Do you think that public schools in the US should teach comparative religion?

Question

I'm not talking about teaching one belief or another; instead, teaching the critical analysis of religion itself, perhaps in middle school or high school. Religion has such a penetrating influence on our society that I wonder if teaching its analysis is just as necessary as teaching, say, literature or history. I do not believe that teaching religious studies/comparative religion would be a violation of the Establishment Clause.

What do you all think of this?

Cheir: Religion as the social institution, not as faith.

Answer 1

I say let the churches teach people about religion. The public schools are having enough trouble with what they already teach. besides the churches are better qualified to teach religion.

Answer 2

Yes, I believe children should be taught about all of the religions of the world and there should at least be some attempt to teach them the ability to critically analyse religion in general. The problem is that when you bring religion into the classroom you are going to be highly affected by the faith of the teacher. A fundamentalist Christian is not going to be able to teach an unbiased lesson on christianity, especially when it is related to other faiths. In the few cases in the country where a Muslim teacher is teaching about Islam the same would be true. The only way to be safe is to make sure all the teachers are agnostics!

Answer 3

I think it is fine. Most schools do teach about different religions. There is nothing wrong with the actually teaching of religion just a particular branch can not be endorsed.

I would be concerned about the teachers abilities to teach a fair and unbiased class though. I took religious studies in college and even then most of the teachers had some sort of personal opinion. One flat out hated Christians. Though it sometimes made the class quite amusing for the most part I found it to be a little too much and I am an adult. I do not know if children would be able to weed through the personal prejudices of their teachers (especially with Islam.)

Answer 4

I agree that it would not violate the Establishment Clause. I think schools should teach critical thinking skills that allow students to learn how to analyze ALL things they encounter in life. There doesnt' need to be a class to focus specifically on teaching how to critically examine religion, per se. But I do believe that a class teaching the basic foundations of all world religions is a very good idea, and I'm thankful my daughter's school has such a class (7th grade).

Answer 5

Where i live, in canada, they already do provide a comparative religion course. It's a high school course and It's not a compulsory credit...so only those interested in it bother to take it. Problem in my case was that the teacher was extremely biased against western religion and treated anyone who didn't agree with her more eastern beliefs as if they were unintelligent and not understanding the course material. And some of the assignments were downright blashphemous (such as inventing a god of our own) and she would not alllow a substitute assignment for those who were offended by it.
I think for a course like that to be effective, it would have to be taught with as little bias as humanly possible. The point is to educate students on the faiths that are out there and remove some of the myths associated with them....not to degrade the faithful.

Answer 6

I totally wished there was a class like this when I went to school. What I have been learning lately, makes me wonder if I am in the right place. Now I'm not a religious person per say, but I love to learn about some religions. Comparisons and the history.

Answer 7

Sure, they already do it in state colleges why not in the high school as well? I realize that religion is a controversial subject, but maybe some more information on other religions would be a good thing. That way if a person is going to critique a religion at least it can be based on actual facts instead of here-say.

Answer 8

yes, my son is in second grade in public school and they are already learning about different religions from varied regions of the world.

I bought a second grade curriculum book and it was there as well....I explained to him and my 5 yr old that these religions may be different from ours but the people should always be respected regardless of differing faiths, and then we get into how they differ etc....

In JHS, i don't think it should be a "critical analysis"...by that age they should already be well aware there are international religions...

let the critical analysis begin when they're interested adults..

Answer 9

That would cause too many fights among the parants. You can't teach religion of any kind without offending some oversensative spaz. Any way you teach, someone will insist you taught it wrong.

The reason it works in college is that the students are grown, and there aren't as many questions asked in the family either.

Answer 10

Probably not, as they are public schools and will have a difficult time to teach that subject correctly..
It would take a Muslim to teach Islam, and probably one from each of the major divisions
It would just be a difficult thing to teach correctly and very complicated, and then in a PUBLIC SCHOOL why should the public be obligated to teach my religion, and will they do it correctly.
Teaching that there exists different religions and giving a brief summary of what they are would be OK by me.
In College it is another thing, but only if they want to.

Answer 11

There is no such thing as a critical analysis of the different religions. I know I taught it. Supernatural beliefs are not amenable to logic or reasoning.