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https://religionandpolitics.org/2014/01/07/the-dangers-of-religious-instruction-in-public-schools/
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/10/10/public-school-students-need-to-study-religion.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/schools-should-teach-religion-what-they-shouldn-t-teach-faith-ncna844926
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_s_response_to_rick_warren?language=en
https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/religion-in-public-schools/curriculum
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/religion-should-be-in-the_b_8991746
https://www.au.org/resources/publications/religion-in-public-schools

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If religion is taught, atheism should be taught as well.

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When I heard the question, "Should we teach religion in public schools?" it made me cringe. Why? The United States is currently in the unenviable position of being near the bottom of the list of industrialized nations when it comes to teaching evolution in our public schools. As a consequence, at least half of adults outright embrace creationism and reject evolution. The rejection of reason, this religious revival we're still in the midst of, is imperiling our international standing. How can a scientifically illiterate nation compete in global market? What does it mean for our future when half our population rejects fact and accepts fable?

It is in this context that we must consider whether typical public school teachers-particularly teachers at the lower level-can truly be trusted to be objective about "teaching" religion. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is continually contacted by students and parents who encounter teachers and principals who view their captive audience of students as a ripe mission field for recruitment. We handle more than 2,000 complaints a year by members of the public concerned about violations of the separation between church and state, and the vast majority of these concern violations in our public schools. We have to closely monitor our public schools to comply with more than 60 years of clear precedent barring prayer and devotional instruction in our public schools. We've recently had to complain in more than one state about kindergarteners being forced to pray by their teachers!

This year marks the 65 th anniversary of the landmark McCollum v. Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, barring religious instruction in our public schools. Jim McCollum was the only child in his elementary school not participating in religious classes. He was persecuted, and so was his family, for pointing out that it's up to parents to instruct their children in religious beliefs. It's also the 50 th anniversary of Abington v. Schempp, barring bible-reading and recitation of the Lord's Prayer. The plaintiffs in both these cases became pariahs for speaking out against religion in their public schools. Unfortunately, even today, students who stick up for separation of church and state still often become outcasts, as demonstrated by the mistreatment of high school student Jessica Ahlquist last year. After she won a federal ruling in Rhode Island removing a prayer banner from her public high school, Jessica at one point had to be accompanied to school by police escort. She retreated to private tutoring after repeated and vicious threats of violence and retribution. Religion in our public schools creates divisiveness, and awareness of religious differences often builds walls between students.

In 1890, Catholic parents in my state of Wisconsin brought suit against the practice of devotional reading of the (Protestant) bible in the public schools. In concurring with a ruling that declared such bible reading unconstitutional, a Wisconsin State Supreme Court justice wisely noted:

There is no such source and cause of strife, quarrel, fights, malignant opposition, persecution, and war, and all evil in the state, as religion. Let it once enter our civil affairs, our government would soon be destroyed. Let it once enter our common schools, they would be destroyed.

Devotional instruction and religious exercises, of course, are very different from academic instruction-learning "about" religion. But the very way this question is posed, using the singular "religion," rather than plural "religions," reveals one of the innate dangers of such instruction. Supreme Court litigant Vashti McCollum often responded, in response to the question about teaching religion in the schools: If we teach religion, whose religion? It's nearly always the dominant religion that is "taught," with token references to other religions thrown in.

In the best of all possible public school environments, it would be ideal, of course, to include, at least at the high school level, a class on comparative religion. Most social studies and geography classes already study the religious affiliations of an area, and some of their identifying tenets. U.S. students should not grow up in ignorance of the world religions. But by the same token, nor should they grow up in ignorance of the world's dead religions, or the fact that the nonreligious and nonadherents are among the largest segments of the world, when it comes to religious identification. Today in the United States fully one in five adults and one in three young persons identifies as "nonreligious." If we're going to teach religion in the public schools, we must "teach atheism" as well. Are Americans prepared to do that in a fair and neutral manner? Will teachers point out that the nonreligious segment is the second largest "denomination," after Catholics in the United States? Ultimately, the object of any public school class, no matter the subject, ought to be to teach critical thinking skills. Are religionists willing to agree that children should be taught in public schools to question religion?

Perhaps it is religionists who should be wary of "teaching religion" in public schools. Atheists and freethinkers are often much better educated about religion and the bible than typical believers. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public life released a survey several years ago finding that when it comes to religious knowledge, atheists and agnostics score higher than any believers, who were often woefully ignorant of the tenets of their own religions. Members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation often tell us they came to their rejection of religion after reading the bible. A dispassionate and academic study of religions' claims, as opposed to devotional memorization and parroting of the more palatable passages of the bible, almost inevitably will lead any thinker to realize: There are thousands of religions in the world, all claiming to be the One Truth Faith. They can't all be right ... Maybe, they're all wrong!

Annie Laurie Gaylor is co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

Also In the Discussion
By Mark A. Chancey

By Joseph Laycock

By Cynthia N. Dunbar

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The Dangers of Religious Instruction in Public Schools | Religion & Politics

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When I heard the question, "Should we teach religion in public schools?" it made me cringe. Why? The United States is currently in the unenviable position of being near the bottom of the list of industrialized nations when it comes to teaching evolution in our public schools.

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Religion should be taught but not isolated to faith. Children should have an understanding about different religions.

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Should religion be taught in public schools?

Yes, but not in the ways you might think.

There has been much publicity in recent years highlighting how ignorant U.S. citizens are about religion. The 2010 U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey conducted by the Pew Research Center (the most recent available of its type), for example, revealed that only 66 percent of Christians surveyed knew that Genesis is the first book of the Bible, fewer than half of Americans knew that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist, and even fewer knew that Shiva and Vishnu were associated with Hinduism.

The Pew survey reflects the same kinds of knowledge about religion that students might learn in U.S. public schools. For example, in nearly all world history or world culture textbooks, students will find a "religion unit" with the primary content represented through three to five pages of multicolored charts representing the "major world religions" and highlighting their "facts" such as number of adherents, geographical location, founder or major figures, scripture, ritual practices, and beliefs. Here students learn about the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, the Five Pillars of Islam, and the 10 Commandments of Judaism and Christianity.

At first glance, this may sound like a good vehicle to strengthen knowledge about religion, but the limitation of this approach is quickly revealed when reading the morning news. How will knowing the Four Noble Truths help students understand how some Buddhists in Myanmar are actively engaged in the persecution of minority Rohingya Muslims? Or how does knowing the 10 Commandments help explain why 80 percent of white Evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election? Or how will knowing the Five Pillars of Islam help explain the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan?

The limitations are even more apparent when considering history. How can knowing the Christian Beatitudes explain the Crusades or the Inquisition or Christian support for chattel slavery?

It is important to note, of course, that there are counter-examples for each of the illustrations I cite. Though some Buddhists in Myanmar are promoting the persecution of Muslims, many others are opposing these actions. And while it is true that a majority of Evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump, many others did not, and understanding the diverse reasons for each of these actions is important. Similarly, many Muslims in Afghanistan and throughout the world oppose the Taliban.

These facts help to highlight why teaching about religion through the isolated lens of rituals, beliefs, and practices is problematic.

As an alternative, the American Academy of Religion and the National Council for the Social Studies promote a different way to teach about religion that focuses on giving students the tools to understand the complex roles that religions play in human experience. (I collaborated with both organizations to produce and utilize these guidelines.) In this approach, students learn the following four fundamental tenets of the academic study of religion. These tenets challenge many of the commonly held assumptions about religion that teaching about rituals, beliefs, and practices reproduce.

1. There is a distinction between personal or communal religious convictions and the study of diverse assertions that constitutes the academic study of religion. This distinction honors individual faith stances but doesn't presume that any one stance represents the whole of the tradition itself. The academic study of religion is the appropriate and constitutionally sound way to teach about religion in public schools.

2. Religions are internally diverse as opposed to uniform. Their internal diversity extends beyond differing sects of a tradition (e.g., Mormons, Quakers, and Roman Catholics for Christianity; Mahayana and Theravada for Buddhism; Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionist for Judaism). There is diversity even within a particular religious community because religions are living traditions interpreted and practiced through the lens of adherents. In this way, it is always problematic to assert that "Buddhists are nonviolent" or "Christians oppose same-sex marriage." Such declarations are always too simplistic to capture the rich and dynamic diversity of religious expression and belief.

3. Human interpretation and experience of religion evolves and changes in response to differing social and historical contexts. For example, in the 1970s, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a series of resolutions affirming the moral legitimacy of abortion and supporting Roe v. Wade. In 2003, however, the SBC officially retracted all past resolutions that gave moral sanction to abortion. Southern Baptists themselves can (and do) debate which of these stances is the "correct" one, but the question for students of religion is different. Our question is: What were the social and historical conditions that gave rise to the first resolution, and what shifts led to the 2003 reversal?

4. Religions are embedded in all dimensions of human experience and can't be isolated in a so-called "private" sphere of faith. The belief that religion is a private matter and separable from the "public" realm of political and economic activity is a persistent one and it had a profound influence on the discipline of international relations. For decades, foreign service officers and diplomats considered religion the "third rail," with which they shouldn't engage. It wasn't until the rise of liberation theology in Latin America, the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and the Polish Solidarity movement in the second half of the 20th century that international relations theorists began to rethink this tenet of strict separation. Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry famously commented that he wished he had majored in comparative religions to learn the tools needed to address the complex roles that religions play in contemporary global affairs.

We at the Religious Literacy Project-which seeks to advance the public understanding of religion with special attention to power, peace, and conflict-at Harvard Divinity School support and extend this approach by partnering with teachers to create new resources for classroom use and by offering a weeklong summer training institute.

Giving students the tools to better understand the complex and powerful roles that religions play in human experience has the potential to help mitigate bigotry based on misrepresentation, while simultaneously enhancing empathy and understanding across differences of all kinds. In our current climate of extreme partisanship (a climate that today's students experience as "normal"), we need all the empathy and understanding we can muster.

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Public School Students Need to Study Religion (Opinion)

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Religion should be taught in school, just not in the ways you might think, argues the Religious Literacy Project's Diane L. Moore.

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Religion should be known about in schools but faith is something that should not be forced upon.

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At high school graduation three decades ago, keeping my lips pursed shut, I stared straight ahead as my classmates bowed their heads and echoed the pastor's words, "In Jesus's name, we pray."

It was the same silent protest I had performed repeatedly since elementary school in my rural Ohio school system. Pastors led us in prayer at annual Easter and Christmas assemblies in the gymnasium; a Christian band's singers urged us to proclaim our love for Jesus at a special assembly.

My parents and I did nothing, though we knew the school was violating the constitution's Establishment Clause prohibiting the promotion of one religion. We were afraid of backlash; we were the only Jewish family in the school system.

My story should be a thing of the past, but it's all too present: Just ask Kaylee Cole, a 17-year-old from Webster Parish, La., who is fighting a battle over morning prayers and other overtly religious activities at her public school. Her mother sued the teen's school system on her behalf in December; the case is pending in federal court.

Ms. Cole's lawsuit comes at a troubling time for those of us who want to see more focus on educating the next generation about many religions, rather than pushing Christianity into public schools.

Ms. Cole, who told her story to CNN in late January, described how some classmates glared at her when she said nothing rather than recite the Lord's Prayer as it was said daily over the loudspeaker during morning announcements. The suit claims that nearly all school events, including assemblies, have had Christian-sponsored prayer or religious messages. Ms. Cole considers herself agnostic; her mother describes herself as Christian.

The school system denies the allegations, saying in its response to the suit that the prayers were voluntary and student-led. Those claims of innocence ring hollow. But, if the prayers were okay, why then did the school system stop using the prayers in announcements after Ms. Cole's mother filed the lawsuit?

Ms. Cole's lawsuit comes at a troubling time for those of us who want to see more focus on educating the next generation about many religions, rather than pushing Christianity into public schools. The national conversation on religion and schools has been heading in the wrong direction.

Teaching about world religions is the better approach, because such instruction can help erase stereotypes of religious minorities and fill a pressing need to reduce ignorance about religion.

And religious conservatives have an advocate in the White House: President Trump has been vocal about welcoming expressions of religion in schools and has vowed to make it okay to say Merry Christmas again - though such a greeting has never been forbidden.

Last year, a mother of a kindergartener sued the Mercer County, W. Va., school system to halt weekly religious Christian Bible classes conducted in classrooms. The mother, an atheist, noted that such classes held in school were unconstitutional. The school system, in response to the lawsuit, suspended the program for a year. A federal judge in November dismissed the lawsuit because the program never resumed. Meanwhile, in Florida, a state lawmaker is promoting a bill that would require all public schools to post "In God We Trust" in their buildings.

And West Virginia and Iowa lawmakers are promoting measures to require elective courses on the Bible in schools, mirroring laws already passed in a handful of other states. Such bills would be appropriate if they were truly designed to improve religious literacy, and the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute has been providing more training for teachers so they learn where the legal lines are (Religion scholars have been creating more resources for teachers as well.) But as Texas's experience has shown, many of the courses end up using a Bible course to preach Christian values.

Religion does have a place in school: as a part of lessons meant to show various religions' place in history as well as their similarities and differences.

Teaching about world religions is the better approach, because such instruction can help erase stereotypes of religious minorities and fill a pressing need to reduce ignorance about religion. Americans flubbed half of 32 questions on a religious knowledge survey given by the Pew Research Center.

Those who teach courses on world religions often include another important element: Lessons on the First Amendment. Ms. Cole's school, for instance, rather than trying to satisfy the religious desires of its predominantly Christian community with morning prayers, would have done better by students if it had spent time teaching about the 1963 case, Abington v. Schempp. That case pitted a 16-year-old atheist named Ellery Schempp against his school system, where teachers lead morning prayers. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mr. Schempp, saying it was unconstitutional for his teachers to lead students in Bible verses. Just like students in Abington, Pa. were, students in Ms. Cole's high school are a captive audience.

Justice Tom C. Clark, who wrote the majority opinion in the case, laid out what was okay and what was not: Religious exercises led by public school teachers are not okay, but teaching about religion is fine.

Schools cannot promote prayer, because they are institutions for educating, not preaching.

Religion does have a place in school: as a part of lessons meant to show various religions' place in history as well as their similarities and differences. And, around the country, most state standards actually require schools to teach about the world's religions as a part of world history or geography.

Those who want to restore formalized prayer and God to America's schools are misguided. Students can pray in school - that is their right - but schools cannot promote the prayer, because they are institutions for educating, not preaching.

I returned to my school system in Ohio about five years ago, and saw that my school had shed some (but not all) of its past practices of promoting Christianity, and students in social studies were learning about world religions. As a child, I felt like an outsider because peers saw my religion as foreign; now students may know enough to refrain from telling a Jewish girl that she is going to Hell because she does not pray to Jesus.
Linda K. Wertheimer, a veteran journalist, is the author of "Faith Ed, Teaching About Religion In An Age of Intolerance" and gives workshops on teaching about religion to educators.

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Opinion | Schools should teach religion. They shouldn't teach faith.

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At high school graduation three decades ago, keeping my lips pursed shut, I stared straight ahead as my classmates bowed their heads and echoed the pastor's words, "In Jesus's name, we pray." It was the same silent protest I had performed repeatedly since elementary school in my rural Ohio school system.

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Ted Talk Teaching Religion in Schools

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Dan Dennett: Let's teach religion -- all religion -- in schools

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Philosopher Dan Dennett calls for religion -- all religion -- to be taught in schools, so we can understand its nature as a natural phenomenon. Then he takes on The Purpose-Driven Life, disputing its claim that, to be moral, one must deny evolution.

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Using religion in the curriculum

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Public schools may teach about religion in a secular context. The Bible may be taught in a school, but only for its historical, cultural or literary value.

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Religion should be allowed in public schools

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Before you get defensive let me say that I am not referring to prayer. I am advocating for religious literacy and the best way to achieve this is by teaching children in the home and in the schools beginning at an early age about the many faith and spiritual traditions.

What about "separation of church and state"? Those words do not appear in the Constitution of the United States. The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution does say that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." By teaching about all religions we avoid establishing one and do not stand in the way of anyone freely practicing their religion of choice. I would even argue that teaching about all religions helps us to determine our religion of choice.

For better or worse, we are all forced to encounter religion throughout our lives. Historically, religion has played a tremendous role in influencing the world and continues to do so. Just pick up a newspaper or watch the news and look for stories that address religion and you will find that there is rarely a day that passes without either mentioning religion.

How many houses of worship are in your community? Are you able to intelligently speak about what each tradition represents? Do you have an opinion about any or all of the faiths? We hear about freedom of religion all the time and now we are hearing more about freedom from religion. Well, realistically, there is no freedom from religion. You may not want religion thrust directly into your life but you are living in a world where religion is everywhere and it affects everyone. So why are we so opposed to learning about religions?

One of the more common, yet unrecognized, reasons is fear and it's a fear that comes in many forms. Fear of angering the God we have always worshipped; fear of learning that other religions may be appealing thereby weakening our commitment to the religion we have always believed to be the right one; fear of what others may think if I convert or find another tradition enticing, and these are to name just a few. Of course, we can't forget guilt as another reason. Many religions, or religious leaders, are very effective in using fear and guilt to keep us loyal. I once had a campus minister tell me that his job was to bring people to God and that it didn't matter how he got them there. Really?! So how do we eliminate this fear and guilt?

We can eliminate fear and guilt by becoming knowledgeable. We often fear what we do not understand so let's increase our understanding and the best way to do that is through educational efforts that are done in a non-threatening way in a safe environment. Schools should be considered a safe environment for learning and a well-planned religious curriculum would present information in a neutral manner. No biases, no condemnations of any religions or promotion of one over the others, and no proselytizing. Simply provide information on what each religion teaches, its' historical development, and allow discussion.

Working in higher education and speaking with students and staff has shown me that there is very little knowledge about religion but a great deal of misunderstanding. The best opportunity to begin teaching about religion is when children are young and have not been influenced by opinion and misinformation. Still, most arrive at college believing that religion should not be permitted in public schools. Is this the best way to prepare future generations for what they will have to deal with as adults?

We must overcome our trepidation over learning about and discussing religion. Stop treating religion as taboo and start treating it as a very relevant element in our lives whether you actively practice or not. Knowledge is power that can lead to understanding, acceptance, and respect.
Let's stop using religion as a way to separate us and begin treating it as something to be shared and celebrated.

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Religion Should Be in the Public Schools

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Before you get defensive let me say that I am not referring to prayer. I am advocating for religious literacy and the best way to achieve this is by teaching children in the home and in the schools beginning at an early age about the many faith and spiritual traditions.

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Why parents and children should be able to make their own decisions about religion.

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Americans United for Separation of Church and State

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Americans United fights to protect the religious freedom of public school students and their parents by ensuring that our public schools do not favor-or disfavor-any religious beliefs.