“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble,” say the witches of Macbeth as they stir the pot of incantations.

In SC, the pot of government education is stirred by five state agencies: the State Department of Education led by the elected State Superintendent, the State Board of Education, the Education Oversight Committee (EOC), the State Legislature, and, to a lesser degree, the governor. The result is no less than toil and trouble.

This week the EOC, the agency responsible for making schools accountable, recommended that religion be made a part of the science curriculum in government schools in SC. They bowed to pressure from the Christian Right and its de facto leader, Sen. Mike Fair, in their battle against evolution. However disguised in PCSpeak, it is clearly an attempt to proselytize Christian beliefs in the classroom. Thank God, Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum is opposed to the attack on scientific inquiry.

Sen. Fair and his disciples achieved a 10 to 2 vote in the EOC. Only Traci Young Cooper and Wallace A. Hall bravely stood their ground. Regrettably, two local leaders, Rep. Bill Cotty and Superintendent of Education Wannabe Bob Staton, joined the Christian Soldiers in their assault on reason. They apparently did not have the fortitude to separate their spiritual beliefs from their government obligation. It is possible to be a “religious person” and oppose the teaching of religion in government schools.

If passed by the other agencies stirring the pot, the insertion of religion in the government classroom will eventually be struck down by the courts. Our constitution demands the separation of church and state. Our Founding Fathers realized the danger of a state religion. Government schools that teach sectarian religion as a part of the curriculum are clearly in violation of this American liberty.

As long as religious fanatics continue to convert us all, the cauldron will bubble. Those of us who love liberty must “keep the faith” in our Bill of Rights.

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair:

Hover through the fog and filthy air.”