Religion in Public Education: Teaching for a Change

Instructor Introduction

In "Religion in Public Education: Teaching for a Change," Adrian Ngan masterfully navigates the often contentious line between law, religion, and the role of public education in addressing religious discrimination. How do we successfully teach religion without allowing unconscious bias to cloud the discussion? How do we equip teachers to facilitate discussions that, outside the classroom, take place across picket lines? His neutral and balanced discussion, his data paired with real-world examples, and his thorough and well-rendered solution make this not only an exemplary student essay but also a timely piece and a riveting read.

— Jonathan Holland

Religion in Public Education: Teaching for a Change

Muslim students at Hamline University returned to campus for the spring semester with mixed emotions and a sour taste in their mouths. Just weeks prior to this year’s winter break, a professor teaching a world art class had shown two paintings of the Prophet Muhammed. Backed by students and faculty, the school’s Muslim Student Association filed an immediate complaint to the school administration, describing the act as “undeniably Islamophobic” and a complete disregard for Muslim belief. For most Muslims, Sunni Muslims in particular, depictions of Muhammad or any other prophet of Islam is absolutely prohibited. Attempts to depict Allah or prophets by work of the human hand are thought to be an insult to the divine being it represents as their beauty and grandeur cannot and should not be captured in an image (“Why does”). With an ensuing media frenzy as a catalyst, students and faculty became divided on the issue. For many, this incident was thought to have arisen simply due to an innocent misunderstanding, with the professor experiencing a lack of exposure towards Islam and hence being unaware of the offensiveness of her actions. At the same time, others accused the professor of malicious intent, claiming that she was well aware of the gravity of her actions prior to the class and that this incident is merely one amongst the thousands of Islamophobic attacks (Dernbach).

Regardless, this incident is indicative of a much larger issue at hand. Even in the increasingly diverse America we find today, there continues to be both a lack of understanding and a persisting stigma against minority religions. A 2017 study conducted by Pew Research Center showed that when asked to indicate feelings of ‘warmness’ towards various religious groups, Americans rated mainstream religions such as Catholics, Mainline Protestants and Jewish an average score of 66, whereas Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists were rated a lower 55 on average. More shockingly however, is that 44% of US adults consider there to be a natural conflict between Islam and democracy and 41% share the belief that Islam encourages violence more than other faiths ("How the U.S."). As incidents ranging from misunderstandings of faith to full-blown religiously motivated attacks continue to appear with alarming frequency, public education is often looked to for the solution. With the potential to promote religious literacy and inclusion in the new generation of Americans, public education is often called upon to spearhead the war on religious discrimination.

However, the place of religion in American public education has been placed at the crosshairs of a heated area of continuous debate since the establishment of the public education system. In environments which are meant to equip young minds with an understanding of the world and how to best operate within it, a topic such as religion – with all its answers to larger-than-life questions – should naturally be approached with caution. As such, controversy regarding the place of religious values and ideals in schools began almost immediately (Lynn). Conflicts such as those between the Protestants and Catholics on mandatory prayers in early 1844 and teachings of the theory of evolution between secular liberals and religious conservatives in the early 20th century resulted in a century’s worth of rioting and heated debates (Mitchell). In 1995, the US Department of Education seemingly put an end to the debate on religion in public education. Titled “Religion in Public Education”, a concrete list of guidelines was published which prohibited public schools from “encouraging or soliciting students [to partake in] religious or anti-religious activities,” “observe religious holidays as religious events'' and to advocate for religious conversion or assimilation. These guidelines effectively put an end to any compulsory or school organized devotional activities within state-funded public schools. With devotional activities banned, teachers were only permitted to teach religion as an objective aspect of history and to celebrate secular aspects of religious traditions and holidays (Torr). But with an area as controversial and complex as religion, the debate persists. While devotional activities were banned, public schools were left with the option to leave religion in curriculum, conducting non-devotional classes such as “the Bible as Literature”, “World Religions” and “The Bible as History and Culture” (Feinberg). This choice gave public schools a completely new dilemma. Bar the small population of Judeo-Christian right-wing creationist activists and perhaps the occasional religious extremist, two major views on the issue persist. Now abiding by the new guidelines, should public school curriculums err on the side of caution and avoid the topic entirely, or should they tackle the challenge head on and conduct objective teachings of religions?

The main purposes of the American K-12 education can be boiled down to three main goals: to allow students to acquire the knowledge and experiences necessary to become active agents that promote the ideals of democracy, to shape the next generation of Americans into intelligent and informed moral citizens, and to set young minds on a path for a fruitful and fulfilling future (Moore 9). One can easily recognize that these goals are deeply interlinked and perhaps even interdependent. The success of setting students up for success almost inherently relies on their ability to be informed and intelligent citizens. Naturally, in order for public education to succeed in any of these regards, it must succeed in all three (Banner). Those who support non-devotional teachings of religion argue that teaching religion objectively in schools is imperative to the achievement of all three goals. According to Walter Feinberg, a renowned professor of education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, teaching about religion is a requirement for fostering a democratic body in the modern age (Feinberg). The widely accepted definition of democracy as embodied by America is “a state of society characterized by tolerance toward minorities, freedom of expression, and respect for the essential dignity and worth of the human individual…” ("A Teacher's"). With America becoming increasingly diverse, this “tolerance towards minorities” and their freedom of expression is prevalent more than ever. In 1970, less than 5% of the American population consisted foreign born citizens. Today, we have a 18.8% Latin-American born and 12.6% Asian-born population (Census Bureau). In order to foster a society where people from different religious backgrounds and traditions can respectfully engage to construct meaning and build a common future, it is the role and responsibility of public education to ensure that the public has the means for such engagement (Moore 25). As such, the absence of classes to promote religious literacy within the public education curriculum would leave many Americans unable to participate in many aspects of civic discussion in an informed manner. Without teaching about religions, the public education system would fail in achieving one of its fundamental goals: to promote the ideals and pillars of democracy (Feinberg).

An equally important reason behind the need for public education to foster religious literacy is to foster inclusivity and prevent the discrimination and misrepresentation of religious minorities. In a study conducted by the US Department of Justice, the percentage of hate crimes and attacks motivated by religious differences has risen from 10% in 2004, to a steady average of 22% throughout the late 2010s and early 2020s (“2021 Hate Crimes Statistics”). The incident at Hamline University is just one amongst the thousands of difficult news stories of religiously motivated hate crimes that we often find ourselves faced with. While activism on social media  and protests have proven effective in shifting the public consensus and striving for systemic change, the most effective method in reducing religious prejudice may lie within public education (Moore 10). The US DOJ reports that many of these hate crimes are committed by teens within the ages of 13-19, ages where the perpetrators are either in school or of school age. In 2012, an alarming 20% of religiously motivated hate crimes were committed by juveniles under the age of 18 (“2021 Hate Crimes Statistics”). As Professor Kazi Hossain states, as surprising as this may seem, the explanation is rather simple. We tend to shape attitudes towards aspects of life, both positive and negative, very early on in our lives. As such, students at the elementary school level may begin to develop negative perceptions towards people who they can easily identify as different from themselves, and positive attitudes towards those who they identify as similar to. With Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist students primarily being Middle Eastern or Asian, as well as making up a significantly smaller portion of class sizes, a subconscious bias against minority religions may develop in ethnic majority students earlier and faster than we expect (Hossain 2). With these false perceptions being developed within the realm of K-12 education, it is once again the responsibility of public education to both remove and prevent the development of these harmful and misguided perceptions. By exposing students to world religions and their respective doctrines and values throughout K-12, public education can create a more comprehensive, sincere, and affective understanding for religion and their associated ethnicities in religious literacy classes (Fowler and Fasciano). With the ability to promote religious literacy with an emphasis the variety of moral and value systems, a secular approach to teaching religion lays the groundwork for a common education appropriate for all citizens regardless of faith, ultimately resulting in a more concrete and fairer basis for peaceful reconciliation for both religious and non-religious conflicts (Guttmann 103).

The ideal of having religious discrimination squashed and democratic discussions elevated as a result of public education incorporating objective religious education is one that the majority of Americans would undeniably favor. However, while attempting to put this ideal into practice appears perfect in theory, it may actually be detrimental in practice. One of the inescapable difficulties that comes with attempting to teach about religions in a purely objective manner is the implicit and subconscious bias of teachers, students and even education administrators. With a 65% Christian population in the US, members involved in the curation of an objective curriculum on religion are bound to favor their own over others (Mitchell). With religion being inherently linked to the moral and value systems it embodies, the illegitimate prioritization of one religion of another may lead to it becoming the norm for students, and inadvertently becoming a source for ethics and orientation (Owen). A study conducted on a “Knowledge of religions, views and life” course in Norway in the 1990s, another Christian- dominated country, found evidence of partiality towards the majority religion. The course was designed to be a mandatory class which would strive to provide students with an objective education on world religions alike while abiding by the Norwegian laws of neutrality – which our laws share strong similarities with. However, when attempting to balance the traditional and dominating Christian confessional approach with other world religions and minority beliefs, the course was found to favor Christian beliefs and value systems so heavily to the point of being brought to the European Supreme Court by the UN Human Rights Committee in 2007 (Alberts). Yet while this case may have resulted in a more severe bias than others, even the slightest indication of partiality from the teacher may lead to the subtle indoctrination of students into the biased religion. Within most of K-12 education, the teacher is the sole authoritative figure within the classroom, and whether consciously or not, the students may align their convictions with those they look up to as mentors and perhaps even parental figures (Khan). Even without the presence of religious practices and devotional activities in the classroom, partiality towards one religion even in the slightest becomes an outright violation of the Department of Education's guidelines. When the consequences of an often unintentional and subconscious bias may lead to consequences ranging from the withholding of school funding, to outright arrests in accordance with standard law enforcement procedures, the risk of teaching about religion seemingly quickly outweighs the benefits (US Department of Education).

Yet even without the potential of subtle indoctrination and legal complications, the practicalities of teaching about religion purely objectively and equipping teachers with the necessary training to do so is unachievable. The complexity of religion cannot be understated. It is not merely a belief in a metaphysical reality or an omnipotent higher-power, but a system of faith that dictates a believer’s outlook towards life. It puts into question not only how we came to be, but how we construct our morals, our sense of belonging, and our purpose. As such, it is almost impossible to expect a high school teacher to teach one religion accurately and comprehensively, let alone a variety of world religions (Ryan). The US Department of Education lists that the requirement to teach in K-12 is a bachelor’s degree and the completion of a 2-3 semester long Approved Teacher Preparation program (“Certification Guidance- Becoming a Teacher.”). At the University of Michigan School of Education, a Bachelor of Education – which enables the graduate to teach from the elementary to secondary level – requires no classes on religion or history of religion ("Undergraduate elementary"). With so little training, the quality of teaching on religion these teachers can provide must be called into question. President of the American Humanist Association Edd Doerr hints at the multitude of dilemmas that these teachers must tackle, asking: “should [they] mention that Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister but ignore the large number of clergy who defended slavery and then segregation on Biblical grounds?” (Doerr). Without a sufficient understanding of both the religions and the cultures they represent teachers are prone to teaching about religions in an inconsiderate manner, or even inaccurately (Alberts). A study conducted on Finnish public education identified complications that would frequently occur over misunderstandings of cultural practices. Within one school, teachers would misrepresent Islamic laws surrounding Hijab, causing outrage from the Solmai Muslim community in Finland (Ubani). Even if it was possible to train teachers across the country to be able to teach religion at a desired level, how will the students, who still struggle to comprehend their own faith, be able to handle existential questions that adults fail to understand in their whole life? Professor Kevin Ryan of Boston University asks, “[at such a young age] are they ready to "compare and contrast" Christianity and Zoroastrianism? Ready to probe the tenets of atheism and deism?” (Ryan). With the seemingly infinite nuances and tremendous weight behind religion, as well as the logistical difficulties of facilitating its study, the more logical and realistic approach toward teaching religion in schools may simply be to keep it out of schools entirely (Doerr).

The difficulties of teaching about religion are evident, yet to ignore its benefits would be to shy away from opportunities for advancement in our democracy and society. While the risks and pitfalls of attempting to teach about religion are rightfully intimidating, both sides can find common ground in their agreement that, if successful, a truly objective and non-devotional teaching of religion throughout K-12 is massively beneficial for all corners of American society. In the modern age, an America without religious discrimination and a greater quality of domestic discourse is no doubt a common consensus. For public education to be able to foster a newer generation of open minds and a more diverse and inclusive public is undoubtedly the ideal. As such, rather than shying away from teaching religion in schools, we must adapt in the face of its limitations and continue to strive towards cultivating knowledge and respect for the religious differences that make up such a crucial aspect of our national identity (Moore 28). With significant changes to teacher training, curriculum requirements and methods of teaching, attempts should continue to be made to teach religion in schooling with the aim to further capitalize on its benefits, while mitigating potential consequences and minimizing chances of failure.

Addressing the issue of teaching religion in public schools requires a multifaceted approach. First and foremost, changes must be made to the way we approach how religion is taught objectively. If we wish to utilize religion in public education as a means to foster a deeper and inclusive understanding of religions, we must reevaluate the ways in which it is taught. The current approach we see worldwide towards teaching about religion is similar to most other classes. We see bullet points on a presentation, reading off of textbooks, and perhaps a few interactive activities here and there (Goh). After all, the goal is to simply inform students about the key beliefs and practices of different belief systems, is it not (Fienberg)? Yet this approach can quickly become stale and uninteresting for students. Without opportunities to truly connect with elements of humanity and the cultures behind religions, students can quickly feel disconnected from the content they learn, feeling unmotivated and disinterested (Fujiwara). Rather than merely learning about the facts, our approach towards teaching religion needs to evolve into fostering a connection and familiarity with the cultures and peoples that embody their religion. As Benjamin Marcus, Religious Literacy Specialist with the Religious Freedom Center of the Freedom Forum Institute puts it, what it means to truly be religiously literate is to be “[familiar] with the many ways individuals and communities construct their religious identities through belief, behavior, and the experience of belonging to a community” (Marcus). Rather than simply teaching the beliefs and practices of religions, a more effective approach in teaching religious literacy would be to center the study around how religion plays a role in shaping the identity and culture of religious peoples. To do so, Marcus suggests what he coined the “3B Framework”, where the three B’s consist of belief, behavior and belonging. On top of teaching about holy texts and ethics as belief, and traditions and rituals as belonging, Marcus stresses the need to study what it means to be a part of a ‘trans-national’ and ‘trans-historical’ community of religionists and believers (Marcus). By studying how belief and behavior is interwoven with belonging, students will be able to gain more meaningful insight into lived religion and how individuals and communities value each component within their religious identities.

However, applying Marcus’s 3B framework may do more than just elevate what it means to be religiously literate. It can capitalize on the key benefits of teaching about religion: reducing discrimination and encouraging inclusion. By centering the study and discussion of religion around what it means to belong, rather than the surface-level beliefs and practices, it creates a universally applicable approach towards religion that can be applied to all communities. According to the American Psychological Association, the best method to eliminate discrimination of any kind is to encourage perspective-taking and create focus on commonalities rather than differences (“Discrimination: What it is”). Almost everyone belongs to a community of some sort, and understanding how peoples of different religions are centered around the same notions of belonging and inclusion can work to create a more understanding and inclusive mentality for future generations. With the ability to shift how we view religion, centering the teaching of religion around the notion of ‘belonging’ and its role in identity formation can work to reduce discrimination on a fundamental level.

While striving to nurture a re-evaluated definition of religious literacy is an extremely important step in the right direction, as a prominent site of civic formation and religious encounter, the responsibility of public educational institutions runs even deeper. In order to advance the quality of civic discourse and uphold the pillars of democracy, public education must be proactive in fostering a sense of ‘we’ within the religiously diverse democracy we have in America. Doing so not only requires changes in cognitive learning as mentioned earlier, but also ‘affective’ learning: developing feelings of affection for other communities and learning to embrace the pluralistic qualities of religion (“What is Affective Learning”).

Professors Diana Eck and Brendan Randall of Harvard University suggest the “case-study method” for this very purpose. In class, teachers should present students with cases or scenarios, then ask students to inhibit the perspectives of characters within the scenario. These cases should involve a ‘protagonist’ who comes at the crossroads of a detailed and complex ethical dilemma based upon real-life events. After studying relevant background information and the religious backgrounds, communities, traditions and beliefs surrounding the issues, students should share their own religious (or nonreligious) perspectives and examine how such perspectives influence their reading, understanding, and analysis of the case (Eck et al.). By discussing how to respond to real-world challenges involving religious diversity, students cultivate the mentalities and practice the skills needed to navigate such challenges successfully. By actively engaging in these activities, students not only become scholars of religious diversity in the United States, but also leaders for diversity and inclusion within our religiously pluralistic democracy (Moore; Eck et al.).

Combining affective learning with an approach towards promoting religious literacy that centers around identity and belonging, public education institutions will be able to work towards capitalizing on the benefits of teaching about religion: reducing discrimination, fostering inclusion, and promoting democratic ideals. However, an improved approach towards teaching about religion should also address its downsides, taking steps to mitigate the potential pitfalls of inadequate teacher training and subtle indoctrination.

To facilitate the level of understanding towards religion needed by teachers in order to teach about religion objectively, the requirements for teaching must include courses taken in religion. As mentioned previously, the current requirement to teach in K-12 is a bachelor’s degree and the completion of a 2-3 semester long Approved Teacher Preparation program (“Certification Guidance-Becoming a Teacher.”). The bachelor’s degree, if attained at the University of Michigan for example, requires no classes on religious studies or history of religion (“Undergraduate elementary”). Using the University of Michigan as an example, improving the quality of teacher training can be as simple as requiring a certain number of credits in courses on religion. Alongside the mandatory 3 credits in “Race and Ethnicity” courses, there could be a 3-credit requirement for “Religion and Diversity”. To further emphasize the need for teacher training in this regard, a certain set of required courses on religion could be put into effect. A sequence of required courses would be able to work towards training teachers in the key areas of teaching religion in American K-12: an understanding of how religion intersects with identity, the role of religion in the formation of the United States, and a knowledge of the world religions that span across human cultures (Goh). At the University of Michigan, the sequence of courses History 101 – “Introduction to Religions”, RELS 346 “Bible and Western Tradition”, and RELS 201 – “Religions of the World” could work towards tackling these three key areas respectively (“Religious Studies (RELS)”).

While increased and targeted teacher training is a significant step in the right direction, it is only the first step needed to maintain the level of professionalism and expertise in order to avoid subtle indoctrination and general inaccuracies. In a study conducted on 93 employees from an undisclosed corporate company, employees who underwent training seminars over the span of a decade demonstrated greater levels of mastery of technical skills, as well as higher scores of satisfaction from their managers (Mulder et al. 157). Applying this concept within the scope of education, seminars and teacher training sessions should be conducted semi-regularly by public education institutions in order to ensure that teachers remain ahead of the curve regarding methods and ways to promote diversity, ethnicity, inclusion and religion. One such method to minimize unnecessary conflict is for teachers to discuss and establish ground rules with the class. In a personal interview with Doctoral Candidate of History Bryan Goh at the University of Michigan, Goh emphasized the need for teachers and students to be on the same page when approaching a topic so deeply personal for many. Goh, a graduate student instructor (GSI) for a class titled “Jesus Returns to Asia”, asserts that both teachers and students must be upfront about their own religious viewpoints prior to engaging in discussion. He affirms that there “should be a mutual understanding in the classroom of where each person’s religious affiliations lie, and an agreement where all opinions and backgrounds must be respected. (Goh)” By ensuring that both students and teachers are made aware of each other’s religious convictions, teachers can work towards creating a more open and receptive classroom, ensuring that one person’s beliefs will not negatively affect the feelings of another.

Ultimately, by adapting the approach towards teaching about religion to emphasize its role in the formation of identity and affective learning, as well as increased teacher training on both an undergraduate and working level, the public education system can work towards teaching about religion objectively to cultivate a generation of religious literacy and inclusion. While we may often feel that we are immune to issues of religious discrimination within our liberal safety bubbles, antisemitism and other religiously motivated hate crimes occur frequently within communities we call our own. Incidents like the one at Hamline University is just one of many that still occur at the college level, within the same university communities that are supposed to represent a progressive and open-minded generation, the generation responsible for the future of an inclusive and hate-free America. At the University of Michigan, actions ranging from casual microaggression to full blown anti-religious minority sentiments still occur. In 2016, the phrase “#StopIslam” was written on the Diag (Elkharssa). Just last year, anti-Israeli pro-Palestinian protesters were heard chanting antisemitic phrases (Sherman). The fight against religious discrimination is ongoing and its resolution may only come in the distant future. Regardless, promoting religious literacy by teaching about religions in public K-12 education is one huge step in the right direction. So let's take that step.

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