Public schools, Catholicism, and "Confusion"

I just want to add one additional criticism to Rick's thoughtful dissection of the court ruling barring parents from exposing their child to Wicca given his attendance at a Catholic school. If a child's "confusion" arising from the conflict between the messages expressed in the home and school environments becomes a proper ground on which to define the child's best interests, religious folks of all stripes are in for a rough ride. I haven't read the opinion itself, but it seems that the logic could apply equally to Catholic parents sending their child to public school (or to a secular private school, if the voluntariness of the attendance decision undergirds the court's reasoning). A court could reason that exposure to Catholicism creates too much confusion for a child exposed to public school values, particularly in the areas of homosexuality and gender equality. Another reason to defend government neutrality as an (admittedly elusive) guiding ideal in this area.

Rob