Fourth "R," The
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Charles C Haynes
Os Guinness
Dianne Berreth
Norman Lear
Martin Marty
Eric Sevareid
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
A CBS News special on the movement to reinstate the teaching of religion in public schools, at present prohibited by the Constitution's clause banning "an establishment of religion" by the state. Religious reformers dismiss this as a minor detail, arguing that teaching religion in taxpayer-funded schools won't necessarily lead to the founding of a "state church." Secular humanists respond, appeals to the Constitution aside, that while most religions teach the doctrine of truth as revealed by the deity, the entire tradition of modern science and education is based on the notion of truth as something derived from investigation and the exercise of reason. Humanists fear that children thus trained would find it impossible to avoid questioning the tenets of most faiths, thereby evoking the ire of their instructors in religion class for showing the very sort of inquisitiveness that is such a positive quality in their other classes.
