Religion in Public Schools: Academic, Not Devotional

The Texas Board of Education, the nation's second largest purchaser of public school textbooks, is revising its K-12 social studies curriculum and deciding how to characterize religion's influence on American history. Three consultants have recommended emphasizing the roles of the Bible, Christianity and civic virtue of religion. As America's children go back to school, how would you advise the Texas board? How should religion be taught in public schools?

God has never been kicked out of the public schools. Teaching about religion in the classroom is among many appropriate ways religion can be included in the school day. But, of course, the devil (excuse the pun) is always in the details of how to teach about religion.

The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized the constitutionality and even desirability of teaching about religion, going back to the prayer and Bible reading decisions in the early 1960s. A wide array of religious leaders and church-state experts fashioned a statement on teaching about religion 15 years ago that was incorporated into federal Department of Education guidelines that both the Clinton and Bush administrations embraced. These guidelines provide:

Public schools may not provide religious instruction, but they may teach about religion, including the Bible or other scripture: the history of religion, comparative religion, the Bible (or other scripture)-as-literature, and the role of religion in the history of the United States and other countries all are permissible public school subjects. Similarly, it is permissible to consider religious influences on art, music, literature, and social studies. Although public schools may teach about religious holidays, including their religious aspects, and may celebrate the secular aspects of holidays, schools may not observe holidays as religious events or promote such observance by students.

It's easy to articulate these general principles but hard to apply them -- even more true today in the heat of our culture wars than it was 50 or even 15 years ago. Still, we need to try. And we have to get it right.

Here are a few suggestions that will help us steer through a safe harbor in a way that is constitutionally appropriate, culturally sensitive, and educationally sound.

1. Before a school district begins teaching about religion, it must make sure it has adequately trained the teachers. Teachers need to be expert in the subject matter and also well versed in the difference between teaching religion in an academic way, rather than devotionally.
2. Religion should be taught where it naturally arises in the curriculum, such as in world history, American history or social studies classes. We should teach what the weight of responsible mainstream scholarship suggests but without ignoring the minority opinion. For example, while teaching the colonial era, most scholars would say our founders generally were religious men, but they fashioned a secular government intended to ensure religious liberty for all not ensconce their own religious point of view. Others -- the minority to be sure -- think we were set up as a Christian nation and that governmental institutions were based explicitly on biblical mandates. What they believe need not be taught as true, but the fact that they believe it should be. After all, the public schools belong to everyone.
3. Schools may also tailor specific courses for teaching about religion. These involve subjects such as Bible-as-literature and comparative religion. Care should be taken here to adopt the best curriculum -- one that is academic, rather than devotional and which seeks to educate rather than indoctrinate. With respect to Bible-as-literature courses, teachers should not advocate for a particular theological position (e.g., the Bible is the inerrant Word of God or is just another book, etc.) and in comparative religion not make value judgments about which religion is better than the others or is true or false.
4. Although some argue schools should teach about religion only in the upper grades, I don't go that far. But, I think special precautions need to be taken if religion is to be taught about in the lower elementary grades.
5. Special courses on religion in the public schools should always be electives, never required.

So, yes, teaching about religion is constitutional and even desirable; so much so that it's worth the risk and trouble trying.

By J. Brent Walker  |  September 1, 2009; 11:12 AM ET
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