without spending my whole morning here.

Animal marriage/sex is not consensual. It can't be if only one party agrees to it. Find a monkey who truly speaks and understands human language to the point where he knows the difference between "like" and "love", between "love you as a sister" and "love you as wife", in human terms, then get back to me about this.

I don't see anything stupid about believing we came from monkeys. It's not nearly as far-fetched as believing an eternal entity just poofed us into existence.

One of the biggest flaws in theists arguing the beliefs/non-beliefs of atheists is that they stress the need for a higher power to dictate the morals of a community or individual. They argue that if there is no god telling you what is right, and no fear of eternal damnation for sin, then there is no right and wrong. This is poppycock. Balderdash. Stultiloquence.

I'm with Frollard. There should be no laws prohibiting personal freedoms unless those laws are made to protect others' freedom. Example, you should be able to rent a hooker, but not to smack her around (unless that's part of the date). If you see a hooker and you're married, that's the same as cheating and should be dealt with as such (i.e. not with fines and jail).

i wasn't trying to say people marriage and animal/people are the same, i'm just trying to say that people by nature will try to get more and more acceptable, and it usually gets worse and worse. even if some of what they start wanting is not necessarily bad or not. i just believe that that could be the next thing because of humans nature for the discusting. saying that because its not uncommon nowadays for kids in first grade to get asked for sex, when i was growing up you didnt even think about that kind of stuff til around 7th 8th grade. that with a lot of adults desires for little kids that hear about a lot on the news. thats pure evil..

i just used that monkey thing because the whole evolution crap is being shoved down my kids throats at school as if it's fact, when i can't imagine how something as stupid as that can even be considered for teaching. why, i feel if they dont even understand the human body enough to cure the common cold, much less other real dangerous stuff, then how can they possibly know about where we came from, when theres absolutely no proof whatsoever...

when in the past year it seems like 70 percent of all new movies now are horror/thriller/murder killing movies its not hard to see why people are killing people in mass with no reason these days, and why hate for people is making a come back..

and you can no longer correct your kids because its now thought of as bad, so kids with no correction, and faced with all these movies, and games,..

i used to scoff when peple blamed games and movies on why they killed, but with the lack of disipline on kids, i can now see the link to them. since a thers no disipline, b there minds are getting hit so much witih senseless mutilations from movies, i absolutely now believe it cna have a very bad effect on how they grow and think..

Well, I'll tend to support DeionG on this one. Morals do have a good and serious place in society. Granted, it should (if possible) be the morals of the entire society, not just a segment. Failing that, then the morals of a clear majority (not just 51%.)

That being said, I fully agree with a permanent, complete separation of Church and State. The Church and State should remain so separated until the Creator himself comes down and takes over. (no, not someone claiming to be sent by Him). One law for everyone, regardless of religion/language/colour/creed/architectural preference/etc. So if this law truly applies to all structures, I have no problem with it, from a social/moral point of view. It is kind of sad that it has been portrayed as being specifically anti-Muslim, though.

On the downside, I rather enjoy the architecture in mosques, and wouldn't mind having one around. Makes for a useful alarm clock, too. Restrictions on height and scale are reasonable, so long as applied evenly to all, including commercial and residential uses. (and honestly, I'd rather have a minaret dominating the skyline than some commercial tower or sign)

As for evolution... It has been proved and demonstrated that evolution is working in the world, and to the best of my knowledge, evolution as a biological process is effectively law, on par with gravity. On the other hand Evolution, as the process which resulted in us humans coming from single cell organisms via (presumably) apes, is a theory, and one missing a lot of steps still, and should be taught as such. I have no objection to it being taught in classes, however it should clearly be taught as a theory, not a law (and, regardless of the subject, it'd be a benefit to students to make sure they understand what the difference is between Theory and Law. Too many people nowdays seem to take both as being law.)

I love how so many people are quick to assume that without a firm guiding hand, society will quickly deteriorate into anarchy. There will always be narrow minded individuals who seek nothing other than personal gain, whether at the expense of their neighbors or not, and those people are doing harm to others. Beyond such scenarios, why would ANYONE care what I do in my own home, on my own property, to my own body, and in the company of other consenting individuals.

Now I have to point here that I'm talking about mature and able individuals, not children. But blaming the misbehaving of children on TV, movies, or games is just a cover-up for bad parenting. My cousin and I are 3 months apart in age. We grew up within walking distance of each other most of our lives. We watched all the same movies (we used to love the slasher horrors where you got to see some girls boobies when we were 13 or so), played all the same games (it started with NES, but we were quickly playing things like quake and doom), listened to all the same music (we were both really into the teen-anger crap like Marilyn Manson and Korn for quite a while). But now he floats listlessly from job to job, place to place. Has 2 kids by 2 different girls, has shouting matches with his (second) wife, and still lived with his parents up until 2 years ago. Whereas I spent some time in college (ran out of money). Served a 4 year term with the military, am happily married, own a house, and have a great job. What is the difference? Our parents. His fought constantly, ignored him for most of his formative years (5-15), resorted to physical violence beyond the norm (he and his mom used to get into fist fights) and generally didn't care. Mine, well I hated them at the time, but I now understand that despite my feelings, they had the best intentions for me. I wasn't allowed to talk back, stay out late, have my own phone (until I was 16 and had a job to pay for it), etc. So my cousin was always the misbehaving terror at family gatherings, and I was the quiet kid. My cousin is a good person at the core, and would do anything to help someone he cares about, but just can't function in the real world because he's gotten used to always having his way if he makes enough noise. And I think that this is almost all to do with the quality of parenting we received.

Lets be careful how we state things. I could say the same about people who want to teach kids that a magical sky fairy made everything, and gets mad when you're naughty.

well the only difference is one is taught in school. the other isn't which i guess is fine, but like Zitchas said, i'm not against it being taught in school, but they need to tell them that it is a theory, and not teaching it as if its scientific fact.

but i agree it all boils down to parenting in the end... but the governements making it hard to discipline. you spank your kids butt for doing something wrong, and they tell social services or someoen sees it and tells social services, and the kids are taken away, even if the butt spanking wasnt accessive or anything at all, it was done in love so they learn from there mistakes. i think if its nowhere near child abuse, then it should be fine. the way it is now it makes people afraid to discipline there kids..

The group who pushed this referendum was the Swiss People's Party. Here is the graphic they used for their campaign.



In 2007, this political party was critisized for what many people deemed was a racism anti-immigration poster. The caption reads: "Establish your security"

I think any reasonable person agrees with exactly what Zitchas said: small scale evolution is very well documented and has been proven (think dog breeding, the Aztec genetic engineering of maize, and many other examples). The macro evolution that says humans evolved from a primordial soup over the course of roughly 4 billion years through the same process is a theory at this point.

Now granted, from a scientific standpoint, it's the best theory we have about the origins of our species, and that's why it's taught in school. When I learned it in grade 9 or whenever, it was specifically the THEORY of evolution, as opposed to the LAW of gravity or the LAWS of thermodynamics. I think my science teachers were pretty good ones.

As well learning about evolution in school, learning the difference between theory and law, I strongly feel that students should be taught about religion. I have spent countless hours doing my own research post-grade 12 learning about religions. I didn't even really know what a Jew was until after high school. Nor did I know about Mormanism until I was friends with one in grade 11. I didn't know dick all about Islam or Hinduism until a few years ago. While I am non-religious, I still feel that I missed out on an important education by not learning about religion in school. Education should be learning about the world, and whether or not we individually practice it or not, religion is a huge part of humanity today.

Seconded: Both 'theory of evolution and 'Religious study' *(not indoctrination/worship) should be part of public schooling. Let people decide for themselves.

We take what we know, what we should know, what we think we know, and what we think everyone else aught to know for granted.

Thirded, although in my schooling there was no mention at all of how we got here. The community was mostly Christian, yet there was a respect for the separation of church and state. What I heard about evolution was mostly that it was what satanists believed, but "intelligent design" was never considered at the time so I guess they hadn't begun to think about the possibility of pushing religion as science.

EDIT: Wait..."Both 'theory of evolution and 'Religious study' *(not indoctrination/worship) should be part of public schooling."...I'm not so sure I agree with this. Religious study in a public school, as far as I'm concerned, is no different than liberal arts in a public school...basically stuff that applies to a few people but is pointless to most.

dpends on what religious studies consist of. if it's the study of different religions and their inception, philosphy, and history I'm cool with that. the problem is western religion is so intolerant and ignorant they see no room for other beliefs and only want their own to be taught. the main goal of most religiions is indoctrination and worship.

I don't think any should be taught in public schools, let that be done in catholic and religious schools. in public schools you have many denominations.

the problems we have are of our own design, we based everything on difference, those of the majority rules over the minority, that in itself is fair to a degree until they erode the minorities rights.

until people learn to accept and tolerate others, and mind their own damn business things will not change for the better.

this country has a history of abusing and degrading minorities, be it the irish, polish, jews, blacks, asians, hispanic, and the list goes on. and many feed into and suscribe
to this crap cause they believe they're entitled to it.

as human beings, we are here for a limited time yet the laws we create affects those for generations to come. some are good and some are bad. at som point we all know what is fair and not fair but changing them are almost impossible.

the law you agree with to ban gay marriage may not impact you or your immediate family, but they may affect later generations of your family.

we are our own worst enemy.

what's your definition of liberal arts? because according to britannica:


According to that definition, the vast majority of my K-12 education fell into the liberal arts category.

If that is indeed what you are referring to, you are probably right. It's well known that most of what we learn in school is never used again. That show: "are you smarter than a 5th grader" demonstrates the point. Adults in general have a much more practical knowledge base than children. While I've forgotton most of what I once new about ancient Greece, I now know things like how to do my taxes, how to do general maintenance on my car, how to conduct myself in a business environment, etc.

That said, I'm absolutely satisfied with my public education. The point is not so much what you learn as how to learn and why to learn.

Honestly, I see little value in teaching religion in schools. This is not only because I am an atheist and that, to me, such a class would be akin to having a class on teaching about fairy tale creatures, but mostly it is because religion is really such a touchy subject that I don't think most people would be able to agree on it. Some religious parents might not be impressed that their children are being told of "false" religions, some parents might feel like it is a waste of time to teach about, etc. I think that this is the same sort of reason that government affairs are entirely separate from the church--Absolutely too much controversy.

Evolution on the other hand, has on a large scale been documented. I have to admit that I have a giggle when people do specifically phrase it as "If humans came from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys?" It's not much different than saying "If everything eventually evolved from single celled organisms, why are there still single celled organisms?"

I think that evolution is so ridiculously simplified by so many individuals, and this is where the disconnect comes from. I think on a small scale, it's almost silly not to believe that it occurs, either through the process of recombination (breeding, for example) or mutation, but thinking that one day an ape had a human baby is definitely silly sounding and hard to believe.

Anyway, I completely agree with Harry... I think that people really ought to take a step back and look at why other people's personal beliefs are any of their business. I don't know why anyone should get angry or offensive with anyone else because they believe or don't believe in a god. I don't know why anyone should be hurtful towards people of a different skin colour; it's honestly not like that person's genes have any negative effect on your life.

It's depressing how many people still follow such infantile and destructive mindsets as to hurt or aggress people on the simple basis that they are not like them in every way. Until we get past these acts as a whole, we're just going to continue running around in anti-social circles until doomsday.

As I understood it, liberal arts are nothing more than the general education you get from growing up in a household that isn't completely devoid of education. This is stuff that should be common knowledge passed on from generation to generation without having to waste public resources teaching it.

I seriously hope that the cases you handle in the future of your chosen profession do not taint these beliefs you currently hold.

I say with honesty that I will hold my beliefs with fervor, no matter what I encounter.

I had an "intro to world religions" course when I was in high school. I live in a very "old school hippy" town (think people living in yurt communes and growing their own food). And I think it's because of this that the class was approached exactly like HarryB suggested. We learned about the origins, history, and major beliefs of what was considered at the time to be the "major world religions". Now, I am an atheist as well (have been since I was very very young through my own discovery and choosing) and I think that learning about a MAJOR piece of someone's life (ie religion) helps to understand people and their morals. It's probably a very narrow minded statement to make, but I think I am a better educated and more tolerant person because, in part, what I learned in this class. I will admit that for the vast majority of my teens and early twenties, I fully intended on being either a history, archaeology or anthropology major, so I spent a lot of time on my own reading about things like religion because I find faith's influence on history to be a fascinating subject from a scientific standpoint. But that class is definitely one of the seeds that spurred me to learn about the others' faiths, if not from a theological standpoint, at least from an earnest interest to be informed.

I couldn't have worded it better myself. Never in this proposed class would a student be told what to believe; simply that there are differing views - and what those views are. I know many people who are intolerant of simple things from another culture's religion simply because they never knew that religion did that thing...

no offense to those who worship but I honestly see no benefit to teaching it in school, it has no real world value to survive in todays world. plus most american kids are dumb as it is.

so when ray ray is late on his rent and the sherrif and landlord is about to evict him he can pray all he wants but that ain't gonna stop him from being out in the cold.

kids need to be taught real world information that will help them in todays world. math, english, science, history, and such.

my daughter goes to catholic school, they do teach some religion, and moral values, but I also teach her so she's not completely delusional about the matter. she's in 6th grade but most her classes are 12th grade and college courses, she's testing for john hopkins uni. since they expressed interest in her scores. ( she's scored in the top 95%in the country)
yes I'm proud as hell of her, she has my brains and her mothers looks.(thank god for that)*LOL*

I don't think they should be taught as something factual or in an indoctrinating way. I'm saying it should be taught as a frame of reference. General public education (grades K-12 in the US) should be all about giving kids a broad frame of reference so they are well equipped to handle the world around them. Like it or not, religion plays a LARGE part in a lot of peoples' decision making, so it is useful information in so far as being able to understand (not agree with) decisions some people tend to make.

I have always been of the opinion that no information is bad information when properly used, and refusing to learn about something is just self-imposed ignorance. At the risk of sounding very "80's after school special", the more you know, the better off you will be.



Are they testing her to see if she's eligible for their Talented Youth or Individual Advancement programs? If it is, I highly recommend the programs. I spent 3 summers going to their CTY courses in California the summers of my 6th, 7th and 8th grade years. I LOVED it, it was awesome to be able to actually be challenged in school at that level.

Unfortunately government and religion are not separate in the US and probably everywhere else. Religion has a huge influence on politics. How do you think Bush Jr. won the second time? Didn't God tell Bush to invade Iraq? Fuck religion. Practically every war fought is because of religion. Religion is all about power and control. And they use fear to get that. Just how Bush got his stupid shit to pass.

I have no big issue with religions being taught in public schools, provided 1) they are taught as they do other theological studies like the ancient Greek and Egyptian deities, and 2) if the school does not have sufficient resources, the teaching of truly necessary subjects like math and science is not hindered in favor of religion.

In my opinion it's best taught (if it's taught at all) as one of several cultural variables...like diet, politics, philosophy and fashions...not as science as many are attempting to do.

Shit, diet (healthy eating) should be taught as a mandatory subject. Look at the way things are going. Everyone is getting fatter and unhealthier. And it's a big problem. Get everyone to eat healthy and our healthcare problem would go away.

But as long as people choose to eat all the cheap unhealthy food that is available, things are going to get worse. Of course the drug companies and HMOs want everyone to be unhealthy. They won't rake in millions and billions of dollars if everyone is healthy.

When I said "diet" I wasn't talking about health. I was talking about the variations in people's diet in different parts of the world according to their local culture. There are places where people regularly eat raw fish, other places people eat dogs, or squirrels, moose, or whatever...dpending on their culture and what is available.

As the world grows and connects, these differences in diet become less dependent on where you live and seemingly more dependent on how much you cling to tradition.

how true. I'm shutting off all tv's in the house for one hour, in that time my wife and daughter have to exercise.
I had my therapy and my client was amazed at my stamina and strength.
I ended up pushing them to push me harder. on the bike they told me to pedal at 50rpm, I did 100rpm averaged 96rpm.
treadmill they started at level 3, I had them take it up to level 6.

and I didn't break a sweat.*LOL*

As far as religious classes are concerned, I took a "World Religions" class last year, and a somewhat more focused "Western Religions" this semester, and enjoyed both. The former was teaching a (albeit very brief) history, philosophy, beliefs, and practices of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Budhism, and a couple other East-Asian ones I can't put a name to right now. And frankly, it was all stuff I wish I'd learned back in high school. It would have done me a lot more good than knowing what Columbus or Jaques Cartier did. And both my teachers were pretty good. Neither one demonstrated any bias/favor towards any particular faith, and presented them all equally, although it was obvious that they knew more concerning some of them than others. Which is normal, really.

As someone already stated, regardless of one's own beliefs (or lack thereof), religion plays a large role in many people's lives. Maybe even a majority of people. Understanding their beliefs can help one to understand how they think, and why they act the way they do. Understanding others can help reduce conflicts. Probably not eliminate them, but reduce, perhaps.

As my teachers pointed out, there is a difference between Religious Studies and Theology. Religious studies is the study of religions, whether all or one in particular, from an objective view. Theology is also the study of religion, but incorporates/implies belief or profession of faith. Religious Studies is important for all and should be taught in all schools/universities where possible. Theology, on the other hand, should be taught by their respective Churches/Religions, and are only as important to any particular person as their personal beliefs are. For some very, for some not at all, but it's their own choice to study/attend as they will.

Personally, I consider a religious element to be an essential component of education specifically for that reason, but also to help people realize that what *they* believe is NOT the only world view, may not even be in the majority.

Oh, and a basic course on nutrition ought to be mandatory too, but, like for religious studies, the people who most need it would probably ignore it anyway.