Yes. In seventh grade my daughter had an excellent unit on world religions. The histories and basic tenets of each were taught with none being favored. How can one understand the impact of relgion on history without knowing what the religions involve?
Does anyone know of a case where anybody objected to this kind of unit?
I don’t think it should be required, maybe an elective. I don’t really think it needs its own separate course.
So, without a separate course, where, preceisely, would you have it taught about? Elective? Agreed. Although I can name a few people who could do with a primer on religions other than their own.
I would think it could be covered in some kind of world culture elective. Who gets to decide which religions are discussed?
Regularly - Jehovah’s Witnesses being the most common ones encountered.
My son’s high school teaches a course called “World Cultures” where they look at different regions and discuss their history and the cavitations that rose and fell. When they looked at the Mediterranean they discussed the Greeks and Romans and their religions, including the impact of the Holy Roman Empire, the Inquisition and the Crusades. They are now working on the Middle East and have discussed the basics of Islam including the significance of the five pillars, Mecca and so on.
Not teaching about religion leaves a cultural vacuum especially when you consider the arts. You can’t appreciate Milton without knowing the Bible. Classical music for centuries was incredibly influenced by the Catholic Church. If you don’t know anything about Hinduism you’ll wonder what the hell is the deal with the elephant headed-guy and the freak with all of the arms. Buddha is just some jolly fat guy. The days of the week can be traced to the Norse gods and our cosmos is littered with names from Roman mythology.
I’m not saying we have to teach the religions to the point where the kids become converts but at least give enough information so students don’t read Moby Dick and just think it’s about a peg-legged lunatic with a vendetta against an albino cetacean.
Religion has been involved in most of the world’s most tumultuous events. Henry VIII and the Anglican Church, Martin Luther opposing the papacy, the “troubles” of Northern Ireland, Islamic fanaticism and world terrorism, the Holocaust, Israel versus the Palestinians, even the recent controversy over the Muhammad cartoons all have religion strongly mixed in. Without knowing the importance of the religions and what was involved with the depth of emotion students lose critical information.
I remember when I was in 8th grade I visited my sister at college and sat in on her English class. They were discussing John Donne’s Sonnet XIV. The teacher asked what Donne was referring to when he said
and everyone looked confused. I couldn’t believe all of these supposedly smart, older college kids couldn’t grasp the reference to the Holy Trinity!
Yes. Definitely yes. And it should be a required course, not an elective.
Firstly, because understanding religion is essential to understanding history.
Secondly, and in my opinion most importantly, because most households in the U.S. are not capable of teaching children even the basic fundamentals of comparative religion, and many of those who are capable are not willing.
If kids don’t learn the real fundamental difference between the various religions and sects at school, they’ll never learn them anywhere else. An appalling number of Americans don’t even know the doctrinal difference between Catholics and Protestants; Wiccans and Satanists; Buddhists and Sikhs; Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses; Muslims and Hare Krishnas.
This is one type of ignorance that can hurt them and their society in the future–it’s already hurting us today.
So why not just include it as part of the history curriculum? If you’re going over Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China, Greece, the Middle East, etc. you have the opportunity to learn about the origins of various religious beliefs and philosophies.
In what way and how badly is it hurting people not to be familiar with a lot of othe religions?
Marc
Back in the day, when I was teaching high school, there was a section in the approved English literature textbook about the oral tradition in literature. The Bible was one of the examples, and there were a number of Bible stories in it. When I got to that section, I was careful to point out that we were not discussing whether or not any of these were true stories, or what one should believe. “You have other people in your life to help you decide what you believe,” were my words. We had no objections whatsoever from anyone, ever.
Yes, of course! IIRC, we studied the three “big” religions (Judaism/Christianity/Islam) as part of our unit on the Mid East in my 10th grade World History course.
That’s definitely where it should be. I like the idea of making it a class of its own instead of spreading the information through all of the other history classes, though, because comparative religion doesn’t always fit with the way history classes are structured. It’s hard to compare two religions when you learn about one of them your freshman year and the other your senior year.
I feel that much of the animosity and religious persecution in the world stems from ignorance. FRDE’s post in this thread provided one example. A Mormon friend was treated poorly by a bunch of Christian women because she “isn’t Christian” (Isn’t the full name “Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints”? How is it not Christian if “Christ” is right there in the name?) and because she’s polygamous (she isn’t - that hasn’t been a part of Mormon beliefs for quite some time now). I have a Wiccan friend who is afraid to tell people she’s Wiccan because she’s been accused of being a Satan worshipper (Wiccans don’t believe in Satan, much less worship him).
I think everyone needs to have a basic understanding of the major world religions and how they operate in their respective cultures. While I don’t know that we would need a whole class on this at the High School level, it is definitely something that must be taught in either a Social Studies or World History course. Religion is a huge facet of culture and history and to not give students some rudimentary understanding of that would benefit no one.
I’ve seen a few High School level social studies and world history textbooks and almost all of them have sections on the major world religions.
Why exactly is Judaism considered one of the big “three?” If we’re going to limit ourselves to a big “three” those three would definitely have to be Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. All three religions have over or around 1 billion reported practitioners (Christianity around 2 billion.) While the total number of Jews is a lower number than the population of the states of New York, Texas, California, and Florida. And only represents something like 0.22% of the world’s population, whereas Christianity is roughly 33%, Islam 21%, and Hinduism 14%.
It’s one of the big three Abrahamic religions and for a long time the only non-Christian religion Westerners were likely to be exposed too.
They don’t home school? I’m amazed. I’d guess that teaching about other religions is one of the least offensive things they’d find in public school.
He said MidEast history - I can see just teaching them in that context.
My daugher’s seventh grade history class covered most of the major religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, etc. There were probably more Hindus than Protestants in her class. The unit lasted a couple of weeks.
For those advocating a mandatory special class, which current class would you throw out to make room for it? In California, thanks to budget cuts, there is hardly time for the really important classes. I also think a full class on religions is really more than the subject is worth, at least in high school.
I like the idea as well I just think it should be an elective course and not a required course. We have a hard enough time teaching children the basics of math, science, history, and composition so I don’t think adding another mandatory course is such a good idea. That’s without considering the budgetary requirements that new teachers and textbooks would cost.
I don’t know about that. If I learn about Greek mythology one semester and cover Hindu religion a year later I should be able to make some comparisons. Unless of course I only learned enough to pass the test. If we’re teaching children how to think critically I don’t think it’s a problem.
Maybe, I used to have a much nicer view of Islam, but the more I’ve learned about it the less I like it. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Not that I’m advocating ignorance mind you I’m just speaking out loud. Sometimes communication doesn’t solve problems.
Sure, but to a fundamentalist Christian the Wiccan is worshipping Satan whether she’s aware of it or not. I doubt a comparitive religion class is going to change that. I’ve seen the trouble fundamentalist have in biology and anthropology courses.
Marc
Your friend needs to buck up. If you’re afraid to share your beliefs when it comes up then something is wrong. If people accuse her of worshiping Satan then she needs to set them straight unapologetically. Ignorance is rampant. Don’t foster it by silence.
Not really. Most of it is just tokenist Learning About Channakah or the difference between Protestants and Catholics. Most of the religion in schools is Christian b/c everyone thinks that’s such a wonderful glorious religion. I’d love a class with a HUGE overview about all kinds of religions, not just Judiasm, Christianity, and Islam. Like I don’t even know the basics of Shintoism or Taoism or Native AMerican beliefs or god…a lot of stuff!