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January 12, 2005

Ye shall (not) know the Truth

By Jim Dallas

Jesus wept:

How did this happen? How did one of the most religious countries in the world become a nation of religious illiterates? Religious congregations are surely at fault. Churches and synagogues that once inculcated the "fourth R" are now telling the faithful stories "ripped from the headlines" rather than teaching them the Ten Commandments or parsing the Sermon on the Mount (which was delivered, as only one in three Americans can tell you, by Jesus). But most of the fault lies in our elementary and secondary schools.

In a majority opinion in a 1963 church-state case (Abington vs. Schempp), Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark wrote, "It might well be said that one's education is not complete without a study of comparative religion … and its relationship to the advance of civilization." If so, the education of nearly every public school student in the nation is woefully inadequate.

Because of misunderstandings about the 1st Amendment, religious studies are seldom taught in public schools. When they are, instruction typically begins only in high school and with teachers not trained in the subtle distinction between teaching religion (unconstitutional) and teaching about religion (essential).

Though state educational standards no longer ignore religion as they did a decade or so ago, coverage of religion in history and social science textbooks is spotty at best. According to Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va., "It is as if we got freedom of religion in 1791 and then we were free from religion after that."

Now that the religious right has triumphed over the secular left, every politician seems determined to get religion. They're all asking "What Would Jesus Do?" — about the war in Iraq, gay marriage, poverty and Social Security. And though the ACLU may rage, it is not un-American to bring religious reasoning into our public debates. In fact, that has been happening ever since George Washington put his hand on a Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. What is un-American is to give those debates over to televangelists of either the secular or the religious variety, to absent ourselves from the discussion by ignorance.

Via Kevin Drum.

This isn't necessarily surprising. Religion for many Americans today is largely about experience and about personal identity.

Posted by Jim Dallas at January 12, 2005 10:30 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Getting the right kind of qualified teachers to teach comparative religion would be nigh impossible for all the middle and high schools in this country.

I imagine that every right-winger would be wondering why Chrisitanity is only a six week course instead of the whole class, and why on earth would you compare it to Buddhism.

I agree in principle that religious education is neccessary, but not religious indoctrination which we would be very hard-pressed to avoid.

Posted by: Nate at January 13, 2005 12:39 AM

Any public school district that tries to introduce comparative religion is just asking for trouble. They would get it from both sides. The extremes on the left who would rail against any teaching of religion and the extremes on the right who would rail against teaching anything BUT their particular brand of religion ("How dare you talk to my son about those heathen muslims!")

For most districts it just wouldn't be worth the hastle.

Posted by: Chris Andersen at January 13, 2005 03:02 AM

It seems so stupid... I mean, how can you appreciate great literature without at least a passing literacy of the Bible? The allusions and imagery lifted from it makes it a cornerstone of Western literature. English teachers should teach short selections from each section of the Bible- Law, History, Writings, Prophecy, Gospels, Pauline Epistles, Other Epistles and Revelations- and History teachers should at least touch on the history of Judea, the historical Jesus and the development of the early church. I know I got that sort of thing and it made me a more intelligent person.

And that's just Western tradition/history. Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Taoism, Shinto, Hinduism, etc. should all be addressed briefly (with a significant emphasis on the first two). I believe that if you can't turn to a passage in the Bible without looking in the table of contents, you are not culturally literate. If you don't know what Allahu Akhbar means, you are culturally illterate. And if you don't at least know a few Yiddish words, you aren't culturally literate.

Damn the far Left and the far Right. Our kids need this!

Posted by: Andrew D at January 13, 2005 10:58 AM
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