“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”
- Thomas Jefferson in his letter to Connecticut Baptists

As Americans, we pride ourselves on being a nation founded by those who sought out religious freedom. We laud Roger Williams, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and other visionaries who established religious tolerance.  Each Thanksgiving day, opinion pages extol the virtues of America’s historic legacy of religious freedom. If only history were that simple.

Recent works, including Kevin Hasson’s The Right to Be Wrong: Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America and Noah Feldman’s Divided by God  both paint complex portraits regarding religious liberty and tolerance in America’s early decades. And one of the most interesting threads to trace in the work of these two legal scholars is the battle over the purpose of our nation’s public schools.

How could schools civilize the illiterate without providing some form of moral instruction? And how could one imagine moral instruction that did not resonate with the religious character of students? These were two of the questions that became hot-button issues as Protestants and Catholics debated the role of biblical and theological studies, and later Jehovah’s Witnesses and Jews debated prayer’s role in public education settings.

The debates led many teachers and parents to think that the best way to deal with religion was to avoid talking about it. And as multicultural education became a buzzword, social and cultural difference became the focus – the idea of understanding religious difference was pushed aside yet again.

As America’s religious diversity grows, and tensions between religious groups escalate both in the U.S. and around the globe, it is only natural that today’s students are the ones asking questions about faith. And so many of those questions tell us just how much education needs to take place:

Does Islam teach people to kill?

Why do Christians say that everyone else is going to hell?

Do Jews think that they are more special than everyone else?

Why do Buddhists pray to that little fat guy?

Why do Hindus worship cows?

The easiest response to these questions is to say that they are inappropriate for classroom discussion. Just avoid them.

Knowledge about religions is not only a characteristic of an educated person, but it is also absolutely necessary for understanding and living in a world of diversity. Knowledge of religious differences and the role of religion in the contemporary world can help promote understanding and alleviate prejudice. Since the purpose of the social studies is to provide students with a knowledge of the world that has been, the world that is, and the world of the future, studying about religions should be an essential part of the social studies curriculum. Omitting study about religions gives students the impression that religions have not been and are not now part of the human experience. Study about religions may be dealt with in special courses and units or wherever and whenever knowledge of the religious dimension of human history and culture is needed for a balanced and comprehensive understanding.

- excerpt from the Position Statement and Guidelines of the National Council for Social Studies

How do we, as educators, foster more inter-religious understanding?

First, we must be aware of the laws concerning religious instruction in the classroom and be clear that promoting understanding of religious diversity is not about promoting any particular religion or about validating the truth claims of religions.

The goals or religious diversity education are to:

Teach students that America is and always has been a religiously diverse society.

To teach basic facts about major religions regarding their sacred texts or symbols, their beliefs, and their historical development.

To teach students to articulate some of the questions that religious systems address. (What does it mean to be human? What is moral? What is salvation?)

To help students understand that religions may share some common ideas, symbols, and practices, but that they often exist in opposition to one another.

To teach students how religious beliefs impact human behavior and inform public debates.

To teach students the value of Church-State separation and proper models for religious communities and individuals to engage religious others and to address social issues.

It is both permissible and desirable to teach objectively about the role of religion in the history of the United States and other countries. One can teach that the Pilgrims came to this country with a particular religious vision, that Catholics and others have been subject to persecution or that many of those participating in the abolitionist, women's suffrage and civil rights movements had religious motivations.

     U.S. Department of Education, April 1995
 

So how do we foster education on religious diversity?

We believe that no comprehensive book of facts will counter misconceptions about religion. Nor can teachers simply do a little background reading on Islam in the Middle East or Pentecostals in California, and present an accurate portrait. Even those who have studied religion at the university, or those who have a lifetime of experience as a member of a particular tradition, find that creating successful educational programing about religion is difficult.

So what can one do?

What educators can do best is harness the literary and film-based resources that speak to religious identity as it is lived out. And to guide students in discussing what these resources say about religion and its role in individual lives, communities, and society in general.

If your students read a novel from the perspective of a Muslim girl in Kabul, or view a film about an Orthodox Jewish family from Jerusalem visiting Catholics in Poland, or listen to the sounds of Tibetan monks in chant, or watch an interview of an Amish teenager in Pennsylvania, or a Sikh family in Upstate New York, or Evangelical college students in Tennessee, they will, hopefully begin to ask themselves what it means to live in a religiously diverse world. Film, particularly documentary film, and even more particularly documentary film about the religious identities of teenagers, can have a profound impact on students. When taught in the context of teaching about religious diversity, and followed with the right questions, such films can transform prejudice into understanding.