Morgan Whitt

Brunskole

ARC

3 May 2017

Religion in Schools

George W. Bush, a former president of the United States of America, once said

Somethings wrong when kids can get birth control in school but cant say a prayer in school.

Many people can stand behind him in agreement with that statement, but others despise the fact

that he even made a remark like that. So many people have began to notice that religion has

always had a strong influence on the behavior of individuals and yet the public schools in the US

have almost been antireligion in the curriculum (Ediger). If religion has always been impactful

for all individuals, why have public schools taken religion out of the curriculum? While some

may argue that religion has no place in public schools, its ability to help students develop strong

moral values makes it a necessary addition to our curriculum.

Religion, first of all, needs to be taught in schools because so many people are taught to

believe things that are false. Many students are unable to tell the difference between truthful

information and stereotypical information. In The Washington Post, there was an article that

believed religion should become more concrete in the schools, schools should do more to give

religion a firm place in the curriculum, beginning as early as the elementary grades. That way,

kids will be prepared, as they grow, to evaluate what they see every night on cable TV based on

real information, rather than a set of stereotypes (Wertheimer). This is just going to show that

stereotypes for religions are being spread and it will be easier to avoid if schools are teaching

what is true about different religious beliefs. One major stereotype that is relevant today is
specifically about muslims. There are people all over that claim all muslims are terrorists, which

is false information. Also, students are surrounded by media and television daily. If they are

constantly around the stereotypes and the jokes that society uses, they will have a disrespect for

people of different religions instead of having a newfound respect for specific religions after

learning about them. Lastly, if students are able to know the difference between truthful and false

information, they will be able to defend their friends if they are being made fun of. This is a very

valid point because so many people are made fun of because of the things that they believe. If the

students learn about the different religions, they will be able to defend a religion, even if it is not

their personal religion. If religion was brought to schools and was able to be taught in schools,

students would be able to tell the difference between the false information and stereotypes that

are being spread and the truth.

Another reason that religion should be able to be taught more in schools is because

students are already coming in contact daily with churches, religious buildings, and people that

are a different religions. Marlow Ediger stated in his article, Teaching Religion in the Public

Schools that churches are already everywhere, churches abound in number throughout the

United States. This helps to back up the fact that students, teachers, and parents are all coming

into contact with these religious buildings on a daily bases. Not only do students pass by

mosques, temples, and churches daily, but they also come into contact with people who believe

and practice different religions every day. Bringing religion into schools will help students to

realize the values and morals of each of those who practice something that is not the same as

their personal beliefs. If the schools gave religion a more concrete place in their buildings, they

would gain a basic knowledge of what each religion was actually about. On Religion and

Politics, there was an article that mentioned a survey that took place in 2010 where the Pew
Forum asked more than 3,000 Americans some simple questions about the worlds religions.

Most respondents could answer only half of them correctly (Laycock). Now, if religion was

mentioned more and being taught in schools, they would be able to answer these basic questions

about different religions. If people are being unwilling to learn about different religions and are

being ignorant of them, they are illiterate people, according to Ediger.

Another very valid point in why there should be more religion in schools is because of

the moral values that religion teaches people. Each religion contains their own set of

commandments of rules that they live by, but some of these rules and commandments are things

that are moral and not bad habits to catch onto. In Edigers article, he stated, values and

morality is greatly neglected in the public school curriculum (4). Ediger argues that morality

and values are two things that the public school lacks, and by adding religion to be a part of the

school curriculum, it will help to build the values of each individual child. For example, in

Christianity, they have a set of rules that they follow called The Ten Commandments. These rules

contain things like do not murder and do not steal. These rules are things that people should

learn to live by anyway. If these moral values are taught within the school systems, maybe

prisons will be less occupied and we will not have as many criminals running around.

The final reason that religion should be a bigger part of the public school today is because

it will help children to realize how unique their own personal religion is. In Edigers article, he

talked about how each religion has their own unique factors and students lack being able to see

the uniqueness that is in their personal religion. Many people, whether they are practicing a

religion or just believe in it, do not completely see the beauty in their own religion. So many

people look at different religions as just different rules to follow, but with religion being brought

back into the schools and being taught the right way, they will see that it is different than that.
Students will be able to ask questions and not feel like they are being judged for it. Students will

be able to speak up when they want to state what their beliefs are. Students will be able to study

things that they might not have ever thought of because they never had time to look beyond the

basics of a specific religion. Not only will students find out new things about their own religion,

but they might find out something interesting about somebody elses religion. If someone is a

Muslim and they see something about Buddhism that relates to what they believe, it might

trigger some sort of interest inside of them. Students will be able to expand their views and be

able to see and admire the beauties of other religions as well. If public schools brought more

religion into their buildings, students would see people as more valued and see that everyone has

a purpose for being at that school.

While all of what was stated so far remains true, there are always going to be people who

disagree with the statements that were just made. There are people who believe that the reason

religion should not be taught in schools is because of the separation of church and state. While

this is a valid point, it brings up the question as to why people are still told to put their hand on

the Bible in courtrooms. If there is really a separation between church and state, why is the state

making people place their hand on a religious text? People also state that there are not enough

trained teachers who know about religion that are available to teach the content. This is true,

there is not enough trained teachers on religions, but teachers can be trained on how to teach and

what to teach when it comes to religion. Teachers go to school and training learning how to teach

everything else, so they should be able to go and learn how to teach a religion. This is not saying

that teachers cannot have different beliefs, it is only saying that it does not hurt to be informed.

Finally, there are people that say there is not enough time in a school year to go through the five

main religions. There are classes that people have taken where they have gone through all of the
religions and left class with a better understanding of what each religion was. If students were

required to take a world religion class, they would have plenty of time to learn about each

religion and grasp a better understanding of them. On another note, if students began learning

about religion in elementary school like Wertheimer mentioned, they would be able to learn new

information each year and would not have to learn everything in just one school year. Although

there are disagreements on why religion should not be put back into the public school, those

disagreements are outweighed by the many reasons why religion should be put back in schools.

Overall, religion should be brought back into public schools because of the many benefits

that it has. Personally, I believe that if religion is brought back, the school system itself will be

made better. Students will be able to tell the difference between truths and lies when it comes to

religion. Students already come into contact with churches, temples, mosques, and other

religious buildings daily when they are driving by or just going down the street, even if they do

not realize it. Students will realize the importance of some values and morality. Maybe the

different values they learn will begin to be applied to their personal lives. Finally, students will

be able to see the differences in all of the different religions and they will be able to see why

each religion is unique. According to Ediger, Students need ample opportunities in the public

schools to variance relevant objectives, learning opportunities, and appraisal procedures in the

curriculum of religion.

Works Cited

Ediger, Marlow. "Teaching Religion in the Public Schools." ERIC - Education Resources

Information Center. N.p., 30 Nov. 1993. Web. 02 May 2017.

Godfrey, Olivia. "Why Religion Should Not Be Taught in Public Schools Olivia Godfrey."
 Knightly Herald. N.p., 23 Sept. 2013. Web. 02 May 2017.

Laycock, Joseph. "We Must Teach about Religion in High Schools." Religion & Politics. N.p.,

07 Jan. 2014. Web. 02 May 2017.

Wertheimer, Linda K. "Public Schools Shouldnt Preach. But They Should Teach Kids about

Religion." The Washington Post. WP Company, 08 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 May 2017.