Just the facts...

This may sound hypocritical and unusual coming from a TA in a Comparative Religion department, but I just want the facts...
I am currently grading my REL101 midterms. The class is American Religious Encounters and on the midterm we covered Protestant Christianity, Catholicism, and Judaism from colonial period to the present.
We introduced the different traditions with background about the European origins of these religions and we also discussed the relevance of these traditions to contemporary life - clips from Doubt, discussions of the ordination of Gene Robinson as the first homosexual Episcopal Bishop, impressions of Mel Brooks by Peter Williams... We focused on the historical aspects and implications of these religions, how they have influenced and been influenced by America through various eras...
So why, when I ask them to write about 1 tradition from the colonial period to present, do I get an opinion paper about the downfall of Christian society due to the negative influences of American culture????
Please students, just write the facts...where is your evidence from the book for these statements? This is NOT AN OPINION PIECE. You are not a commentator for the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, trust me, your writing is not that good.
Why don't you proofread? Why don't you spell check? I could handle these minute issues if you could clearly explain why you chose to support your discussion of the Scopes Trial with "Now I hear that many schools do not even allow their elementary students to sing the Pledge of Allegiance." WHY???

Unfortunately, I do not see this trend ending soon. With the Texas Board of Education "re-writing" history, I will only continue to read students' sentences like this: "Our nation was founded by great Christian men that wrote our Constitution based on the bible as there source, but in todays world no one focuses on every day God and religion and it becomes more absent from our lifes everyday."

I literally ran to my tissue box this morning reading this student's paper...what did I do wrong that my students cannot comprehend a historical analysis instead of an editorial?
I just want the facts...
This has made me even more sure that this is what I want to do...teach college students how to understand religion in America not just based in black and white opinions, but in the gray areas of real life.
*All of these quotes are exaggerations similar to actual students' papers...

Perhaps unrelated note: I'm running for Grad Student Association President - any thoughts?