The Misplaced Fear of Religion in Classrooms
Many people, whether they are parents or lawmakers, seem surprised that it’s legal to teach about different religions in public schools,
David Goldman / AP
Melinda D. Anderson | 8:30 AM ET
A new school year inevitably brings new faces, new subjects, new opportunities, and increasingly in some communities, new storms of protest over religion on public K-12 campuses. In just the last several weeks, a Mississippi teacher was accused of belittling atheism in class, parents in Georgia raised a ruckus over a middle-school social-studies homework assignment about Islam, and a bill introduced in Tennessee would ban the teaching of “religious doctrine” in elementary- and middle-school classrooms. Critics are labeling that legislation anti-Muslim bigotry, while supporters are calling the historical lessons on Islam indoctrination.
An old rule of etiquette often taught to children from a young age is to never talk about religion in polite company. This sentiment carries over into public schools, where teaching about the world’s religions often sparks controversy and charges from some parents and activists that classrooms are an inappropriate place for this discussion. Yet educators frequently counter that a public-school curriculum is incomplete without religious literacy, which the American public sorely lacks. According to a 2010 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey, in a country of many faiths and beliefs, there is a stunning absence of knowledge of the world’s religions. And where better to discuss a thorny topic like religion, some say, than in a public-school classroom; they note that discomfort is a natural and essential part of the learning process.
This ongoing ideological struggle is the basis of a new book, Faith Ed: Teaching about Religion in an Age of Intolerance, in which Linda K. Wertheimer, a veteran education writer and editor, examines the friction and sometimes outright confrontation over teaching religion in public schools. She recently shared some insights and observations with The Atlantic. The interview that follows has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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Melinda D. Anderson: Your own experience with religion and schooling is a main thread that runs through the book. How does your own life story influence your analysis?
Linda K. Wertheimer: When I was 9, my family moved to Findlay, Ohio. There were no Jews in our tiny school except for me and my two older brothers. For the first time in my life, I felt different, and my school’s actions made my Jewishness stand out even more. My public school in the 1970s and 1980s promoted Christianity in numerous ways, including assemblies led by pastors around Christmas and Easter. My peers and I never learned about other religions in the classroom. My life story shapes the questions I ask in Faith Ed. Would it have made a difference if my school had tried to teach us about many religions instead of one? Can education soften the divisions over religion between schoolchildren?
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/the-misplaced-fear-of-religion-in-classrooms/411094/
