Interfaith Group

benefit people in understanding the cultural role of religions. But I can foresee problems that would come out of trying to do it.

Many atheists would complain that children were being taught religion and would miss the difference between being taught ABOUT religion and being taught to FOLLOW a religion. And, people of various religions and sects within religions would complain about children being exposed to other views.

In my public school, we learned about the Protestant Reformation since it had such a strong influence on European history. Growing up in a Protestant family, I had already learned about it. Our teacher was Catholic and taught it from a Catholic perspective, misrepresenting a few historical facts. Some teachers cannot maintain objectivity.

In my home state of PA, it was law that public school teachers start each day by reading a chapter from the King James Protestant Bible. Catholic students rightly objected. When SCOTUS struck down the law, the pastor of our church supported the ruling in his sermon by reminding people that it is the responsibility of parents and religious institutions, not schoolteachers, to teach their faith to their own children, in order to preserve religious liberty.

But, for some subjects, learning about a religion is necessary. When in college, I did some practice teaching sessions for middle school Spanish classes. It was spring, so my lesson plans included Spanish and Latin American customs regarding Easter. It is nearly impossible to teach Spanish without references to religion since it is so much a part of Spanish history, culture, and language. Numerous Spanish idioms are based on religious stories and customs. Some are Christian and some are Islamic. I was concerned that some parents might object, but the supervising teacher agreed with me on the need to explain the sources and history and said she would handle the parents.

On Buddhism, I had a very hyper, easily agitated supervisor once who started studying Buddhism when she dated a Buddhist. It's one of the few times that I saw a really visible, measurable change in a person as a result of religion.