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Teaching About Religion in Public

Schools: Where Do We Go From Here?Melissa Rogers

a

aWake Forest University Divinity School

Version of record first published: 03 Mar 2011.

To cite this article: Melissa Rogers (2011): Teaching About Religion in Public Schools: Where Do We GoFrom Here?, Religion & Education, 38:1, 38-47

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Teaching About Religion in Public Schools:Where Do We Go From Here?

MELISSA ROGERS

A 2010 survey released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life foundlarge numbers of Americans are uninformed about the tenets, practices,

history and leading figures of major faith traditions

including their own.

1

This same survey also demonstrated that, although 89% of Americans cor-rectly understand that public school teachers cannot lead their classes inprayers, 67% incorrectly believe that public school teachers cannot read fromthe Bible as an example of literature, and 51% incorrectly think publicschools may not offer a class comparing the worlds religions.

Does such lack of knowledge matter? If so, why, and what should we doabout it? Warren Nord passionately argued that knowledge gaps like thesematter a great deal, and he offered detailed proposals for what public schoolsshould do about it. Indeed, Professor Nord put the issue of teaching about

religion on the map of scholarly discourse, and his work over the last fewdecades helped to move educational practice and policy closer to the idealshe championed. Nords new book, Does God Make a Difference?, collects hispowerful arguments on this topic, provides a candid assessment of what hasbeen achieved and what is left to be done on behalf of this cause, and offersspecific proposals for moving forward.

Unlike Warren Nord, I am not a philosopher or an expert on educationalpolicy and practice. Instead, I am an attorney who works on church-stateissues and one who studies and teaches about religions role in public life.From that humble perch, Id like to offer a few comments on Professor Nords

account of how forces have often conspired to distort education by avoidingdiscussions of religion and some of the ways in which he exposes errors thathave confused the debate. And because I share Nords aim of increasing thequantity and quality of teaching about religion and religious liberty in ournations public schools, I also offer three broad suggestions toward that end.

Melissa Rogers serves as director of the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at WakeForest University Divinity School. She also serves as a nonresident senior fellow in the Govern-ance Studies program of The Brookings Institution. Rogers previously served as the executivedirector of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and as general counsel of the Baptist

Joint Committee on Religious Liberty.

Religion & Education, 38:3847, 2011Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1550-7394 print=1949-8381 onlineDOI: 10.1080/15507394.2011.544992

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WHERE ARE WE, AND HOW DID WE GET HERE?

What do students learn about God and religion in American schools anduniversities? Nord asks. His answer: [N]ot much. Nord suspects that less

than 1 percent of the content of secondary and higher education deals withreligion. While there has been improvement in recent years in terms of thecurricular treatment of religion in these settings, it is too often confined tomentioning religion rather than giving it serious treatment. It is quite poss-ible, perhaps even the norm, for students to complete their education with-out encountering religion in any serious way, Nord says.

How did we get to this place? Professor Nord provides a masterfulaccount of the way in which a variety of factors conspired to bring about thisresult. These factors include the desire, as public schools became more plur-alistic, to eliminate what was divisive from them, and a growing emphasis on

producing workers for new economies. Another factor that led the secular-ization of public education was a trend away from the traditional ideal ofthe unity of knowledge and toward independence of the various scholarlydisciplines, according to Nord. This had the effect of sever[ing] the connec-tion between religion and these disciplines.

An additional factor deserves emphasis: the false notion that the FirstAmendments Establishment Clause not only prohibits the government fromadvancing or endorsing religion but also bans contact between religion andgovernment and thus requires public schools to be religion-free zones. TheU.S. Supreme Court explicitly rejected the notion that public schools must besilent about religion in its 1963 decision in Abington Township v. Schempp,

which held that school-sponsored Bible-reading and prayers unconsti-tutional.2 The Court not only made it clear that academic (as opposed todevotional) teaching about religion within public school classrooms wasconstitutional, it also noted that it might well be said that ones educationis not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of reli-gion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization.3 Nevertheless,some were so incensed by the decisions rejecting school-sponsoredprayers and Bible readings, and so anxious to get peoples attention, they

popularized slogans like, God has been kicked out of public schools.

4

Certain broad language used by the Supreme Court to explain some of itsother church-state decisions may also have contributed to the falseimpression that the First Amendment prohibits contact between religionand government.5 In any case, as the Pew survey suggests, the myth thatthe Constitution commands public schools to be silent on religious matterspenetrated, and continues to penetrate, certain segments of society.

Equally important to his account of how we got here is Nords clarifi-cation of the case for teaching about religion in public schools. Nord con-

vincingly argues that a failure to teach about religion in public education is

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not just lamentable; its educational malpractice. For example, how canschools properly educate about historical events like the civil rights move-ment, the 9=11 attacks, the Middle East conflict, and the Reagan revolution

without discussing religion? We simply cannot understand our nation or

our world without understanding religion. Professor Nord also drives homethe point that silence about religion in public education speaks volumes, andthe message it sends is not a benign one. Ignoring religions role in societyoften requires intentional avoidance. So when religion is overlooked in thestudy of history, literature, and art, for example, it not only disserves studentsby distorting their understanding of these subjects, it also raises questionsabout a schools motives. Educating students about the debate of moral iss-ues while acting as if religious perspectives play no role has a similar effect.

Nord also helpfully disentangles his argument from tendentious argu-ments sometimes advanced by elements on the political right and left. For

example, while some have tried to dismiss the case for teaching about religi-on as part of a larger plot to re-introduce school-sponsored prayer in publicschools, Nord points to powerful secular arguments for teaching aboutreligion in public schools. I am not going to argue that people shouldbelieve in God, he says. Instead, he says, I am going to provide a good dealof evidence for two somewhat less controversial theses: that most people dobelieve in God, and that religion still matters in our world.

On the other side of the coin, Nord persuasively debunks the myth thatpublic elementary and secondary schools are hostile to faith. A tiny group ofeducators may be less than friendly toward religion, but, as Professor Nord

says, the failure to teach about religion in public schools is much betterexplained by far less sensational causes, such as a desire to avoid topics thatare perceived to be divisive, a focus on other important educational priori-ties, and a failure to grasp the troubling message that silence about religionsends. By clarifying matters like these, Nord fosters a more productivediscussion.

MOVING FORWARD

What kinds of changes are needed to make progress in the effort to teachabout religion in our nations public elementary and secondary schools?Professor Nord sets forth a raft of specific proposals in this area, some of

which I support as written and others I would modify in some way. Insteadof marching through those details, Id like to offer three broader suggestionsthat are inspired by Nords work.

Prioritize Teacher Training and Education on the First Amendment

When considering the kinds of education and training necessary to prepare

aspiring teachers and teachers to teach about religion, instruction on First

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understanding can serve as a compass as unexpected situations arise, and itcan help teachers internalize the spirit in which all teaching about religion inpublic education should occur.9

Similarly, teaching students about religious freedomin the context of a

civics course, for examplealso needs to be a higher priority than it is atpresent. In his new book, Nord describes reviewing four civics textbooks thataveraged over 500 pages each.

Each discussed the religion clauses of the First Amendment, three utterlysuperficially, one in some detail. And each had a paragraph or two onsome contemporary issue having to do with religion in American publiclife (religious school, faith-based social services, or the correlation of reli-gion with voting and political parties). The four texts gave, on average,less than 1 percent of their space to religion.

Teaching about religious liberty is an especially important form of teach-ing about religion because it focuses on fundamental human rights and playsa key role in preparing students for effective citizenship in our pluralisticdemocracy. Much progress has been made in recent years regarding publicperception about what the First Amendment does and does not require orpermit. A series of accessible common-ground statements have played akey role in this development.10 But as the Pew poll and other polls suggest,there is still much work to be done, particularly at this stage in our nationshistory.

After the debates over plans for mosques or other Islamic institutions invarious American communities in the summer of 2010,11 a poll found that34% of Americans say there are some places in the United States where itis not appropriate to build mosques, though it would be appropriate forother religions to build houses of worship, while 14% believe mosquesshould not be permitted anywhere in the United States.12 Some have arguedthat Islam is not a religion, and thus not entitled to First Amendment religiousliberty protections,13 and one statewide officeholder said such argumentsshould be entertained.14

These are certainly not the only facts that should prompt us to insist thatpublic schools teach about religious liberty and religion, but they are somecompelling ones. We cannot have peaceful pluralism when so many lackunderstanding of and respect for fundamental religious liberty guarantees.15

It is absolutely essential that such instruction, education, and trainingabout religions freedom utilize consensus resources about current law in thisarea.16 In other words, training materials and instructions must reflect a com-mon understanding of current law shared by a diverse group of legal experts,rather than a contested understanding of that law that comes from one oranother ideological perspective. Numerous such resources are readily

available.17

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Make More Room for Permissible Student Religious Expression inAcademic Settings

There is not only a need for teachers to talk more about religion in academicsettings, there also is a need to create more opportunities for students to dis-cuss their personal religious views in this context. At the outset, let me beclear that this is emphatically not a call for undoing or undermining any ofthe Supreme Courts decisions on school-sponsored prayer or other religiousexercises, decisions I believe have been good for both religious liberty andreligion.18 It is, however, an encouragement to recognize that these decisionsplace some firm limits on certain kinds of religious expression in the publicschool context, and, partially for that reason, schools should take care notonly to respect students rights to religious expression but also to allowpermissible forms of religious expression even when they are not required

to do so.Public schools basically need to make room for faith on campus in threedistinct ways. First, they generally must allow student-sponsored (as opposedto government-sponsored) prayer and other religious expression on schoolproperty to the same extent that students are permitted to express themselveson secular matters. This would include, for example, allowing secondaryschool students to form religious clubs that meet on public school propertyduring non-instructional time when other student non-curricular clubs arepermitted to do so. Second, public school teachers should teach about reli-gion in an academic rather than devotional way in order to provide a proper

education to their students. Third, public schools may and sometimes mustcreate space for permissible student religious expression and perspectives

within the curriculum, including school events.It is this third method of including religious expression in public schools

that is my focus here. When schools make room for this kind of expression,they spur peer-to-peer learning about religion and send a welcomingmessage about religions place within public education.19

Professor Nords recommendation that high schools require students totake a yearlong course in morality and meaning could help further theseaims. Nord explains that these courses should address several major moral

concerns and problems from a variety of perspectives and worldviews.Assumedly, these kinds of courses would provide ample opportunity forstudents to assert their own views on these issues.

If Professor Nords more ambitious recommendation is not implemen-ted, however, public high schools should still explore ideas like adoptingpolicies that would allow for more student debate on certain flashpointcultural issues where ones religious or moral beliefs often play a powerfulrole in forming ones views.20 Schools might experiment with instituting stu-dent debates on public issues such as abortion, immigration, the environ-

ment, religious freedom, and torture, and allow students to bring their


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moral, religious, agnostic, or atheistic perspectives views to bear on theseconversations. Those who chose to express their views would have to beready to have those perspectives subjected to public scrutiny, of course. Instructuring and communicating about these debates, the school should make

clear that it does not endorse the views expressed on either side, but it doeswelcome the discussion of differing views and support the debate of thosedifferences with civility.

Discussions like these have great potential to help prepare students fordealing with some of the deep divides that are present in our country. This is,or at least it should be, a key goal of public education.

Expand the Coalition for Teaching About Religion in Public Schools

There is no question that the campaign to teach about religion in our nationspublic schools has made important strides in a short period of time. Forexample, a number of states have engaged in concerted and thoughtfulefforts to incorporate religion in public school education, and diverse coali-tions have produced a series of helpful common-ground statements on theseissues.21 Additionally, a body connected with the Organization for Securityand Cooperation in Europe recently recognized that there is a growingconsensus that no educational system can afford to ignore the role of reli-gions and beliefs in history and culture.22

At the same time, as Warren Nord makes clear, there is more work to be

done. That work should include an effort to add more voices to the continu-ing campaign to teach about religion. In mulling over this matter, I wasreminded of some comments by Mike Timpane at a conference that CharlesHaynes and I organized in 2003 on teaching about religion in public schools.Timpane is a noted education scholar who formerly served as president ofColumbia Universitys Teachers College. Timpane said:

I cant think of a college president, of a school of education dean or presi-dent, of a high officer in a leading national education association or of acongressman or senator or other politician who has indicated any great

willingness to provide leadership on this issue. We need people, in apolitical sense, bigger than usin contact with other domains and audi-ences than we are in contact with to have a little of the courage that

youve implied the teachers have to have to take on this issue if its goingto move.

In the wake of the events of summer of 2010,23 perhaps a slate ofhigh-profile leaders might be willing to champion this issue. As Timpane sug-gests, some such leaders may be found among the ranks of current or formercollege presidents or politicians. Former military leaders, corporate execu-

tives and judges as well as nationally known artists, authors, and opinion

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journalists also might be interested. Once additional leaders are enlisted, theycould reach out to their respective fields to expand the conversation. At thesame time, these leaders might be invited to join a process that would lead tothe development of a set of consensus goals and a strategy and correspond-

ing timelines for meeting those goals.This is simply one idea aimed at trying to move the issue of teachingabout religion up the list of national priorities. It is certainly not the onlyone, and it may well not be the best one. But it seems to me that it is the timefor the campaign to engage in another round of brainstorming aboutoutreach efforts and other strategic initiatives.

A CONTINUING LEGACY

Warren Nord described his new book, Does God Make a Difference?, as theconclusion of a trilogy of sorts in his work on religion and education.24

While this third book concludes his written work in this area, it is certainlynot the end of his contribution to the field. All Americans will continue tobenefit from Nords scholarship as well as his public work and witness.

And those of us who knew and worked with Warren will continue to beinspired and challenged by the life he led.

NOTES

1. U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (September 2010) at

http://pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx.

2. Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963). See also Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962).

3. The Court said:

[I]t might well be said that ones education is not complete without a study of comparative

religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It cer-

tainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of studyfor its literary and historic qualities. Nothingwe have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objec-

tively as part of a secular programof education, may not be affected consistently with the First

Amendment. But the exercises here do not fall into those categories. They are religious exer-

cises, required by the States in violation of the command of the First Amendment that the

Government maintain strict neutrality, neither aiding nor opposing religion.

Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 U.S. at 225. See also Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39, 42 (1980) (This is

not a case in which the Ten Commandments are integrated into the school curriculum, where the Bible

may constitutionally be used in an appropriate study of history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion,

or the like).

4. This statement not only misstates the law, it also is a curious one when made by those professing

to believe in an all-powerful God.

5. In the 1948 case ofMcCollum v. Board of Education, for example, the Court said: For the First

Amendment rests upon the premise that both religion and government can best work to achieve their lofty

aims if each is left free from the other within its respective sphere. 333 U.S. 203, 212.

6. Peter Schworm, Mosque Says Students Werent Pressed to Pray, The Boston Globe (September 18,

2010) at http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/09/18/wellesley_pupils_prayers_

at_mosque_fuel_call_for_policy_change/.


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7. Kathleen Burge, Mosque Visit Violated Students Rights Wellesley Mothers Lawyer Says, The

Boston Globe (September 21, 2010) at http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/wellesley/2010/09/mosque_visit_violated_student.html.

8. The comments of California teacher Jennifer Norton on this subject at a 2003 conference are

enlightening. She said:

At no point was I ever prepared for the legal frameworks of my job as a teacher. No one evermentioned the Establishment Clause. I knew nothing about any of those issues, and of

course, as a social studies teacher, I was immediately blind-sided. My very first six weeks

of teaching I came up against issues related to this.

Comments of Jennifer Norton, Teaching About Religion: Where do we go from here? Preparing to Take

Religion Seriously, Freedom Forum First Amendment Center and Pew Forum on Religion Public Life

(May 22, 2003) at http://pewforum.org/Church-State-Law/Teaching-About-Religion-in-Public-Schools-

Where-do-We-Go-From-Here.aspx. Ive borrowed the title of this conference for the title of my article.

9. Executive Summary, Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching About Religions and Beliefs in Public

Schools, Prepared by the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Advisory Council of Expertson Freedom of Religion or Belief of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (2007) at

http://www.osce.org/publications/odihr/2007/11/28314_993_en.pdf (Any basic teacher preparation

should be framed and developed according to democratic and human rights principles. . .

.).10. See infra n. 17.

11. American Civil Liberties Union, Nationwide Anti-Mosque Activity at http://www.aclu.org/

map-nationwide-anti-mosque-activity; Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Controversies over Mosques

and Islamic Centers Across the U.S. at http://features.pewforum.org/muslim/controversies-over-mosque-and-islamic-centers-across-the-us.html. See also Laurie Goodstein, Across the Nation, Mosque Projects Meet

Opposition (August 7, 2010) at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/us/08mosque.html?pagewanted=

print The New York Times.

12. Poll by The Economist (August 1417, 2010) at http://media.economist.com/images/pdf/

Toplines08192010.pdf.

13. For example, in a piece published in August 2010, Bryan Fischer of the American Family Associ-

ation argued: Muslims cannot claim religious freedom protections under the First Amendment. They arecurrently using First Amendment freedoms to make plans to destroy the First Amendment altogether. No

More Mosques, Period, Rightly Concerned, American Family Association Web site (August 10, 2010) at

http://action.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147497353. In September 2010, Bryan Fischer shared a

podium with prominent current and former officeholders, including Senators Jim DeMint and James

Inhofe, Representative Michelle Bachman, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich,

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, and former governors and presidential candidates Mitt Romney and

Mike Huckabee. See speakers list for Family Research Councils 2010 Values Voter Summit at http://

www.valuesvotersummit.org/.

14. In July 2010, Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey said: Now, you could even argue whether being a

Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, cult whatever you want to call it. Ramsey

continued, Now certainly we do protect our religions, but at the same time this is something we are going

to have to face. Tennessee Lt. Gov.: Religious Freedom May Not Count for Muslims, Talking Points Memo

(July 26, 2010) at http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/tennessee-lt-gov-religious-freedom-

doesnt-count-if-youre-muslim-video.php.15. As an international group of experts recently stated, Teaching about religions and beliefs is most

effective when combined with efforts to instil[l] respect for the rights of others. Executive Summary,

Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching About Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools, Prepared by the

Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Advisory Council of Experts on Freedom of Religion

or Belief of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (2007) at http://www.osce.org/publications/odihr/2007/11/28314_993_en.pdf.

16. See Melissa Rogers, The Texas Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act and the Establishment

Clause, 42 U. C. Davis L. Rev. 939 (2009).

17. See, for example, American Jewish Congress et al., Religion in the Public Schools: A Joint State-ment of Current Law(April 1995). Freedom Forum First Amendment Center et al., Religious Liberty, Public

Education, and the Future of American Democracy; Freedom Forum First Amendment Center et al., A

Teachers Guide to Religion in the Public Schools; Bible Literacy Project, Society for Biblical Literature,

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Freedom Forum First Amendment Center et al., The Bible and Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide;

Center for Religion and Public Affairs, Wake Forest University Divinity School, Religious Expression in

American Public Life: A Joint Statement of Current Law (January 2010) at http://divinity.wfu.edu/pdf/

DivinityLawStatement.pdf.

18. See Melissa Rogers, The Texas Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act and the Establishment

Clause, 42 U. C. Davis L. Rev. 939 (2009).

19. See id.20. See id.21. See Charles Haynes, Teaching About Religion: Where do we go from here? Welcome and Introduc-

tions, Freedom Forum First Amendment Center and Pew Forum on Religion Public Life (May 21, 2003) at

http://pewforum.org/Church-State-Law/Teaching-About-Religion-in-Public-Schools-Where-do-We-Go-From-

Here.aspx.

22. Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching About Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools, Prepared by

the Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Advisory Council of Experts on Freedom of Reli-

gion or Belief of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (2007) at http://www.osce.org/

publications/odihr/2007/11/28314_993_en.pdf. This report also says: There is a growing consensus

among educators that knowledge of religions and beliefs is an important part of a quality education

and that it can foster democratic citizenship, mutual respect, enhance support for religious freedom,

and promote an understanding of societal diversity.23. See supra nn. 1114 and accompanying text.

24. His scholarly tome, Religion and Public Education, was the first in this series, and his guide for

teachers, Taking Religion Seriously Across the Curriculum, which was co-written by Charles Haynes, was

the second.


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