[3] In support of WRE programs and faced with declining membership, churches argued that secular education didn't appropriately prepare students for adulthood because it excluded religious views of moral and ethical concepts.
[4][6] In 1948, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in re: McCollum v. Board of Education that religious classes held on public school property are unconstitutional.
Since the curriculum is evangelical in nature, Catholics fear children may be less likely to attend church on Sundays for their parish's religious instruction.
[8] The following is a partial list, sorted by state: In Fort Wayne, Indiana,[10] classes are offered to children in the third, fourth, and fifth grades.
Third graders also learn about "Hebrew traditions", among which are "Sabbath, the Greatest Commandment, synagogue school and Jesus visiting Jerusalem".
[33] Dahlia Lithwick, in her article for Slate magazine,[1] summarized several criticisms of the Weekday Religious Education program as administered at that time in Staunton, Virginia.