Maybe it is splitting hairs, but I prefer to think the public schools should be teaching religion education, not 'religious' education. I think courses in comparative religion are fine but I don't think the public school is the place to teach theology/doctrine/dogma as fact but only as objective differences between various religious groups.
Certainly any honest history will include the role that religion has played in the exploration and settlement of the New World, the first settlers arriving here, and how American societies evolved and grew, the foundations of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the customs, traditions, values, and laws we live by.
Any honest science class will neither dispute nor challenge a child's belief in the Genesis Creation stories and a good science class allowing for critical thinking--there can be no science without critical thinking--will include intelligent design as one theory of the development of the universe along with the Big Bang Theory and Darwin, none of which have to be mutually exclusive.
