CI 4720 Issues in Social Studies

In a post 9/11 world how can we educate our children on the importance of religious tolerance, acceptance and freedom if we deny our Arab American brothers and sisters the freedoms we have so rigorously fought to protect for ourselves and in and amongst ourselves as well?

Nathan D. Logan 4/21/2008

A brief, but by no means comprehensive look at attempting to incorporate religious education in the public schools of the United States; gains to be made by doing so, backlashes, taboos and off-topic issues as well as the hypothetical and possible future of the United States if religious education were to be incorporated into the public schools. In a post 9/11 world how can we educate our children on the importance of religious tolerance, acceptance and freedom if we deny our Arab American brothers and sisters the freedoms we have so rigorously fought to protect for ourselves and in and amongst ourselves as well?

Ever since the events of September 11, 2001 it seems as though a magnifying glass as it were was placed upon all the minorities of the United States of America. That somehow, everyone who was not of Caucasian, African American or Latino descent, were under this magnifying glass being perpetually watched. For the first time since Pearl Harbor, an attack had occurred on United States soil and a particular ethnic group, Arab Americans or Middle Eastern

Americans, were the scapegoats by the media and by their fellow countrymen. Just like the

Japanese some half a century before them, unrest and unease was flowing through the country and red-blooded Americans became die-hard Patriots overnight to the cause of what to do with the Arab Americans. Surely, we are in a civilized age and a civilized time and internment camps or ostracizing was something that was fit only for the Nazis and our ancestors. Surely, we are an educated people who would learn from our mistakes. Our Congress would go to condemn the attacks of September 11, 2001 as well as pass a resolution condemning the bigotry and violence against Arab Americans to come. It is one thing for our countries’ lawmakers to pass resolutions and hope that everyone abides by them out in the real world. It is one thing for our leaders to hope that we are an educated people and that we should seek education for what is going on today so that we may be learned and up to date as it were.

Sadly, applying this over to the future leaders of our country, our children in the public schools is something of a different beast. Whereas, it has been discussed that it is okay to talk about religion in college and work not just because we are above a certain age of consent, adulthood that is, or that we are out in the real world where businesses and colleges are not sponsored and mandatory by the Federal Government to teach us or not to teach us about certain things. Everything is fair game and nothing is sacred. This is not the case with public schools.

Because it is mandatory for all children of these United States to attend public school up to a certain age depending on what state you are in, the idea of public school is education, awareness and enlightenment. At least, that is what we hope has been occurring in our public schools and to our children. The idea of public schools is to get ready our children for the real world. However, in an increasingly diverse and polarized world environment after September 11, 2001, we are left with one crucial left over that is hanging over our heads threatening to crush our hopes: religion.

How do we teach religion to our children in a way that we do not indoctrinate, promote or denigrate a particular religion? The problem with America today seems to be unfortunately with our increasingly diverse ethnicities and religions and our polarizing opinions. We must first take a look at what makes America so great, what makes America, America and how we are to get along with each other in this increasingly smaller world.

One of the things that makes America so great is the Constitution, specifically, the First

Amendment, guaranteeing the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and petition, without it the America we have all come to know and love would not and could not exist. But, for the purposes of this paper, we are going to take a look at freedom of religion. Which in particular there are two parts. Firstly, there is a free exercise clause of religion. We may practice, exercise, do whatever we want in relation to out religions… secondly so long as the Federal Government does not endorse, sponsor, denigrate or promote, etc that particular religion. This is one of the best things about the freedom of religion clause in our government. We spell it out so clearly, but yet leave it open to so much interpretation that it is also extremely flexible.

There comes a time though, I believe, that religious freedom, no establishment of religion and separation of church and state become blurred. Even though the phrase “separation of church and state” is nowhere to be found in the Constitution, it has been ingrained in the minds of the citizens of this country so much trying to dissuade the myth that it is in the former is near impossible. I believe there comes a time when those lines become so blurred and that for the best of the nation, for the best of our future leaders, our children and our students, we must incorporate some religion into our classrooms. Ah, mind you, not religion, but religious education, or educational religion, however you would like to call it. This very notion that everyone seems to get that when someone talks of bringing religion into a classroom that we are there to preach, or to denigrate and not simply to educate for education’s sake, is the fault of a great many, perhaps Thomas Jefferson and his widely taken out of context and misquoted

“separation of church and state” that was for an informal affair. What has happened to teaching about religion, specifically the three main Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, for the sake of understanding, tolerance and acceptance? Have we become so set in our ways of individualism and non-conformity that we have forgotten how to get along with each other as well? The only way this country will be able to function after an event like 9/11 where Muslims are instead unwatched and private citizens like the rest of us and not guinea pigs for laws and observations that are unconstitutional is to break down the barriers that exist from pre-conceived notions and ideas, akin to and not unlike the progress that was made in the civil rights movement. We could go and spend another ten pages or perhaps more on why I have chosen

Judaism, Christianity and Islam as the main religions to be taught experimentally. If anything, people could argue for Buddhism and Hinduism to be placed above Judaism, and they would be right, but for the sake of simplicity, we will stick with the three aforementioned religions.

What are we to gain if we begin to incorporate religious education in the classrooms of our public schools? What are we to face as backlash as a result of this? What things should be considered taboo and off topic and best left to other people? Is there even a need for education our children on these different religions? How does Islam fit into this wobbly equation of religion in schools? Is this a violation of so called “church and state”? And finally, do America’s school systems need an overhaul or rethinking or just a redefining?

Ignorance breeds confusion, confusion leads to fear, and fear leads to anger and anger to hatred, it is a vicious circle. One of the reasons why the Holocaust was able to occur the way that it did was because of misconceptions of who the Jewish people really were and what their parts in society were. The fact of the matter is, the Jewish people of 20th century Germany were our brothers and sisters in the family known as the human race. No more and no less. They were human beings worthy of equal respect and kindness that Hitler afforded even his dog. What were their parts in society? Citizens; they were not part of some global scheme to bring down the

German people and take away German pride. They were neighbors, friends and lovers. America, in its complacency, has begun to fear things it does not understand because it has never been at the forefront before. It used to be that America was just a simple “Christian” nation: white, black, Latino and Asian, throw in some Judaism, some atheists and you have America. But, with recent events in the Middle East and the prosperity of the United States during the 90s leading up to the 2000s, and you have more immigration from nations America has not really had or heard of before. So, what are we to gain? Let us look at what we might have possibly lost, “It was clearly observed that certain values like tolerance and respect for diversity, which were fundamental principles of multiculturalism in America’s schools, indicated signals of fracturing under the stress of the tragic event.”i

Tolerance and respect for diversity where are you? How about “General Respect, Active

Respect, Student Interest and Religious Liberty”ii? Whatever happened to those? I feel that because of some of the ostracizing of 9/11 and the fears that have been brewing to the surface, we have forgotten about basic education and awareness of what makes America, America. We are a melting pot of cultures, ethnicities and religions! And to throw a few off to the side in the way of traffic because of a terrorist attack is shameful and our founding fathers would be disgusted. If anything, wanting to hold onto our values and our freedoms should be echoed and mirrored in wanting to protect those of our fellow citizens whom we don’t know. Wanting to uphold our own freedoms our own practices and exercises should be spurred and motivated by wanting to know more about these other religions. The more we know about each other, the less we will be confused about each and the less the terrorists, media and/or most especially the politicians of this country will be able to divide us. The more we know where we are coming from, why we believe the things we believe, how we came to believe the things we do, etc, the hypotheticals are endless, the more we know, the more we can integrate with each other and truly become the multicultural society and country that the founding fathers had envisioned for us.

Next, what are we to face as a backlash of all of this? Well, for one parents would begin to think if we start to include courses about Islam or Christianity, or even just simply courses about the Qur’an or the Bible, that we would be promoting and that we’re preaching those books and those religions, and not about them. We want to teach about the religions, not preach to the kids.

Let us look to some school districts near Oakland, California where the school boards have been attempting to integrate the teaching of Islam into their schools. One school had students in a course “imagine they were warriors fighting for Islam.”iii The other school had students being handed a pamphlet that said from day one they would dress as Muslims, read the

Qur’an, recite proverbs, etc. Needless to say, the parents were not too happy about this. One parent made the remark that “anything that smacks of Christianity is systematically excluded in the classroom, but everything else like Wicca to Islam is welcomed.”iv Clearly as is shown here, there is backlash if we try to incorporate other religions in the classroom. These few classes and schools seem to be welcoming in various world religions, while the parents in a shock to the senses are actually upset that there’s not enough Christianity being taught, when usually it’s

Christianity they want to push out and Islam and others they want to get in.

Take the example of a school district in Georgetown, Delaware, where the pervasiveness of Christian prayer and other activities in the schools prompted two Jewish families to sue the school district. One of the families ended up moving away, the other stayed. However, even in all of this, remains the student who is trapped in the center who doesn’t want to be called the

“Jew boy who’s suing Jesus.”v

What sort of things should be taboo or completely off topic for teaching about religion in the classrooms? Well, for starters, if a parent doesn’t want their child to be in any kind of religious course, they should not be forced to partake and participate in said course. While the school is not promoting a religion, they would be sponsoring or establishing a certain course that the student would have to take in order to graduate or to move on; and that is again, not something that we want to infringe upon. No establishment, therefore the student should be able to continue his or her education without fear of being held back or anything of the sort.

Obviously, we do not want to have the students, the ones who do partake of religious education courses, feel obligated to memorize parts of holy books or creeds or saying s that would border on the edge of devotional.

“ We had to memorize [and recite] something called the apostle

creed. “I believe in this . . . I believe this . . . I believe this” . . .

these were all things I did not believe in. So that was the only time

where I really did not feel comfortable saying this, I don’t want to

memorize it. “Can I memorize something else? Can I do another

project instead?” They were like, “No. You have to memorize it.”vi

Nor do we want to expose students to controversial subjects of the day that are not appropriate for that particular class. For instance, we would not want to expose students to the clergy sexual abuse scandal of the Catholic Church in a class on Catholicism or say talk about

Catholicism’s controversial stance on birth control. Nor would we want to expose students to the finer points of Sunni and Shia Muslims in Iraq or a discussion on suicide bombers in a class on

Islam. Such issues would be better suited to a specially designed and somewhat lacking in today’s school systems Current Events class. Our goal is to expose students to religion, academically, the way they would be exposed to say Shakespeare or Math, methodically and systematically and with reason and deliberateness, not with bias and agenda. We want to get the children to think and to elaborate on why their neighborhoods are so diverse, what that building on the corner of that street is, why Muslims don’t eat during certain weeks of the year, why

Christians give up certain things or have some black marks on their foreheads or why some Jews aren’t able to come evening sporting or school events on the weekends. We want to foster independent thinking, not gossip and rumor. However, in so called secular schools, where

“religion is invisible and there are no discussions of religion”vii, what do the teachers and the educators have to say?

"We're supposed to celebrate our linguistic and racial differences," says Badley. "But when it comes to religion, we pretend it doesn't exist."viii And that a secular approach to avoiding things rather than discussing them, doesn’t make any sense.

So, is there a need for religions like say Islam to be taught? I should think so; one outstanding religious education elementary teacher has gone on to say,

“[She] believes that “[o]ur job [as teachers] is to teach children

[that] the world can be a better place. Teachers have an obligation

to be fair about people and look beyond religion and race.

Discussions about religion lead naturally into topics of racism and

prejudice.”ix

“Teaching about world religions also can help students better understand contemporary issues.”x She finishes. That very same article brings up the topic of what should be included in a religious education curriculum.

Which world religions will be studied? At which grade levels will

specific world religions be studied? What specific content will be

studied about each religion? Are there natural connections that can

be made to the traditional social studies curriculum?xi

Again, as I’ve said before, these are all issues that we must face and deal with. I believe there is a need for religion in the classroom and that it does need to start out at a general pre- determined age or grade level with a hierarchical categorization of what should be taught either, each year or each semester, etc.

So, is there a need? One source I’ve come across has put so well to not share it would be criminal,

“ School education should prevent discrimination and foster

tolerance. Rather than focusing on differences, the education

should demonstrate a basis for solidarity and understanding across

all borders of faith and culture. For instance, with human rights

education we can build a solid basis for freedom of religion or

belief. With religious education in school there is always a danger

of focusing too much on the particular identities of the pupils and

hence on what separates instead of what unites us as human

beings.”xii

This is all good and well, but read what the author of that very same paper had to say a few paragraphs later, “However, just transmitting knowledge does not seem to close the divide.

My argument is that courses on world religions should include material from human rights studies, inter-religious dialogue and peace studies.”xiii

If there is a need, and I know there is, we cannot just transmit and espouse the material and information out to the students in a quick, brick by brick, quotation-esque fashion. There must be interdisciplinary and multi-faceted approaches to the sensitivity of these topics. There must be dialogue with religious scholars, studies on human rights and how religions have helped to foster universal human rights throughout the ages as well as peace studies so that we may hopefully do the best we can to reconcile these vastly different religions with each other. Let us next ask ourselves, is this a violation of the famed statement “separation of church and state”? Well, since the first amendment says the government is not to abridge or excise anyone of their freedom of exercise clause or the establishment of religion clause, that would be a state or country sponsored religion, so long as we teach the material we wish to teach academically, objectively, honestly and with I feel no agenda or bias, other than for educational purposes, there is no violation. But, it is a fine line that many will cross and tiptoe on because when it will inevitably come down to picking out those few religions that we do teach about, some might say, “Well, you’re favoring Judaism, Christianity and Islam over Buddhism and

Hinduism!” That may be the case, but a teacher and a student both can only get through so much material at any given time. We may have one year or semester devoted to the three Abrahamic religions, the next year devoted to the Middle Eastern religions, the other year or semester devoted to the Asian religions. Keep in mind though, devoted not in a religious sense, but devoted in an academic sense. If schools around the nation were to hire in brand new teachers, make brand new courses and standards and benchmarks just for Judaism, Christianity and Islam tomorrow, there would be chaos, as any newborn infant of knowledge always is. But, people, the parents, the atheist mothers, and those generally ignorant of multiculturalism will always have these issues unless we put religion out there standing tall and proud and say, “We are religion, we help to make up this world, the societies and the cultures, without us, much of what you know would not exist.” It’s going to take either a strong administration, a strong school district, a strong Department of Education, something to wake America up into realizing that religion exists, it isn’t going anywhere and people do practice it, they don’t just leave it at the doors when they come into the classrooms. Religion is the diversity and the spice of life and it is what makes us unique. It has helped to shape whole cultures and ethnicities around it (Islam), it has shaped entire nations (India and

China; Buddhism), it has shaped history and the forming of new nations (Nazi Germany and the formation of Israel; Judaism) and it has helped to bring together people of all ethnicities, cultures, countries and so much more because of one man (Christianity). These interrelated and interconnected religions don’t just exist because they make wonderful Thanksgiving or

Christmas time dinners around the table. They exist because these religions define who we are, how we choose our paths in life, how we act, how we talk, how we associate ourselves with other people and how we live our lives.

Islam is the centerpiece of piñata bashing right now because of the terrorists that run rampant day and night devising ways to kill us, plus we are occupying Iraq which is basically aside from Iran, Islam country. Iraq is old school Babylon wine in new school bottles. As has been shown up above, there are some ways you want to teach Islam and some ways you don’t.

One way not to would be to tell kids they are going to be “warriors fighting for Islam”, that’s right, just stoke the fire a little more and play up the violence stereotype even more. Making kids dress up as Muslims as if they dress any differently from everyday folk is also somewhat offensive. I myself have taken a course on Islam, and there are many Muslims who choose not to wear the “traditional” garb or the head coverings as have been stereotypically portrayed by the media. We must approach Islam the same way we would approach a college student who is a practicing Buddhist or Hindu. They don’t dress any differently that makes them stand out. They can, but it’s not required. Focus on the information being transmitted, being taught and why it is important to these people all around the world. Give examples of the five times a day daily prayer, but don’t force the kids to perform them, let the teacher perform the prayer as a demonstration. Don’t require the students to recite passages of the Qur’an, instead bring in audio

CDs and have students listen to firsthand accounts of what reciting of the Qur’an actually are like. The key to teaching is explaining to students not to come in with an agenda or a bias, just as the teacher has not; everyone is fair and objective. There is no reason why a religion class that involves teaching about a religion should involve clashing opinions and ideas. It should be a forum of intelligent exchange, admonishing when stereotypical or racial expressions occur, equality where the students are learning from the teacher and vice-versa, it should be an educating and interesting experience that should help the students to understand more about the religion, not make them feel uncomfortable that the class is filled with eighty-percent Muslims and twenty-percent atheists or Christians, etc. It should be about awareness and enlightenment, not indoctrination!

Coming back to General Respect, Active Respect, Student Interest and Religious

Libertyxiv, these are the things that can be finally gained. With students actively engaged in learning about religions and how these different religions help to interconnect the students with their friends and others in their local schools, villages and towns, we will help the students to gain a General Respect for the beliefs of other people simply because of the fact, if they respect strangers who practice different religions, those strangers will also respect in turn the students’ beliefs. With Active Respect, a great opportunity arises that if a student who is of a religious minority at a rural school overwhelmed by WASP students, perhaps one or more students who have been informed or have taken religion courses, will have the courage to stand up and speak for the student in the minority out of pride and respect in that the student standing up is upholding the First Amendment rights that has secured their religious and free speech rights. It leads to a, “you help me, I’ll help you and together we’ll both be better because of it,” situation. Student Interest and Religious Liberty are tied in the sense that if we can get students interested in religion to the point where they begin to explore where else in the country they might one day want to teach or to help bring awareness to other people about religions, why religions, or no religions at all, is important to the foundations of the First Amendment. Student Interest in learning about religions will spur our future leaders to bring about more enlightenment and awareness to this diverse, polarizing and fractured country we live in. Finally, Religious Liberty is important because it is built upon the two Respects and Student Interest and helps to foster awareness of the First Amendment which we citizens as a country seem to be losing in this war on terrorism as well as our descent into a police state as the media hypes up the fear and war mongering. Religious Liberty goes hand in hand with Free Speech, without it, there would be no

America, there would be no Democracy; nay, there would be no Republic.

So, do our school systems need an overhaul? Perhaps a redefining of “separation of church and state”? Maybe a Bible or a Qur’an thrown at it? Would that do it? I don’t believe so. I do believe though that America needs a wake-up call to the increasing diversity and polarizing opinions, cultures and lifestyles that are popping up and have been since September 11, 2001. I believe the only way to wake up our country is through our future leaders, through our children and our students who have not been indoctrinated so heavily by their parents who may have racial or visceral anger towards certain ethnic groups whom they don’t understand. Our children, our students, our future leaders are blank templates that we can help to mold and shape in the right way that our founding fathers would be proud of. Don’t mistake this as indoctrination.

Indoctrination is pervasive and extreme education for a bias or an agenda towards a specific end.

This is education, awareness and enlightenment for the better of our nation that we may better understand one another and to help make the country a tasty melting pot of wonderful ingredients instead of a rotten melting pot that is neither cold nor hot but lukewarm that is overdue. References

Ayers, S. & Reid, S. (2005). Teaching about Religion in Elementary School: The Experience of

One Texas District. The Social Studies, January/February, 14-17.

Banerjee, N. (2008, Feb. 28). School Board to Pay in Jesus Prayer Suit. The New York Times. p.

15-15.

Donovan, G. (2002, Feb. 1). Middle school course of Islam draws criticism.. National Catholic

Reporter. p. 6-6.

Doorn-Harder, N. (2007). Teaching religion in the USA: bridging the gaps. British Journal of

Religious Education, 29(1), 101-113.

Eisler, D., Farran, S., & Jenish, D. (1997, Dec. 15). Secular Class. Macleans, 110, Issue 50,

Kenan, S. (2005). Reconsidering Peace and Multicultural Education after 9/11: The Case of

Educational Outreach for Muslim Sensitivity Curriculum in New York City. Educational

Sciences: Theory & Practice, 5(1), 172-180.

Lester, E. & Roberts, P. (2006). Learning About World Religions in Public Schools. (Vol. 1).

[Brochure]. Nashville, TN: First Amendment Center.

Lugg, C. (2004). One Nation Under God? Religion and the Politics of Education in a Post--9/11

America.. Educational Policy, 18(1), 169-187. i Kenan ii Lester iii Donovan iv Donovan v Banerjee vi Lugg vii Eisler viii Eisler ix Ayers x Ayers xi Ayers xii Doorn-Harder xiii Doorn-Harder xiv Lester