Reply #106: I've no objection to your statements, but they do not address the issue...

[Robert Cooper]

...I've raised.

It seems to me inhibiting a religion does not require the establishment of a competing religion (tho' it might be argued this is being done as well). Communists inhibit religion without replacing it with another religion.

Christian literalists are expected to provide the "right" answers to school questions. If asked "how did humanity come into existence", the correct answer would be something like "descended from apes".

However, that is not the "truth" according to their religious faith. They must "lie" to get full marks on the question. If they provide their religious "truth" ("God created us") they get no score on the question.

Clearly, they are penalized by the state for holding certain religious beliefs to be true. Penalizing them for holding certain religious beliefs is persecution. Those whose religious beliefs are not in conflict with secular education are rewarded when they answer questions with secular "truths".

This certainly appears to be a matter of favouring some religious beliefs over others, and taking a direct hand in ending the unfavoured beliefs through the education of "impressionable" children whose participation is "involuntary".

If your children are indoctrinated into beliefs that your religion rejects, how does this not conflict with Items 2 and 3 of the Lemon test?