IT IS OKAY

IT’S NOT OKAY

It is OK to teach about religion. This includes academic consideration of beliefs and practices, the role of religion in history and contemporary society, and religious themes in music, art, and literature.

It’s not OK to do religious indoctrination or impose or advocate acceptance of any worldview or participate in any religious activity with students. [A classroom teacher represents the state and must refrain from such actions.]

It is OK to conduct studies about religion in a neutral and academic way. [A public school must conduct a secular program of education, presented objectively.]

It’s not OK to bias curriculum selection and instruction about religion toward worldview(s) that you hold or favor or against those to which you are averse.

It is OK to teach about religion with a view to diversity. [To reflect the spirit of civic inclusiveness apropos to a democratic and pluralistic society, your teaching about religion can and should include teaching about nonreligious as well as religious worldviews, and about the role of both religious and nonreligious individuals and groups in the history and culture of the United States and other countries.]

It’s not OK to ignore that the U.S. is the most religiously diverse nation in the world, that in many parts of the nation there are numerous children from minority religious traditions and also children from families holding a nonreligious worldview, and that important societal developments have drawn their impetus from persons having these minority religious and nonreligious stances.

It is OK to consider (in an academic and age-appropriate manner) religious influences on art, music, literature, and social studies.

It’s not OK to extol, based on your own worldview rather than an academic foundation, the presumed virtues, intrinsic worth, or cultural supremacy of religion or a given religion.

It is OK to teach about the revered scriptures of any religion as literature, or about the historic influences of such scriptures within a culture, if the lesson is secular, religiously neutral and objective.

It’s not OK to teach any religion’s scriptural accounts (e.g., a biblical rendition) as history or fact because that is promoting religious doctrine.

It is OK to use holiday themes based objectively on their aesthetic or academic value (i.e., focusing on origin, history, and generally agreed-upon meaning of the observance).

It’s not OK to use holiday themes as a vehicle for advocating any religion or for advancing religious belief.