A Parents' Guide to Religion in Public School
In this article, you will find:
Teaching Religion and Character
Is it constitutional to teach about religion in public schools?Yes. The Supreme Court has indicated many times that teaching about religion, as distinguished from religious indoctrination, is an important part of a complete education. The public school's approach to religion in the curriculum must be academic, not devotional.
Study about religion belongs in the curriculum wherever it naturally arises. On the secondary level, the social studies, literature and the arts offer many opportunities for the inclusion of information about religions-their ideas and practices. On the elementary level, natural opportunities arise in discussions of the family and community life and in instruction about festivals and different cultures.
Religion may also be studied in special courses. Some secondary schools, for example, offer electives in "World Religions," "Bible as/in History or Literature," and "Religion in America."
What is the relationship between religion and character education in public schools?
Parents are the first and most important moral educators of their children. Thus public schools should develop character education programs only in close partnership with parents and the community. Local communities need to work together to identify the core moral and civic virtues that they wish to be taught and modeled in all aspects of school life.
In public schools, where teachers may neither promote nor denigrate religion, the core moral and civic values agreed to in the community may be taught if done so without religious indoctrination. At the same time, core values should not be taught in such a way as to suggest that religious authority is unnecessary or unimportant. Sound character education programs affirm the value of religious and philosophical commitments, and avoid any suggestion that morality is simply a matter of individual choice without reference to absolute truth.