Religion in School

 Introduction

In the past decades, the new consensus encouraged the role of religion in schools or the importance of curriculum for religious education. However, changes in practice are not yet implemented. Public schools largely ignore religion, K-12 curriculum ignores religions, public universities lack departments of religious studies and even institutions that have religion, and the course is selected by a minority of students. It is evident that the American education system does not recognize God or rather assumes that God is irrelevant.  In other words, American education is illiberal- this means that the education system does not allow students to think critically and make a sense of the world.  Note that students should understand secular ways and religious alternatives about the world. It is important to understand that a good education is one that allows students to learn about religious histories. A good liberal education is an education where students apply religious ways of thinking or rather they create a relationship or connection between religion and science. This research paper raises the argument that students should learn everything including religious ideas. Therefore, religious education should be taken seriously.  Public schools should recognize the merits of religious and secular ways and allow students to use these two levels of thinking in making sense of the world. Indeed, public schools should allow students to create connection within disciplines and domains; that is, religious and secular studies, and this will help them understand how theologians and authors within different disciplines understand subjects such as sexuality, morality, psychology, among and domains.

 

 

Today, public schools do not acknowledge the importance of religious studies.  In the past, people would make a sense of the world by applying secular and religious ways of thinking (Nord, 2010). However, since the 19th century, some intellectuals such as Weber, Freud and others introduced enlightenment and science and these made religion become weak.  In the 20th century, many scholars supported 'the secularization thesis" (Nord, 2010). In the modern era, religions have lost their social and cultural value and secularization has gained social power.  Secularizations is ruling because people do not believe in God, society does not support religious practices, and the public institutions have shifted to nonreligious values. Even the students  acknowledge that the modern world is  secular  in that  the texts they read contains more  about  social history, political history, popular culture, among other  topics (Nord, 2010). However, religion topics is not found in these texts. Despite that the fact that secularization has reformed society, public schools should value the students by establishing religion studies and religious activities. Note that teaching religion in school is one way of promoting social harmony and providing moral and ethical teachings.  Religion is the only path where students can understand the world and more importantly, how they will live in the world as well as with other people (Clayton & Stevens, 2018). These factors justify the importance of the education curriculum.  Note that  religion is special  in that it reveals important truth  and ethical doctrines  and therefore curriculum should be  designed to expose students  to the  these truths and doctrines. Up to this point, students in public schools need a "religion-heavy' curriculum where they will learn more about morality and ethics and as a result, they will gain an ethical understanding and more importantly, they will live a just and worthwhile life (Clayton & Stevens, 2018). In fact, every child is entitled to an education that will help him or her gain different perspectives and rely on those perspectives in making rational and informed decisions. 

Vikdahl & Skeie (2019) assert that students in public schools are interested in religion-related dialog-both interreligious and intra-religious dialog. This is because, they want to interact and know each other. In addition, they value diversity to the extent that they want to hear the differences in beliefs and benefit from them. For example, a study done in London and Stavanger revealed that students want religious education and more important religious dialog to gain deeper knowledge about the intra-religious and interreligious differences (Vikdahl & Skeie, 2019). Note that during dialog or when they are exchanging ideas, students improve skills through expressing their views. Therefore, religion curriculum and in particular religion-related dialog is a way of promoting positive student interaction.

Liagkis (2019) uses a different perspective about religion in public and says that there is a relationship between religious education and adolescents' development both socially and emotionally.  Note that the role of educational institutions is to help students create their own identities and improve their academic performances.  For students to achieve these, they need social and emotional wellbeing. The latter is promoted by religious education as the studies allow students to develop self-identity and a sense of connectedness. Religious education promotes religious affiliation where students from a similar belief system associate to discuss their beliefs and practices (Liagkis 2019). Even though religion in school may be associated with challenges especially when students are arguing about the purpose of life, the existence of God, nature of reality, among other issues, the goal of education is to help learners understand their cultural heritage. In addition, the difference in beliefs will prepare students to live in a diverse society and more importance, gain tolerance and social development. This is made possible by the aspect that religious education is person-centered (Liagkis 2019). This means that individuals are allowed to communicate with themselves and understand the sense of a person and personal identity. Another  important point to note  is that  religious  education  is not only  learning  about religions but  it goes further to give the students  a  chance to  develop  a religious lens which enable them to  solve problems using new perspectives (Liagkis 2019). Thus, students not only gain knowledge about the topic but they develop skills and positive attitudes about themselves as well as the world.  Like other disciplines, religious education will allow students to conduct deeper research not only to understand the topic but also to understand their feelings and thoughts.

 Koukounaras-Liagkis, (2015) has a good understanding on the importance of religion in school and he goes on to argue that teaching religion is one of the ways of building community cohesion. Sine enlightenment, secularization has taken over and this means that religion has withered. The Western educational systems also support secularization or in other words education has been reformed to focus on sciences teachings and scientific activities (Koukounaras-Liagkis, 2015). As a result, religious education has lost its value and most individuals assume that there is no God.  Despite all these challenges, it is important to value the importance of religious education in promoting diversity.  Students need traditional diversity: this means that they need to understand the religious beliefs and values and develop their cultural hegemony (Koukounaras-Liagkis, 2015). Secondly, due to the globalization, religious difference has contributed to discrimination and intolerance. Thus, students need to gain modern diversity so that they can develop positive attitudes. Finally, students need to develop post-modern diversity: this means that students need a cognitive environment where they will create their identities and create relationship with other people. Once they develop diversity and gains a sense of belonging, they will promote community cohesion, social justice, social participation, solidarity, well-being, and empowerment (Koukounaras-Liagkis, 2015).  However, these cannot be achieved if students do not value diversity. They must understand racism and diversity, develop cultural heritage, and accept the beliefs as well the values of other people. All these will be enabled by religious education since is this where students will gain knowledge, learn more about diversity, gain self-worth, value inclusion and respect all people.

Conclusion

  Religion in school has remained to be a controversial topic. The society has been providing different arguments from different perspectives where some argue that schools   should provide students with religious education whereas opponents argue that religion is a way of promoting hatred and animosity. They support the science or the secular nature and to connect students to scientific thinking. However, the research paper has found compelling evidence that religious education should be offered to allow students learn more about morality and ethics. Even though it is important to apply scientific critical thinking, students should also have a religious alternative or they should view the world using different perspectives. This means that science is important in understanding the world and also moral views play a significant role in understanding the world we live in. The education institution should not be selfish and individualized, but they should apply religious education and allow students to gain moral standards. I believe that students need various ways or different perspective to know the world. They need scientific knowledge as well as religious knowledge.

 

 

 

 

 References

 

Clayton Matthew., & Stevens David. (2018). What is the point of religious education? Sage

Journals.

 

Nord, W. (2010). Does God make a difference?: Taking religion seriously in our schools and

universities. Oxford University Press.

 

Vikdahl, L., & Skeie, G. (2019). Possibilities and limitations of religion-related dialog in

schools: Conclusion and discussion of findings from the ReDi project. Religion &

Education, 46(1), 115-129.

 

Liagkis, M. K. (2019). Teaching Religious Education in Schools and Adolescents’ Social and

Emotional Development. An Action Research on the Role of Religious Education and

School Community in Adolescents’ Lives. Cultural and Religious Studies

 

Koukounaras-Liagkis, M. (2015). Religion and Religious Diversity within Education in a Social

Pedagogical Context in Times of Crisis: Can Religious Education Contribute to

Community Cohesion?. International Journal of Social Pedagogy.