The recent controversy over evolution in Kansas has once again caused the rest of the world to view the US educational system with ridicule and disdain.
It's not so much that people choose believe that God created the universe, or that evolution was guided by a higher power, it's more the ignorance of those that are attempting to insert religion into the science classroom.
In Europe we have an answer to this, which is to teach a separate subject called Religious Education or Religious Studies. This is not in-school preaching (which does occur in many state run European schools), but rather the study of religion and its history. In the UK, for example, we learned about the history and meaning behind Greek and Roman Mythology, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism and Islam.
So like I said, it's not that people wish to pursue their particular religious beliefs that open the US to ridicule and derision, it's when fundamentalist Christians are allowed to interfere with the school's curriculum.
Take for example the attempt by the Kansas State School board to have the words "Evolution is a scientific theory, not a fact" stuck on the front cover of science textbooks dealing with that subject.
Several websites have popped up on the `net trying to explain to such people what the term "Scientific Theory" actually means, for example:-
A scientific theory is the description of the methods used to prove, including many documented experiments or examples, that a scientific principle is either true or false.
e.g. By heating water to 100 degrees Celsius, I have found that water turns from a liquid to gaseous state at this temperature. I have also found, using a distillation experiment, that the principle water turns from a liquid to gaseous state at 100 degrees Celsius can be used to separate impurities, such as salt, from water.
So the words "Evolution is a scientific theory, not a fact" would be understood by the scientific community to mean "Evolution is a description of the methods used to prove a scientific principle, not a fact". In other words it's complete gibberish.
If you allow a school board that doesn't appear to understand the basic terminology of science the right to decide what should or shouldn't be included in a science curriculum, you open yourself up for ridicule and derision.
The scary part is not that religious fundamentalists wish to corrupt the education of our children with religious beliefs (after all we see this happening in many parts of the world), but that the members of the school board supposedly educated to a graduate level are willing to let them do it. We were willing to ridicule and treat the Taliban with disdain for interfering with the education system in Afghanistan. How is this any different from allowing Christian fundamentalists to interfer with the education of US children?
Let me put it another way, what do you think the reaction would be if the same board insisted on putting stickers on the front cover of every Bible within school libraries stating "The events of this book have been known to be so edited over the course of history, that it is likely the contents of this book are a fictional story rather than a historical text."
Had the courts allowed them to continue the practice of suggesting the theory of evolution was still under debate, it would have been no less inflammatory than the statement above.
Quite correctly those that have no belief in a particular religion should also have no say as to whether that religion is true or false. Equally those that do not have the required knowledge of a particular subject should not be allowed to decide which parts of that subject are true and which are still under debate.
Teaching a seperate subject such as Religious Studies can be a contentious issue. It's extremely difficult to find the right kind of person to teach this subject, someone who has the appropriate respect for spirituality whilst at the same time does their best not to bias in favour of one particular religion or set of beliefs.
However if only a few children from each class come away with a better understanding of other cultures and their histories, you are on the way to creating a society that has less fear of places like the Middle East. It's niaive to say the least that you will irradicate the kind of events that are occuring in Lebannon, or that you will end all prejudice and fear; but it will help if our statesmen of the future are at least versed in the cultures of that region from an early age.