Many religious parents basically agree that education should help give our children the knowledge and skills they need to forge successful lives and to participate fruitfully in society. Some religious parents, though, see education as about training their children to be followers of that religion.
Many of the conservatives who warned me my entire life about the coming of the "jackbooted thugs" now stand on the sidelines and cheer as federal agents murder citizens in cold blood in the streets of America.
What was these Democrats' great crime, their act of sedition, according to Trump? They pointed out the obvious: that members of the military should not follow illegal orders. This point is not remotely controversial among serious, intellectually honest people.
Riverstone is, by design, as much an indoctrination center as a school.
"I'm not here to make campaign promises," Marx assured his supporters during his announcement speech; "I'm not even here to talk much about the problem." He was there to be a leader called by God.
In short, a secular education understands people as part of the natural world, whereas a sectarian religious education envisions people, or at least God's chosen or favored people, as participants in God's divine plan for humanity.
Now, the Republican Party is dogmatically anti-abortion. It was not always so.
Why certain self-identified Christians are so obsessed with whether other people have a penis or a vagina remains a mystery.
Religious fervor, especially when it claims to side with God against demonic forces, can be a powerful motivator.
If you think that being anti-LGBTQ is inherently hateful, as I do, then you will consider Focus on the Family a hateful group.
