Guest Blog: Teaching About Religion

by Benjamin P. Marcus, Religious Literacy Specialist for the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute

For the past weeks, Shawn and Mary Ellen have addressed political polarization and classroom practice in a series of blog posts that examined what we can do as educators to bridge the seemingly cavernous fracture in the heart of our democracy. While political difference looms largely in current and controversial issue discussions, another point of polarization is religion. How can we promote classroom dialogue and understanding about some of our deepest differences in society? In this guest blog post, Benjamin Marcus highlights how the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum can support teachers with strategies that embrace the inquiry arc of the Illinois Social Studies standards.

Do you feel confident teaching about religion? Are you familiar with the concepts and tools used by religious studies scholars? What is the difference between teaching religion to encourage faith formation and teaching about religion from an academic perspective? Increasingly teachers are expected to teach about religion in the classroom—as evidenced in the new Religious Studies Companion Document to the C3 Framework published by the National Council for the Social Studies—but many teachers haven’t had the chance to study religion, nor have they been offered the opportunity to master religious studies pedagogies.

In our free online professional development modules, Constitution 2 Classroom, teachers will receive training to examine the theories, methodologies, and issues involved in the academic and constitutional study, research, and teaching of religion. We’ve designed our resources according to broad civic consensus—grounded in the First Amendment and U.S. Supreme Court decision Abington v Schempp—about what it means to study religion academically and constitutionally.

Why does this matter for civics? A new report by the Public Religion Research Institute shows that the American religious landscape is changing dramatically. White Christians now make up less than fifty percent of the population, and the percentage of the religiously unaffiliated and non-Christian religious groups is growing. Unfortunately, this changing religious landscape has been accompanied by a rise in religion-related hate crimes. If we are to prepare our students to live constructively amidst this increasing diversity, then we need to provide them with the content knowledge and skills to navigate their communities, nation, and world. They’ll need to develop religious literacy to understand the role religion plays in civic life, legal literacy to contribute meaningfully to conversations about the protections afforded by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and the skills of civil dialogue to engage meaningfully in public conversations about the most polarizing conversations currently rocking civil society.

Designed with teachers and administrators’ busy schedules in mind, our professional development is one hundred percent online (accessible anytime, anywhere), self-paced, interactive, and focused on the practical application of religious literacy, legal literacy, and civil dialogue in the classroom. You can even decide how much or how little time you want to spend learning. Each one-hour module includes (1) readings; (2) videos and/or podcasts; (3) interactive games, surveys, learning resources, etc.; (4) online discussion forums; and (5) a professional development badge. Users are invited to take as many or as few modules as they want.

Teachers are invited to learn the disciplinary concepts and skills of teaching about religion, and content related to specific religious traditions. Administrators are invited to examine the legal frameworks that govern religion in public schools. With our expertly designed courses, you’ll become more confident in responding to questions or concerns from students, families, and community members in matters regarding religion and school. And parents are invited to learn about their own rights and the rights of their children when it comes to the study of religion in public schools.

We warmly welcome questions. Contact us at religion@newseum.org.