Religious Differences – Does it Really Matter?

[AVB-AMG]

I think that this can be an interesting new thread topic since I know a number of you have very strong feelings about religion and its place in our country and the larger world. Some of us have written posts in other threads about our feelings about our own religious beliefs and what we think of other religions. The older I get, the more I see that many people are very ignorant about their professed religion, let alone about other religions. Many people just accept the tenants of the religion of their parents without really giving it much critical thought until they are much older. I agree with the basic realization that in our world’s history, more blood has been shed in the name of religion than any other reason. Misunderstanding different religions may be a major contributing factor to so many of the problems in not just our country, but around the world, throughout history.

We know that the 1st amendment of the U.S. Constitution forbids the establishment of religion, (i.e. either a state or national religion), hence known as “the establishment clause”. This means that no government agency, including public schools, can impose or promote a religious doctrine, including creationism.

But public schools may teach about history of the world’s major religions including ancient Greek and Egyptian religions, how one lead to another, how they compare, along with the history of atheism and agnosticism. I believe that it is naïve to pretend that the major traditional religions do not have important lessons to teach all of us. For many centuries, religion was a huge part of most people’s lives forming their cultures and had an enormous impact on the development of human society, including important aspect of ethics and morality. IMHO, it does not make any sense to just pretend that religion is not important or never happened, for the sake of overzealous secularism.

I believe that public schools in the U.S. should offer religion as part of the curriculum starting around age 15 or the 9th grade. Such a classroom study should include a broad survey of the major world religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Taoism, etc. as well as non-religious ideas of atheism and humanism, without any sense of imposing any particular belief on the students. The teachers should discuss, in an open-minded and vaguely Socratic way, what the articles of faith are for each religion, without making any judgment as to the truth of one or the other or endorsement.

I did not have that exposure to in-depth religious education in high school and foolishly, elected not to take any religious history courses in college, for which I deeply regret with 20/20 hindsight. So, I have made up for it by reading and listening to audio books on different religions to learn about them. I strongly believe that in this day and age especially, with so much of the strife in the world predicated by age old religious beliefs, prejudices and disputes, it is vital that America’s youth, (and adults), proactively learn and gain a basic accurate knowledge and understanding of the world’s religions and their associated beliefs, values, practices, traditions and as importantly, their influence on individuals, communities, societies and cultures.

Once students have had this education and can then reflect upon the experiences and the mysteries of life and the various contributions, (both positive and negative), that religion has played throughout history up to present day, then they hopefully will appreciate what is different and what is the same about all of us. Then and only then, will they be in an ideal position to consider and form their own feelings, opinions regarding religion and decide what they believe.

If you are interested in this topic, please share your thoughts..

AVB-AMG