Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
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How far can you take religion
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Author:  Elizabeth Hicks [ Fri Apr 03, 2009 6:17 pm ]
Post subject:  How far can you take religion
We were talking in my block reading class the other day about religion. Do teachers teach it or not. Some people said absolutely no, some said yes but only if you cover all other religions while at it, and some said yes to christian holidays. what does everyone think? I personally believe that we can teach it, but as long as you introduce all other religions and how they compare. I think we should embrace all religions and show how all of them can be special to people. If a teacher only wants to teach Christianity then the option of a private school is always there. I would love to teach at a private school because you have the freedom to teach and do so many more things but I also attended a public school growing up and loved it and would love to teach in one. Thoughts? Ideas? Comments?
Author:  Whitney Vincel [ Sat Apr 04, 2009 11:09 am ]
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I think that it is perfectly fine to teach religion, so long as you acknowledge and introduce all of the main religions in the world. I don't think that it should be a unit on its own, and I wouldn't dwell on the topic for very long. But as you study world history, there is no way to avoid the topic coming up, and it should be addressed. Children deserve to know that there are other religions in the world besides Christianity, and they should also know that there are people who don't believe in any religion. So I think that as long as it is kept at a minimal discussion and is handled carefully so that students or parents aren't offended or greatly upset, it would be fine to teach about religions in school.
Author:  Maggie Hinshaw [ Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:11 am ]
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Religion is certainly a touchy topic, and for good reason. How in depth one goes with religion, as a teacher, greatly depends on grade level. Religion is an important part of the world’s culture and is something that should certainly be discussed. I would absolutely advocate teaching aspects of multiple religions, making sure not to emphasis ANY of the religious holidays or customs based on classroom demographics. Even if I’m teaching a class of all Christian children, I wouldn’t simply spout off a few random facts about Jewish and Muslim holidays and then spend hours on Christmas. You’ve got to balance it equally, or don’t bother. I’m tired of children being taught that only one religion exists in America.
Author:  Britt McKelvey [ Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:17 pm ]
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Religion is a huge part of some peoples lives however i feel it is extremely difficult to integrate it into the classroom. If teachers do decide to do and include all other religions there are more than likely going to be some pretty angry parents. I'm sure they will have something to say about how it is inappropriate and it isn't what they practice therefore they don't want their child learning about. If, as a teacher, you are willing to deal with that constantly then I say go for it because it is important to open students minds to other cultures/beliefs.
Author:  Amanda Jackson [ Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:17 pm ]
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I'm in the same reading class as Beth and to add more to the topic, the teacher asked students if they would like to say a prayer. To me, that is highly inappropriate in a classroom because religion shouldn't be integrated into the public school curriculum. A separation of church and state was established for a reason, and it should remain that way. There are lots of people that aren't religious or that are but just don't practice Christianity. It's irresponsible to support prayer of one religion but not meditation or other forms in another religion. Nurses aren't even allowed to pray for their patients upon request, so students or teachers should say a prayer aloud in a classroom. Prayer would make kids who aren't religious uncomfortable and school isn't church, so just stick to the curriculum.
Author:  Heather Johnson [ Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:55 am ]
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I personally do not think that religion should be taught in the classroom. This could make some children very uncomfortable. If a child's parents are teaching them one thing at home and then they are taught another thing at school, then they are torn between taking their parents side and their teacher's side. This is much more complicated for young children then we think. Why put them in this situation in the first place? Also, public schools are for academics (math, social studies, reading, science, art, etc.). You can learn about religion in church or sunday school if you choose to. I was raised in church and I consider myself to be a very religious person, but I do not think it is appropriate to teach religion in the classroom.
Author:  Casey Head [ Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:43 pm ]
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I think that this is a really hard topic to comment on, because I am a Christian and I do have religious veiws. However, I think that as a teacher if we are going to teach religion, it is our responsibility to teach all different types of religion, and from an informative perspecitive, not a persuasive persepective.
Author:  Brad White [ Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:58 pm ]
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I am a Christian and I feel that I have pretty strong religious beliefs. I would like to have the freedom in the classroom to talk to my students about Christianity, but the fact is we do not. When it comes to teaching religion in the classroom I do agree that you should teach all religions if you teach one. Religion is a very touchy subject for many people and you just have to be careful how you go talking about it, or you will offend someone.
Author:  Megan_Hales [ Tue Apr 07, 2009 2:56 pm ]
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I do think that religion should be taught in schools, period. I am not saying not have any religion at all in schools but if you are going to teach them you need to teach them everything from Christianity to Atheism and we all know schools are doing a poor job of doing that. I was not raised in a Christian home and sometimes when teachers would talk about christian holidays or other references I felt left out. Teachers would make the assumption that everyone knew about Christianity and that would bother me. I think it is up to the parents whether or not to teach their religion to their children. I know a family that took their children out of public school and decided to home school them because she wanted a more religious background. If parents want children to learn about religion they can do it on their own time or have them enroll in another school.
The subject of religion is just too touchy to try to teach to a whole classroom when you have no idea what they are going through at home.
Author:  Kelsey Knauss [ Tue Apr 07, 2009 9:38 pm ]
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I think that religion by itself is acceptable to teach, depending on the context and the age. To teach religion just for the heck of it may be unnecessary, but if you are teaching history, or if you are doing a unit on different cultures and religions, then of course it is relevant to teach. I think that you have to be VERY careful when teaching any religion and you really need to make sure that you teach in an unbiased way and that you pay attention to all religions instead of one specific one. Giving any one religion more importance than another can get a teacher in trouble. However, if you let parents know what you're teaching and you prove that you are teaching it for the furthering of their child's education, and then you truly follow through with your intentions in a fair way, then teaching religion can be done, and it can be effective.
Author:  Anna Abernethy [ Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:19 pm ]
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I completely agree with Brad. I am also a Christian with strong beliefs. I know that what I want to be able to say I can't. Being a teacher I understand why if we teach one religion why we also need to teach others. Religion will always be a touchy subect so you have to always, always watch what you say and do because of how easily someone can be offended.
Author:  jw74862 [ Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:42 am ]
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If a child asks me what I believe I will gladly tell him, but if I were to teach a religion my beliefs should be set apart from what I am teaching. In America we have freedom of religion not separation of church and state(in my opinion). Religion is in History, culture, and just plain everyday life. Teaching religion is so iffy because people are scared that religion will not be taught unbiased. I question if my would be able to, but we will never know just theorizing about it. I think that religion and culture study should be a course that is offered in high schools. I know that many parents are scared that we will lead their children astray, but in my adolescent development class we learned that adolescents will keep their parents core values for the most part. Now, when it comes to hair, clothes, and make-up, parents are not so fortunate. Values like religion and education most always come from home values adn are not altered by friends.
Author:  Kellie Aycock [ Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:27 am ]
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I think that if you are going to talk about religion then you should cover different kinds of religions not just one kind. But I think that it can be a hard topic to bring into the classroom because there is so much that goes with teaching it and the negatives are very strong. Also, I think that if you are covering a lot of different religions then there is no way that you can get in trouble.
Author:  Nicole Reid [ Wed Apr 29, 2009 3:52 pm ]
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I agree with most of you. Children shouldn't be restricted to only learning about Christianity. They should be able to learn about a wide variety of religions and faiths. A lot of the time, people create a mixture of beliefs for themselves. Some parents may want to raise their children certain ways, but they shouldn't be sheltered into thinking that its the ONLY way. Families can choose, but they shouldn't ignore the fact that there are other religions and beliefs out there.
Author:  Megan Ledford [ Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:46 pm ]
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I agree with everyone saying that children should just be taught Christianity. I think if you're going to teach one religion, you should teach all of them. But I probably wouldn't teach religion altogether anyways because of what I'll be teaching.
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