A Piece To The Puzzle of Religious Illiteracy
Ioan Browne
The Sacred And Profane
The practice of religions preaching gospel and enlightening followers on religion outside of the USA’s main hub of education is something that confuses me. Why aren’t we implementing religious studies into schools across our nation? A modern K-12 education puts little to no emphasis on teaching religious studies to students who attend public schools in America. It is entirely legal and should be taught. So, all of this comes to me as a surprise; after all, America has the largest Christian population in the world. I believe that the lack of religious studies related programs and classes in the K-12 system helps explain why the average American Christian is religiously illiterate. This applies to other religions too, but the issue of religious illiteracy concerns American Christians far more so than other religions in America. With a proper education on religion, American youth can create a healthier, more literate community surrounding not just Christianity in America but the plethora of other religions that are growing and spreading throughout the states. David G. McAfee, a religious studies major (UCSB) turned journalist, who now writes for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science (and others) states that “The fact remains that people, more often than not, inherit their religious beliefs from parents or childhood mentors. There is a crucial period in which a child begins to ask questions about life and wonder about the origin of existence and, in a religious family, these questions are typically answered in a religious context. The process begins with childhood baptisms, forced participation in religious rituals from a young age, and teaching children who are too young to understand that their religion is the only correct one, and sometimes that all others will burn in Hell.” (McAfee). He goes on to further back up his claim stating that “We should teach religion to children because, by learning about the origins of myths and the histories of various religious institutions, they can see all religions as part of the same phenomenon — and not see one as inherently superior to all others.” (McAfee). It’s an exciting new opportunity allowing for kids to open doors to a whole new world that they may have never known existed. Kathy Mclinn, a writer for George Lucas Educational Foundation, writes that “Comparing and contrasting religions offers enormous opportunities to not only see fundamental differences but also similarities, which students can analyze and draw conclusions about.” Education on religion in K-12 will help oncoming generations to pilot their chosen religion on the absolute best trajectory possible.
Pew Research Center. pewforum.org
The largest combatting force to religion making it into a public school’s classroom is the Supreme Court. In the Supreme Court’s opinion, the main issue surrounding all of this is that it isn’t morally correct to teach just one religion. Proving to them that there’s more being taught than just Christianity is done through simply reading between the lines. The Supreme Court hasn’t ruled it illegal exactly, however, it is easily made to be “offendable”. Ways to make teaching religion unoffendable? The Supreme Court came up with a list of questions for teachers to follow if they do decide to teach about religion. The list goes as follows: “Do I have a distinct educational or civic purpose in mind? If so, what is it? (It may not be the purpose of the public school to promote or denigrate religion.). Have I done what I can to ensure that this activity is not designed in any way to either promote or inhibit religion? Does this activity serve the educational mission of the school or the academic goals of the course? Have I done what I can to ensure that no student or parent may be made to feel like an outsider, and not a full member of the community, by this activity? If I am teaching about religion, am I balanced, accurate, and academic in my approach?” (Chapter 1. Part II. Core Issues for All Schools to Consider). The keyword in this list is “balanced”. As long as teachers teach a varied interreligious curriculum, then all will be well. I’m not saying that every single religion to ever exist should be taught but at least the major religions that currently reside in the U.S..
The Supreme Court building. supremecourt.gov/about/courtbuilding
The American Academy of Religion, an establishment of individuals who works tirelessly to push religion into K-12 programs, theoreticized that the another step needed to achieve the goal of widespread religious studies in the American K-12 education system is training our current teachers in religious studies, as evidently, most are fairly religiously illiterate. They state “Given that religion is widely misunderstood and often controversial, this gap in training and resources placed teachers in an untenable situation” (American Academy of Religion). Training teachers to be proficient in teaching the field of religious studies will undoubtedly cost more money, something that the federal and state governments won’t be exactly too happy to hear.
Currently, religious education is taught through external parties, which can make room for bias and poor teaching. K12 Academics, a website specializing in education reform, writes that “In the United States, religious education is often provided through supplementary “Sunday school”, “Hebrew school”, catechism classes, etc. taught to children at their family’s place of worship, either in conjunction with worship services or some other time during the week, after weekday school classes. Some families believe supplementary religious education is inadequate, and send their children to private religious schools, called parochial schools when they are affiliated with a specific parish or congregation.” (K12 Academics). As stated earlier, educating our youth on religion will create more inclusivity, and spin peoples current opinions on religion as non progressive and discriminate into something more of the latter.
Works Cited
Mclinn, Kathy. Edutopia. 30 November. 2014.
https://www.edutopia.org/profile/kathy-mclinn
McAfee, David G. Richard Dawkins. 28 September. 2013.
https://richarddawkins.net/2013/09/why-we-should-teach-religion-to-children/
Charles C. Haynes, Sam Chaltain, John E. Ferguson Jr., David L. Hudson Jr. and Oliver Thomas. No Date.
K12 Academics, no author. No date.
https://www.k12academics.com/education-subjects/religious-education