New report suggests that teaching about religion is here to stay
By Charles Haynes
Senior scholar, First Amendment Center
11.26.00
Religion may finally be going back to school. That's the headline summarizing a major report released this week by the Council on Islamic Education and the First Amendment Center.
According to the report, all of the new national and state social-studies standards now mandate teaching about religion.
Why is this significant? Because these days "standards" drive the curriculum. For better or for worse, the content of standards largely determines what students learn.
If religion does make it into the curriculum, that will reverse decades of neglect. Textbook studies in the mid-1980s revealed that religion was largely ignored or avoided. One text described pilgrims solely as "people who make long trips."
Now that teaching about religion is no longer taboo, we can expect better textbooks and more accurate treatment of religious people and ideas. Not only is this good news for education, it's also good news for advocates of religious liberty.
After all, if public schools are to be truly fair and neutral under the First Amendment, they must ensure that religious as well as secular ways of understanding the world are included somewhere in the curriculum.
The news isn't all good, however. In the U.S. history standards, religion mostly disappears after the Civil War. State standards in world history do include the major faith communities, but the treatment is often superficial. And in some standards — those for economics, for example — religion is barely mentioned.
The report also warns that it's a long road from standards to actual classroom teaching. Will teachers be prepared to teach about religion in ways that are constitutional and educational? Will the standards translate into better textbooks and other teaching materials? Will study about religion be part of the assessment of student learning? (Or as the students might put it: Will this be on the test?)
In spite of these barriers and challenges, the findings of this report suggest that teaching about religion in public schools is here to stay. The question is no longer "Can or should we teach about religion?" With the inclusion of religion in the standards, the question is now "How should we teach about religion?"
Getting this right isn't easy. That's why the First Amendment Center and other groups are working throughout the nation to prepare teachers to teach about religion constitutionally and educationally.
One of the significant things about this report — beyond its content — is the fact that it was commissioned by the Council on Islamic Education (CIE), an organization that spends most of its time helping educators teach about Islam and Muslim history fairly and accurately.
It is notable that CIE argues in this study for fair academic treatment of all the world's major faiths — not just for Islam. This flies in the face of the popular myth that America has become a hotbed of "interest groups" all looking out for themselves and no one else.
Here's a Muslim-led group working hard for a public-school curriculum that is inclusive and balanced. That's what it means to be an American Muslim.
And that's what it means to be an American.
Your questions and comments are welcome. Write to:
Charles Haynes
The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center
1101 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22209
E-mail: chaynes@freedomforum.org