Ehtical dilemmas: religion

Hello everyone,

A few days ago, in an email about ethics in the classroom, I included a list of possible scenarios that might raise ethical dilemmas for teachers. Some of the scenarios were religious, and I think it's appropriate to consider the difficulties that teachers face with religion in the classroom, especially in light of today's observance of Good Friday.

There are federal guidelines for the treatment of religion in the classroom, and I would like to approach those in as practical a way as I may.
"Religious Expression in Public Schools: A Statement of Principles" was first sent to every public school superintendent in August of 1995 by then-Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley at the direction of President Clinton. The guidelines were updated and re-issued in May of 1998 and re-released without change in December of 1999. They remain in force today.You may access the full texts that I will be referencing at http://www.ed.gov/inits/religionandscools/secletter.html (A letter of summary from Secretary Riley), and
http://www.ed.gov/inits/religionandschools/index-archive.html (Archived information on religion in the public schools, including the full text of "Religious Expression in Public Schools").
I include the portions of two documents that deal directly with teacher and school responsibility after this email.
Broadly speaking, teachers may teach about religion, but they may not advocate for or against religion in general, or any religion in particular.

What should teachers do then, when a student asks the teacher personal questions about the teacher's religion or religious views? The simple answer is to teach about religion, but never ever encourage or discourage a student from the student's personal views.

Here are some examples.

A student asks a teacher, in anticipation of Good Friday, what church the teacher belongs to. The teacher may properly answer the question. If the teacher attends a synagogue, a mosque, or a temple, or if the teacher is unaffiliated, the teacher may properly give a factual explanation of the difference. It is critical that the student have the understanding that the teacher is giving information, not endorsing anything. If the students want thorough explanations of the teacher's religion, the teacher may simply say, "I don't think it's appropriate for me to go into details on my personal religious beliefs in this context. I'm willing to talk about them, but not in school."

A class asks, "Are you Christian or Catholic?" This is a common question. I liked to use it as a teaching opportunity when I was asked the question. "Catholics are Christian," I would declare, factually. I would demonstrate for my students how Roman Catholics fit the dictionary definition of Christian. I would say that the question might more accurately be expressed: "Are you Protestant or Catholic?" Such questions in English classes were often tied to a reading, and the factual answers fit the federal guidelines on teaching about religion in context of the subject. (The question about Christianity versus Catholicity was often brought up when I was trying to explain the Puritan concept of grace in a unit on Puritan literature.)

A class asks, "What does your religion teach about this?" A factual answer, if in the context of the lesson, is not inappropriate. A teacher could also easily say, "I'm sorry, that's irrelevant in this context."

A student in a class asks, "Is there really a god?" There is no way to answer this question without violating the prohibition against indoctrination. I have heard teachers say, "Oh, yes, definitely," and "Absolutely not--there is no god." Both are strictly inappropriate. I would usually answer the question by saying, "That question is best answered by your personal beliefs." On the other hand, it is impossible to teach Puritan literature, Shakespeare, transcendentalism, or the Bible as literature without delving a little into the authors' concept of god. If a student asks me point blank if I believe in God, I may answer factually, but I run the risk of making the student believe that we must share the same beliefs for the student to get a good grade. I was never able to answer that direct question without pointing out that many students who disagreed with me got A's, and many who agreed with me failed.

A boy asks, in front of the class, "Is it a sin to have sex with a girl you aren't married to?" Since this question was asked in the context of a literature selection, it wasn't a complete non-sequitur. I asked the boy to define "sin." After he did so, he was able to answer his own question.

I must say that I have heard outrageous things said about Muslims lately. I would remind teachers that, if they aren't qualified to say anything but evil about another's religion, they ought not say anything at all to their students. "I am not competent to speak about that" is an appropriate answer.

A day like Good Friday can be a difficult day for a teacher. It is layered with centuries of feelings both positive and negative, and for non-Christians it can be even a little frightening. Teachers must deal sensitively with all of those feelings, and it may be necessary to speak in defense of something the teacher doesn't believe. The teacher should take into account the wide variety of conflicting beliefs about Good Friday, and should help students have respect for all the beliefs that are not hurtful: Many Christians feel very deeply about the crucifixion of Jesus, and the day is one of profound spirituality for them; no Jews are responsible for the crucifixion, but the crucifixion has long been the historical excuse for even brutal persecution; many students' families do not observe Good Friday, but non-observance is not a bad thing; the cross is a devotional symbol for some, but a sign of offense for others.

We can certainly teach our students how to accept profound disagreements with sensitivity and compassion for those who are different.

Jeff Combe

HERE ARE EXCERPTS FROM THE DOCUMENTS CITED:

Secretary Riley's letter:

At the same time, school officials may not endorse or favor religious activity or doctrine, coerce participation in religious activity, or seek to impose their religious beliefs on impressionable children. Public schools may teach about religion — for example, in classes on history, music, the arts, or comparative religion, the Bible (or other scripture)-as-literature, the role of religion in history — but public schools may not provide religious instruction.
In protecting students from government-sponsored prayer, the First Amendment also shields students of all faiths from any effort by a majority faith to define how religion should be expressed in a public school. The right to engage in personal voluntary prayer or religious discussion free from discrimination does not include the right to have a captive audience listen, or to compel other students to participate. We are a nation of many religious faiths and we must be vigilant in protecting the right of all students to express their religious faith in their own way, in addition to expressing their freedom of conscience not to participate in religious activities.
"Religious Expression in Public Schools: A Statement of Principles"

Official neutrality regarding religious activity: Teachers and school administrators, when acting in those capacities, are representatives of the state and are prohibited by the establishment clause from soliciting or encouraging religious activity, and from participating in such activity with students. Teachers and administrators also are prohibited from discouraging activity because of its religious content, and from soliciting or encouraging antireligious activity.
Teaching about religion: 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.
Student assignments: Students may express their beliefs about religion in the form of homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free of discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions. Such home and classroom work should be judged by ordinary academic standards of substance and relevance, and against other legitimate pedagogical concerns identified by the school.
Religious literature: Students have a right to distribute religious literature to their schoolmates on the same terms as they are permitted to distribute other literature that is unrelated to school curriculum or activities. Schools may impose the same reasonable time, place, and manner or other constitutional restrictions on distribution of religious literature as they do on nonschool literature generally, but they may not single out religious literature for special regulation.
Teaching values: Though schools must be neutral with respect to religion, they may play an active role with respect to teaching civic values and virtue, and the moral code that holds us together as a community. The fact that some of these values are held also by religions does not make it unlawful to teach them in school.