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    Religious literacy in schools

    How should religion be taught ABOUT in public schools?

    (BTW, this is what the Amer. Academy of Religion thinks)


    The following definition of religious literacy articulated by Diane L. Moore has been adopted by the American Academy of Religion to help educators understand what is required for a basic understanding of religion and its roles in human experience:

    Religious literacy entails the ability to discern and analyze the fundamental intersections of religion and social/political/cultural life through multiple lenses. Specifically, a religiously literate person will possess 1) a basic understanding of the history, central texts (where applicable), beliefs, practices and contemporary manifestations of several of the world's religious traditions as they arose out of and continue to be shaped by particular social, historical and cultural contexts; and 2) the ability to discern and explore the religious dimensions of political, social and cultural expressions across time and place.

    Critical to this definition is the importance of understanding religions and religious influences in context and as inextricably woven into all dimensions of human experience. Such an understanding highlights the inadequacy of understanding religions through common means such as learning about ritual practices or exploring “what scriptures say” about topics or questions. Unfortunately, these are some of the most common approaches to learning about religion and lead to simplistic and inaccurate representations of the roles religions play in human agency and understanding.

    source
    Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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    #2
    Re: Religious literacy in schools

    God, I wish this could happen. I think Americans could benefit a lot from cultural and religious literacy. Unfortunately, I know that in places like the bible belt, it would just never happen. All the gods forbid that kids might learn there are other ideas about spirituality about them!
    Army of Darkness: Guardians of the Chat

    Honorary Nord.

    Habbalah Vlogs

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      #3
      Re: Religious literacy in schools

      At my school, they taught basics of some of the major religions such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc. But I really didn't retain much from those classes. No one in the class, and I mean no one, not even the smart kids, were interested in it. It was basically an excuse for everyone to screw around with their friends for a while.
      It had the right idea, but if they wanted anyone to give a damn, they'd have had to have made it more interesting somehow, engaged with the class.
      Yikes, all that cultural appropriation that used to be here tho

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        #4
        Re: Religious literacy in schools

        We.. we have this. Have had this all my life. My parents'.. grandparents' too I think... we explore all the major religions equally, and quite a few of the minor... no getting around it. Even in catholic school (yea. I went to catholic school ) they took a genuine interest in islam and buddhism, probably others too I don't remeber. And we were never told that the bible was true, just that it was what they believed.
        You remind me of the babe
        What babe?
        The babe with the power
        What power?
        The Power of voodoo
        Who do?
        You do!
        Do what?
        Remind me of the babe!

        Army of Darkness: Guardians of the Chat

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          #5
          Re: Religious literacy in schools

          I'm suspicious atheist being suspicious. This pretty much means 'let's teach about Christianity and let's look at the bible...for educational purposes'. I don't believe it. Kids can barely read and write. Back to basic!

          More importantly bring back home ec.
          Satan is my spirit animal

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            #6
            Re: Religious literacy in schools

            You could in theory teach about religion in a secular manner, but as in Quetzal's school case I believe most students will ignore it. No one wants to learn about the theological differences between Catholic or Orthodox Christianity or even between Christianity and Islam, or Hinduism and Buddhism.

            The other problem is that regardless of whatever a person adheres to a religion or not they will approach it from a personal manner, which is why movements like New Age met such success. If you grabbed random people from Latin America most would qualify for the pyre despite what statistics might tell you because of the local syncretism which is far more pervasive than it appears. In my own experience, conservatism and religious discrimination is far more a problem in Protestant countries than it is in South America.

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