If you look up ‘religion’ on Wikipedia, the quick definition you get is (emphasis ours):
Religion is usually defined as a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements; however, there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacred things, faith, a supernatural being or supernatural beings or “some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life”.
One could easily conclude that if you boil it down, every religion is represented by a set of behaviors and practices, based on a set of beliefs, that are substantiated with faith (as opposed to widely repeatable proof). When shared with others and practiced, you have religion. When you seek to convert others, you have evangelism.
A religion and its evangelism is alive and well at Montgomery County Public Schools. In fact, it has been built into curriculums. It has been incorporated into library materials. Teachers receive training on it. Classroom discussions are focused on it. Money is allocated to it. Clubs and committees are founded on it. Discipline measures are pursued for ignoring it. Children are encouraged to hide from their parents their teachings on it. It’s not Christianity. Or Judaism. Or Islam. Or Hinduism. In fact, none of those religions have a policy to reduce stigmatization, encourage peers to take inclusive actions, foster in-depth discussion to provide an atmosphere of acceptance, or encourage an expression of it by every individual. In fact, MCPS does not recognize that any of those religions define who a person is or that they are central to a person’s self-definition and understanding – that potentially being a Muslim might be as big a part of an identity as name or gender. What MCPS has decided though is that the religion of transgenderism will be preached in the walls of schools and will be done so without any other religions receiving equal support.
