Nevertheless, I believe that basic religious training does have a place in school – not in the form of indoctrination or missionizing, but to give students a way to relate to religious issues as they mature.

There are likely many subjects to which this can be compared, but one example – which may seem wildly incongruous – that operates under parallel principles is sex education.

Clearly, the aim of such classes is not to provide practical experience. Instead, sex education is based on the understanding that young people have natural urges that will somehow express themselves and that this is something that the students will encounter, in one way or another. Before such education became commonplace, children were left to acquire knowledge about the subject from garbled pieces of information they got from their friends, or from very reluctant – and not much more illuminating – explanations they got at home.

This reasoning can also apply to religious instruction. There is a need to give children at least some basic and true notions about the subject. The schools should not be proselytizing. They should not be dictating how these concepts are used practically by the students. But at least young people will have the chance to acquire basic knowledge about what they will or will not practice in their later years.

These arguments apply to elementary and high school students alike. However, because of the general inattention of smaller children to what they learn in school, it is worthwhile to provide this training to young adults as well so that they gain some knowledge, not preaching, which will enable them to make reasonable and informed decisions as adults.