religion

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2001 : November : 10

religion
By Cathy-Dee

I'm not quite sure what you are asking in your question. Do you want to know how to approach teaching religion in public schools? Should it be taught? How to deal with different religious groups within the school setting?
There's a wide range of questions one can ask.
If you are wondering about whether religion should be taught in public schools then I would have to say no. From a personal point of view as a Christian, I would not want to have to teach my views as well as views of other religions to ensure equality. I think religion should be kept within the home and church because we have so much

diversity now in our countries (I'm from Canada). This differs from learning about other religions which I'll try to explain below.

For example, this differs from teaching some aspects that may have some religious conotations such as Christmas or Easter. These holidays are very much traditional holidays and have a secular viewpoint as well as the Christian viewpoint. You can celebrate them without getting too much into the religious nature of the holiday. And there are other groups, etc., where their customs, holidays, even dress are part of their religious traditions. You cannot keep religion completely out of schools, but you do not have to specifically teach it either.

As far as students with different religious backgrounds and how to deal with all the differences, well I guess a lot depends on where you teach. I don't think I could teach in a school where my cultural background, customs and religion would be so far removed as to take Christmas for example out of the classroom. I don't have a problem including other religious celebrations as part of the learning experience, but not at the expense of what is important to myself. Many of our holidays are grounded in the Christian faith, but do not necessarily "highlight" the Christian faith in many aspects.
However if I chose to work in a school where let's say the major population of the students were Jewish, then I should in fact be willing to honour the holidays that the majority of my students would practice, however I still think other holidays should be mentioned or even celebrated to include everyone.
So I choose to work in schools where the majority of the children do come from homes where Christmas and Easter are celebrated holidays. And although I do not have any children in my room who are Jewish, Muslim or other religions we still do talk during the holiday season about some of the other holidays that do occur during these months. I believe as an educator it is important to honour our own faith and customs, but also to recognize what others believe. I tell my students that we do not have to always agree on the same things or even believe the same things, but we do have to accept and allow everyone to have their own ideas, beliefs, etc., So we read books about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year and other holidays, but we also celebrate Christmas. And again all of these can be taught without having to get into specific "religious" teaching. You can teach from the point of view of customs, history, traditions, etc., There's a big difference between learning about a religion and practicing and teaching a religion.