|
| |
|
"The First Amendment is ... a vital living
principle,
a call to action, and a demand that each generation
reaffirm its
connection to the basic idea that is America --
that we are a free people who
protect our freedoms
by respecting the freedom of others who differ from
us."
--Richard W. Riley, U. S. Secretary of Education
We recognize that the religion arena is frequently a contentious
one. It consists of diverse
and often contradictory worldviews and is fraught with constitutional perplexities.
With all the challenges, what can we ask of our public
schools? How should they go about educating
students about any
given human worldview? There have been endeavors to publish
guidelines that would be helpful to "teaching fairly and legally about
religion." This section provides a sampling.
Position Statements
"How Should I Teach About Religion"
Consensus Statement (Example)
In A Teacher's Guide to Religion in Public Schools,
First Amendment Center, 1999
Return
to Top
__________________________________________
Instruction about Religion in Public Schools
- Teaching about religion in public schools is
legal when conducted in accordance with commonly agreed-upon
guidelines, and a program of study about religion can
be appropriate to, and of significant worth in, a youngster’s
general education.
- Teaching about religion should take place only
as part of a well-defined academic curriculum—one that evidences religious
neutrality and encompasses age-appropriate subject matter, with teaching
objectives that are clearly stated and public.
- Teaching about religion should not
take place unless
the teacher has suitable academic background in the subject matter, adequate
training to guide a secular program of
study, and sufficient resources to
conduct instruction fully in keeping with the following three guidelines
(4-6).
- Teaching about religion must be accomplished within the framework of the
civil public school, which recognizes that there is no single normative
culture or religion for all students to accept.
- Teaching about religion should be conducted in a spirit of fairness and inclusiveness, acknowledging the actuality and nature of religious and
nonreligious diversity among the body politic, and respectful of all students’
freedom to hold a religious worldview or a
nonreligious
worldview.
- Teaching about religion in public education needs to serve the interests of
a pluralistic society, preparing students to meet with aplomb the
full spectrum of religious and nonreligious diversity within the public realm.
Return
to Top
This 1998 position statement of the National Council for the Social Studies
focuses exclusively upon the religious worldview, without recognition that many
of the events of history arose from distinctly nonreligious outlooks. Thus, the
position is a truncated view of a broader picture, which would encompass both
the religious and nonreligious worldviews, as well as historic interactions
between them.
Return
to Top
From the Presidential Guidelines—distributed by the U.S.
Department of Education, 1998:
Public schools may not provide religious instruction, but they may teach about
religion, including the Bible or other scripture: the history of religion,
comparative religion, the Bible (or other scripture)-as-literature, and the role
of religion in the history of the United States and other countries all are
permissible public school subjects. Similarly, it is permissible to consider
religious influences on art, music, literature, and social studies. Although
public schools may teach about religious holidays, including their religious
aspects, and may celebrate the secular aspects of holidays, schools may not
observe holidays as religious events or promote such observance by students.
Richard W. Riley, Former U.S. Secretary of Education
The above paragraph is excerpted from the Religious Expression in Public
Schools statement that accompanies Secretary Riley’s letter to school
administrators, May 30, 1998. The
paragraph is the only portion that specifically discusses the topic of teaching about
religion. Most of the document concentrates on other aspects
of religion and public education (e.g., school prayer, graduations, official
neutrality concerning religious activity, student released time).
Secretary Riley concludes his letter to
educators with the following quotation.
… I encourage teachers and
principals to see the First Amendment as something more than a piece of dry, old
parchment locked away in the national attic gathering dust. It is a vital living
principle, a call to action, and a demand that each generation reaffirm its
connection to the basic idea that is America -- that we are a free people who
protect our freedoms by respecting the freedom of others who differ from
us.
Our history as a nation reflects the history of the Puritan, the Quaker, the
Baptist, the Catholic, the Jew and many others fleeing persecution to find
religious freedom in America. The United States remains the most successful
experiment in religious freedom that the world has ever known because the First
Amendment uniquely balances freedom of private religious belief and expression
with freedom from state-imposed religious expression.
Public schools can neither foster religion nor preclude it. Our public schools
must treat religion with fairness and respect and vigorously protect religious
expression as well as the freedom of conscience of all other students. In so
doing our public schools reaffirm the First Amendment and enrich the lives of
their students.
Return
to Top
This early and influential 1988 statement, endorsed by
17 organizations, continues to be very useful in helping educators to distinguish between teaching about religion in public
schools and religious indoctrination:
 | The school’s approach to
religion is academic, not devotional. |
| The school may strive for student awareness of religions, but should not
press for student acceptance of any religion. |
| The school may sponsor study about religion, but may not sponsor the
practice of any religion. |
| The school may expose students to a diversity of religious views, but may
not impose, discourage, or encourage any particular view. |
| The school may educate about all religions, but may not promote or
denigrate any religion. |
| The school may inform the student about various beliefs, but should not
seek to conform him or her to any particular belief. |
These six bulleted guidelines have been endorsed by
the
following organizations: American Association of School Administrators, American
Federation of Teachers, American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress,
Anti-Defamation League, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development,
Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, Catholic League for Religious and
Civil Rights, Christian Educators Association International, Christian Legal
Society, Council on Islamic Education, National Association of Elementary School
Principals, National Association of Evangelicals, National Association of
Secondary School Principals, National Council of Churches of Christ in the
U.S.A., National Council for the Social Studies, National Education Association,
National PTA, National School Boards Association, Union of American Hebrew
Congregations, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.
Note: Educators concerned about pluralism need to be aware that, despite
generally the well-intentioned efforts of participating groups to reach a common sense
"common ground" for issuing guidance to teachers, these mainstream consensus endeavors
are essentially political in nature. As such, they may tend to disregard the voice and ignore the concerns of citizens
whose worldviews are unfamiliar or unpopular. Among the
worldview organizations that participate in a consensus endeavor, varied
monotheistic worldviews are generally well represented, but pantheistic,
polytheistic, and atheistic are not. And, although secular educational,
and civic organizations are usually involved, that is not the same as having
participant groups representing nonreligious worldviews. [For further
discussion of related issues, see Reaching
Consensus and Secular vs. Nonreligious.]
Return
to Top
A 1999 position statement specifically on “How should I teach
about religion?” is located in "A
Teacher's Guide to Religion in the Public Schools" this document, a product of the First Amendment Center.
This consensus statement [in Section four on page three]
has been endorsed by 21 religious and educational organizations, such as the
American Federation of Teachers, the Anti-Defamation League, Catholic League for
Religious and Civil Rights, National Association of Evangelicals, National
Education Association, National PTA, National School Boards Association, and
others. The file can be downloaded in two different formats.
Return
to Top
|
|
