IN THEORY: Wide-ranging Sunday school curriculum

A new kind of Sunday school in which a range of religions gather to teach virtues to young children has sprouted up in Virginia. It includes Jews, Baptists and Bahai’s. Some parents believe it builds their spiritual side and education. What do you think?

?

There exist universal truths which are reflected in the dogmas and doctrines of differing religious traditions and teachings throughout the world. Many of these truths are also found in non-religious writings such as “Aesop’s Fables,” Chinese proverbs and the like. We can derive meaning from these texts, and they can even support what we hold to be sacred within our own faith journey.

That being said, my religious identity comes from my own belief system. Just as much of my identity as a person is rooted in my family of origin, so too do I grow and develop spiritually from my family of faith. I fear that we can risk watering down who we are religiously and spiritually by trying to be so inclusive that we believe one religion has as much to teach us as another.

I find no problem in alluding to the beliefs of other traditions in the religious education of the young, but I do believe the backbone of religious understanding and upbringing is primarily conveyed in the context of one’s own tradition. Trying to be generic often leads to confusion and a lack of real direction on the spiritual path.

FATHER PAUL J. HRUBY

Pastor

Incarnation Catholic Church

Glendale

?

To me this sounds like a wonderful idea.

With our multiracial, multiethnic and multicultural society, I believe we need to know more than ever the values we share rather than the places we differ. In one of the Beatitudes, Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9, Revised Standard Version).”

The quote says nothing about Christian peacemakers or Jewish peacemakers or Muslim peacemakers or Buddhist peacemakers; the quote is, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” and what that says to me is that we all need to learn to live together in peace.

What’s more, we need to recognize that part of God that exists in every person. What each of us shares is breath; Genesis 2:7 (Revised Standard Version) says that God breathed his breath into the first human creature. So you and I and every person who lives on this Earth has a part of God in us, God’s breath. So if the breath of God is in each of us, how can we possibly countenance killing another human being who is also made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26)? Good for those folks in Virginia who want their children to learn about values we share; I think they’re trying to do the Lord’s work.

THE REV. C. L. “SKIP” LINDEMAN

Congregational Church of the Lighted Window

United Church of Christ

La Cañada Flintridge

?

I feel that schools of this kind should not focus on religious beliefs, but rather on ethical conduct. Bringing many varying beliefs together will inevitably lead to a watering down of core spiritual teachings and may confuse, rather than enlighten, the children.

I am certain that the various world religions can find commonality in regards to moral values such as honesty, kindness, charity and benevolence toward one another. Let us not forget that we are all God’s children.

Teaching these values to our youth — irrespective of race or religion — and underscoring the need for religious tolerance is an admirable undertaking and a positive step toward breaking the cultural divide that so often divides us.

However important these educational classes are, it is essential that parents realize that they cannot replace standard religious teachings.

Every respective religion can be thoroughly discovered only from within the framework of their traditional structure, with qualified clergy or laymen as instructors.

RABBI SIMCHA BACKMAN

Chabad Jewish Center

?

What a great idea. I applaud these parents in Virginia for taking the initiative to organize such a class.

By teaching virtues, they are building character in these children. Each religion brings to the gathering qualities that are important in a particular tradition. Hopefully, by doing so, we all understand that the strength of religion is its ability to build community by first building character among the individuals that make up that community.

But more important than exposure to a multiplicity of religions, these children are indirectly being given a most valuable message. Simply, they are learning that their parents care. The idea that the parents from a broad spectrum of different traditions have rallied together for the sake of the children will strengthen the children in many dimensions. Even more, the fact that these parents at the same time participate with the children, will ensure the success of this and any program.

This story should remind us all that the first Sunday school classroom is in the home and that God has ordained parents into a unique ministry directed to his most precious children.

FATHER VAZKEN MOVSESIAN

Armenian Church Youth Ministries

In His Shoes Mission

?

I think I hate it. I’ve read about these schools, and what they intend to impart is destructive. I cannot fathom Christian parents risking the souls of their children by subjecting them to what is little more than New Age indoctrination.

Religions, per se, are not true just because people will practice them, and teaching children that all faiths are essentially united in God is like teaching them that playing in the freeway is essentially the same as playing in the park.

Christians believe that that mankind is fallen, and that we all possess sinful natures that we exploit constantly. Look at the world; does it seem like heaven? The reason it doesn’t is why God stepped out of heaven as the man Jesus, and endured the crucifixion on our behalf. As the God-man He arose from the dead, and having lived a sinless human life, He simultaneously exhibited divine mercy and satisfied divine justice. No other religion believes this or its necessity, so what’s the benefit of tossing a baptized child into a kumbayah circle with others’ faiths?

I can appreciate the desire of parents to instill respectful attitudes toward others who believe differently, and to build in their children a Samaritan spirit, but this should occur within their own faith community, not some experimental religious hodgepodge that is so unspiritual it can’t comprehend right from wrong from contradiction.

It’s one thing to accept people of other faiths as mutually created in God’s image; it’s quite another thing to accept the faiths of other people as if they were mutually God inspired. Holy Week was all about this very issue, but if it was nothing more than chocolate bunnies to your family, then by all means, send your kids to pagan finishing school this coming “Lord’s Day.”

THE REV. BRYAN GRIEM

Senior Pastor

Montrose Community Church