Religious Pluralism in

Secular Classrooms

Chapter Eight

Rationale for Attending to Religion in Public Schools

Americans have always been concerned with the role of religion in matters of state.

Early colonists came to escape religious persecution; later immigrants have brought a variety of religious beliefs, rituals, and habits of mind.

Much of the cultural capital of the U.S. has emerged from attempts to answer basically religious questions.

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Connections to religious ideas and symbols emerges, in part, from a universal human need for a spiritual dimension.

While religion in some societies permeates the whole culture, in the United States, the founders were concerned that religion be separated from the state in concrete ways:

Con’t…

The Constitutional language of the First Amendment tries to guarantee that separation:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion (establishment clause); or prohibiting the free exercise thereof (prohibition clause)…”

These two clauses have created a field on which battles of interpretation have been fought for 225 years.

Definitions of Religion

Universal definitions:

“A system of beliefs and practices by means of which a group of people struggle with…the ultimate problems of human life.” (Yinger)

“A unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things…beliefs and practices which unite into some single moral community…” (Durkheim)

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Sectarian Definitions:

Define and describe particular religious denominations in terms of:

Theological point of view

Specific religious practices

Religious experience

Knowledge of scriptures and traditions

Consequences for daily life

Consequences for “falling away” from the faith

Changes in the U.S. Over Time

The degree to which religious belief has been deemed necessary to public life has altered.

Technology, especially television, has enabled people to have knowledge of religion without actually attending services.

The increasing interdependence of the world’s social systems means that one religious system can have enormous impact on other religious systems, and, indeed, on daily life around the world.

Religious Pluralism in the U.S.

Prior to colonization: a wide variety of religious beliefs and practices by Native peoples

The centrality of a Creator

A reverence for the natural world

A belief that human beings were obligated to preserve and protect the natural world

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Religion in the Colonial Era:

Christianity and Judaism

Historically western and European

A belief that human beings were destined to “rule over” the natural world

Dominance of different religious sects in different parts of the Colonies:

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New England: a Puritan Protestantism

The Middle Colonies: greater diversity, including Catholic, Quaker, and Anabaptist—no particular denomination prevailed

The South: largely modeled on the Anglican Church of England

Jews were also among the earliest immigrants, and were spread over the Colonies.

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17th through the 19th centuries:

African nativist religious ideas were brought to the Colonies by captured slaves

Combined with and enriched the primarily Protestant Christian traditions After slavery was finally abolished, the African American churches grew stronger, and had an immense influence on the cultural and educational lives of its members which continues today

19th and 20th centuries:

Introduction of Islam to the U.S.

The Muslim faith is currently one of the fastest growing religious in the U.S.

Membership is in part African American, e.g., the Nation of Islam

Members are also immigrants from Middle Eastern countries, e.g., Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, from both north and sub-Saharan Africa, and from Malaysia.

Characteristics of a Classroom that Attends to Religious

PluralismPedagogies: Old and New

Teachers should know the backgrounds of their students and their students’ families.

Teachers should know something about the worldview of particular religions represented in their classes.

Teachers should adapt instruction as required to give all students the chance to learn effectively and to practice learning in different ways.

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Roles: Old and New

Because of potential conflict, teachers need to assume a role as interpreter and sometimes as mediator.

School rules and customs such as dress codes may have to be amended for those from different religious backgrounds.

The school calendar may also have to take a variety of religious holidays into account.

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Place of Content Knowledge: Old and New

While school people have tried to cope with religious controversy by trying to avoid it, religious history, as well as religious architecture, art, music, and ideas can become the basis for an enriched and affirming classroom.

Remember that the Supreme Court has not, in any of its decisions on the subject, prohibited discussions about religion in schools.

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From the decision by Justice Clark:

…it might well be said that one’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the

advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected

consistent with the First Amendment.

--Abington v. Schempp (1963)

Examples of religious content:

Dietary regulations in heath or home economics classes

Islamic geometrical designs in math classes

Major works of art depicting religious themes in art classes

Religious music in music classes

Studies of comparative religion in history or social studies classes

Assessment: Old and New

Use sensitivity when creating exam questions on subjects related to religion, e.g., on evolution.

Use sensitivity when deciding upon the use of psychological testing (some families believe these tests are a corruption of family values).

Use sensitivity when deciding about the use of various health screening techniques, especially invasive ones.

Perspectives on Religion and Schooling in the United StatesConstitutional language in the First and

Fourteenth Amendments has been both the source of religious freedom and the source of educational battles.

Sources of tension include:

The need for schools, as an arm of the state, to support a basic freedom guaranteed by the Constitution

The need for schools, also as an arm of the state, to uphold the separation of church and state

Two Broad Categories of Debate (R.Freeman Butts)

Education’s role in protecting private freedoms:

Those that inhere in the individual and therefore may not be invaded or denied by the state

Education’s role in guaranteeing public freedoms:

Those that inhere in the welfare of the democratic political community

Private Freedoms and Some Relevant Court Cases

Education has a role to play in protecting private freedoms, or “those that inhere in the individual, and therefore may not be invaded or denied by the state.” Among these are compulsory attendance and the individual practice of religious beliefs in classrooms, including prayer.

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Compulsory Attendance

Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925): children must go to school, but private religious schools satisfy that requirement

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972): the so-called “Amish exception”; Old Order Amish can disobey Wisconsin’s compulsory schooling law and withdraw their children after the eighth grade

The practice of religious beliefs in classrooms

Meyer v. Nebraska (1923): the right of parents to guide their children’s education is affirmed

West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnett (1943): no one can be forced to salute the flag or say the Pledge of Allegiance if it violates individual conscience

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School prayer

Abington v. Schempp (1963): requiring student participation in sectarian prayers and reading from the Bible, particularly the New Testament, is unconstitutional

Lee v. Weisman (1992): sectarian prayers at high school graduations are unconstitutional

Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000): sectarian prayers at high school football games are unconstitutional

Public Freedoms and Some Relevant Court Cases

Education also has a role to play in protecting public freedoms, such as the need of the nation for an educated citizenry and the need of the society for the socialization of its children in moral and ethical behavior. Issues raised here include public funding for private religious schools and the provision of religious instruction.

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Public funding for religious schools

Cochran v. Louisiana Board of Education (1930): use of public funds to purchase textbooks for private schools is constitutional

Everson v. Board of Education (1947): use of public funds to bus students to religious schools is constitutional

The National Defense Education Act (1958) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965) provided funds for some aspects of private religious schooling.

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The provision of religious instruction

McCollum v. Board of Education (1948): religious instruction in public schools is unconstitutional

Zorach v. Clausen (1952): religious instruction during school hours is constitutional if it takes place off school grounds

Other Important Court Decisions

Epperson v. State of Arkansas (1968): statutes criminalizing the teaching of evolution are unconstitutional

Lemon v. Kurzman (1971): Court outlines a three-pronged test for deciding whether any state statute violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment:

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Lemon’s “three-pronged” test

Does the challenged practice or policy have a secular purpose?

Does it have the effect of neither advancing nor inhibiting religious practices?

Does the practice or policy avoid an excessive entanglement between government and religion?

Perspectives on Religious Identity

Religious identity has its roots in the family.

It is perhaps the most common, and also perhaps the strongest, source of identity.

Religious identity places an individual in a particular relationship with a deity.

The Influence of the “Religious Right”

While the so-called “religious right” is a contemporary conservative political movement of Protestant Christians, it is not the only conservative religious movement.

Fundamentalist movements are prevalent in all major religions around the world.

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Particular educational interests of fundamentalist movements:

Prayer in schools

Curriculum content

Teaching of morality and “character”

Funding for private and parochial schools

Censorship of books available to or required of students

Ethical Issues

Responsibility of teachers to be aware of and understand the religious background of their students

Responsibility of teachers to know the law with respect to religious issues

Responsibility of teachers to be sensitive to students’ religious beliefs with respect to curriculum content, religious dress, religious holidays, and methods of instruction

Something to Think About

The principle of separation of church and state has not prevented many people from believing that schools should be a repository of morality; the question has always been, “Whose morality are we talking about?”