Would a purely historical perspective include the views of Native Americans? Don't count on it. If it did, it would debunk the fairy tale we have all been taught!

I'm always sad to see extremism on either side of the teaching debate (or any debate for that matter). I'm also disappointed in stories like this where an educator attempts to drop the religious context as a payback. I have been an athiest for most of my life, but religion(s) has(have) always been of high interest to me. You simply cannot remove them from any historical perspective, as religion is nearly always a necessary context. Yes, American history is does a terrible job on any Native American perspective, but the answer is not to slight another group.

I am not in favor of "slighting" any group. I am in favor of accuracy, neutrality, especially when we are talking about K-12 education.
Teachers are there to teach, not to give opinions. Students, armed with information from all sides SHOULD learn to think for themselves, draw their own conclusions and not just parrot teachers).
When we realize that, our whole educational system will again produce analitical thinkers, those rare specimens in high schools nowadays.

Amen, Brother. It's time to stop teaching nonsense of any kind in schools. It is nonsense to pretend that the creation account in Genesis is science. It is also nonsense to think you can know ANYTHING whatsoever about the Plymouth colony or the Massachusetts Bay Company without understanding the settlers' relationship with their religion and with the Established Creed in England.

Shame on those who teach nonsense!

I'm basically in agreement with Joshua here -- if you omit the history of religions from your history, then a lot of your history isn't going to make much sense at all. E.g., how else are you going to make sense of why on earth the pilgrims bothered pilgrimizing in the first place? (Or why they are called 'pilgrims'?)

I do wonder, though, whether there isn't plenty of pressure on educators that goes in the other direction -- namely, when the history of religion isn't too rosy. Are the various horrors that were committed in the wake of the Reformation included in the European history curriculum, for example? Or the way that various 'heretical' groups were treated from late antiquity on? I'd bet that those are regularly skimped on, too.

So I'm guessing that the school's actions should not be interpreted as pro-secular, but rather as anti-raising-a-fuss.

Chuck: you mean "Amen Sister" :)