Should public schools set up programs and let students leave school for time every week in order to receive religious instruction? Some people think so - apparently, it isn't good enough to have religious education on Sundays or at home.

Jon Laird writes in defense of "release programs" that students out of public school to receive religious instruction:

The editorial challenges that being voluntary “does not ensure that there are not other social factors, namely peer pressure, influencing the decisions of these children and parents.” Since when is practicing religion only a private thing? If the vast majority of these students are Christian (they are), and they practice what they believe on a daily basis (Christianity isn’t just limited to church, it’s a way of life), then that means that there is “peer pressure” by example on a daily basis from the large percentage of Christian students.

Such peer pressure does not, however, come with the official approval of the school system — yet that's just what happens when the school lets students leave to get religious instruction every week. And why are they participating in such a program in the first place? Why aren't children receiving this instruction on Sundays? Why does time need to be taken away from public school instruction? Laird doesn't address any of this, and for good reason I suspect.

Read More:

• Separation of Church and State 101
• Church and State News
• Religion in Public Schools
• Secularism 101