In Theory: Group creates guidelines in effort to boost religious literacy
A recent article in Salt Lake City’s Deseret News includes an anecdote about a Utah classroom chanting “Move out” at a fellow student who threatened to sue a teacher if she said the word “Mormon.”
Such incidents in public schools exemplify a contemporary religious divide, the article states, with a call for “religious literacy as the best way to address faith-related violence around the world.”
Contending a need to establish religious studies as part of a common curriculum, the National Council for the Social Studies released in July of this year a document that contains guidelines developed by a wide field of educators and religious freedom organizations.
“The rise in religious misunderstanding accompanying global migration, world conflicts and religious identity politics signifies the need for a renewed focus on the academic study of religion,” said Executive Director Jack Fitzmier of the American Academy of Religion, one of the supporters of the document.
The Deseret News article quotes Diane Moore, founder and director of Harvard Divinity School’s Religious Literacy Project, who said, “It’s pretty difficult to see how you can understand anything about contemporary human affairs without understanding their religious dimensions.”
Q. Would religious studies benefit students living in a divided and changing world? What have you learned from religious traditions that differ from your own worldview?
Yes, I believe a sober, factual examination of the world’s major religious traditions would benefit modern students. Knowing the corporate mindset, perspective and worldview of people different than us helps us to understand their motives and actions. That’s certainly better than trying to filter their actions through our own way of thinking, and drawing false conclusions about them as a result. Greater understanding would help avoid a number of unnecessary conflicts, I’m sure, or help shorten them. The major thing I’ve learned from religious traditions other than my own is that man’s need to be connected with God is deep and desperate. Across the world and through the ages, man has responded to a God-given need to know him. So many people have endured the abuses and errors of false religion in an attempt to meet this need. Jesus Christ came to bridge the gap for us. He was God coming to us. Of Jesus, John 1:18 says, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him.” It’s good to understand each other as fellow beings. It’s even better for us all to understand God as he truly is.
Pastor Jon Barta
Burbank
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“Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”
Paul Simon, “Homeward Bound”
“One man gathers what another man spills.”
The Grateful Dead, “St. Stephen”
“They toss it and leave it, but I pull up quick to retrieve it.”
Sir Mix-A-Lot, “Baby Got Back”
We were talking about “The Jefferson Bible” at church last weekend. Deane told Rose, who is from Germany, that Thomas Jefferson created his own Bible by removing parts he found problematic, like references to Jesus’ divinity and whatnot, and leaving choice bits like “Love your neighbor as you would be loved.” Rose, perhaps unimpressed with a president relegated to a $2 bill and nickel, said, “Anyone can do that.” And she’s right!
As the lyrics above suggest — and I’m not saying that each of these songs is in the Unitarian Universalist book of hymns — we should consider as much as we can of the whole before we take away the parts that most suit us. Adherents of the 12-Step tradition are also familiar with “Take what you need and leave the rest.”
Whatever point on the religious spectrum you may occupy, it is useful to be familiar with the history and tenets of world religions, as we find evidence and shadows of them everywhere. When my 4th-grade Catholic school class had a substitute teacher once, we were pleasantly shocked when he taught us the Norse and Roman theological origins of the names of the days of the week and months of the year (our parents made sure he didn’t return). But that soon-to-be-unemployed long-haired teacher expanded my world.
Similarly, maybe that Utah student wouldn’t be so quick to threaten litigation if his teacher gave quality time to “Buddhist,” “Jew,” “Zoroastrian,” or “UU” along with “Mormon,” and maybe his class, having a sense of the long and ugly tradition of persecution for religion and by religious folk, might be less hasty to drive nonbelievers from their midst.
Whether we choose to take what is offered us, it’s good to know everything on the table.
Marty Barrett, Vice President
Unitarian Universalist Community of the Verdugo Hills
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It’s unclear whether the student objecting to the word “Mormon” was a Latter Day Saint or a Christian who objected to being proselytized. After all, Utah’s population is majority Mormon, and this student may have had a knee-jerk reaction to something of which his parents had taught him to be wary. Who would likely chant “move out,” a majority demographic of Latter Day Saints who embrace being called “Mormons,” or an unusual classroom of non-Mormons that jumped on the opportunity to repel the opposition? Regardless, there needs to be training for our kids if they countenance persecution as justifiable.
Undoubtedly, the disparate religions of the world do not agree on the essentials that distinguish them, and there will never be agreement so long as these distinctions are held inviolable. Christians believe there is only one God that shall ever exist, that he came personally in the man Jesus Christ and that only through him can any person relate positively to God in this life and find salvation from a tragic everlasting afterlife. Mormons believe God was a man and that men become gods. Jews deny Jesus is their savior. Universalists deny hell. But my beliefs are taught in the Bible (Old and New Testaments combined) and only those denying this as God’s complete, fully inspired revelation will disagree.
Now, we can all be wrong, but we cannot all be right, and all religions are not just different ways of arriving at the same truth. I do believe that all religions lead to God, but only one arrives justified while the rest face judgment. Thus said, I don’t wish to hatefully relate to anyone who differs with me, since we’re all made in God’s image and are, according to my faith, objects of God’s desire. I then surmise that religious studies would at least help us understand and respect one another as fellow creatures. While we shouldn’t be expected to honor false religions, we can assuredly respect our fellows who hold their tenets. That’s the best we can hope for, and it could be just enough.
Rev. Bryan A. Griem
Tujunga
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Religious education could, potentially, reduce intolerance by helping young people understand others’ values and perspectives. As the anecdote suggests, establishing an acceptable curriculum in communities where people are divided by strongly held beliefs could in itself become contentious.
In his essay “Zeal Without Knowledge,” Mormon scholar Hugh Nibley spoke of the danger posed by strong emotional commitment that is unsupported by an equally strong foundation of knowledge. “Pure zeal,” he wrote,” tends to breed a race of insufferable, self-righteous prigs and barren minds.”
Although Nibley was addressing what he saw as a problem in the Latter-day Saint community, his assessment applies to the polarization in America today. The proliferation of web-based news sources allows us to ignore the perspectives of those who see the world differently. Algorithms that drive the Internet reinforce our biases and preferences to the point that, in an era of unprecedented opportunity to communicate, many of us have become more isolated and narrower in our thinking.
It is possible that religious studies — taught objectively and respectfully — could encourage tolerance and restore some of the common ground that we have lost. The Articles of Faith, a collection of statements that broadly encapsulate Mormon beliefs, include a commitment to religious tolerance. Article 11 reads, “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where or what they may.”
Personally, I’ve found it easier to fulfill this commitment when I understand those whose beliefs differ; dismissive generalizations become more difficult, and cooperation becomes easier. I’ve been fortunate to have had many friends who were neither Mormon nor Christian. In each of them, I found things to admire. What I’ve learned is that we are capable of bridging our differences if we’re willing to make an effort. Understanding one another is a critical first step.
Michael White
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
La Crescenta
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As I have written in this column in the past, I believe that content covering the world’s religious beliefs should be part of educational curricula, and the material presented in a neutral and balanced manner, without judgment or proselytizing. This would of course include nontheist systems and the fact that many people do not acknowledge any notion of a supreme being or other supernatural creatures at all.
In this I am in agreement with the National Council for the Social Studies, which recommends guidelines for religious content, building on material developed originally by educators. The organization emphasizes that a religion curriculum must be constitutionally and academically sound. As the NCSS puts it, the goal is “studying about religion, but not practicing religion; exposing students to a diversity of religious views, but not imposing any particular view; and educating students about all religions, but not promoting or denigrating religion.”
Religion should be explained within the broader context of the social, cultural, and economic life of countries, and not talked about in isolation, but rather integrated throughout the social studies. There is much to be learned from each others’ beliefs, and including religion in the curriculum will promote social cohesion.
Roberta Medford
Atheist
Montrose