Letter: Whose morality would schools subscribe to?

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 1998 | 2:44 a.m.

That sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately, it is completely unworkable in a society where we have many different religions, each claiming to have the only valid code of morality.

When Christians claim that the Bible is the only source of morality, and when Muslims claim the moral philosophy must originate in the Koran, and when all religionists claim that atheists cannot be moral -- then what source do we use to teach moral philosophy in the schools?

I agree with Baker that our society desperately needs to inculcate its children with a moral code. But that is parental responsibility. I don't want the state legislators teaching my grandchildren what is moral.

We must recognize that there are various sources for concepts of morality and having only selected sources taught in public schools would usurp the rights of parents and probably constitute blatant constitutional violations.

Mel Lipman

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