Content area
Full text
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Emile Lester, University of Mary Washington, 1301 College Avenue, Frederickburg, VA 22401. E-mail: [email protected] ; or to Patrick S. Roberts, Virginia Tech, Center for Public Administration and Policy, 104 Draper Road, Blackburg, VA 24061. E-mail: [email protected]
Once considered taboo in public schools, an increasing number of scholars and policymakers have come to agree that religion deserves more extended discussion in the curriculum than it currently receives (Wexler 2002; Douglass 2000). Not only is teaching about religion's influence on history, art, and culture a crucial part of a liberal education (Nord 1995; Prothero 2007), but teaching about religion can be an avenue into discussion of how to reconcile cultural differences with liberal, democratic values (Wexler 2002). With religious diversity expanding even in traditionally homogeneous communities and frequent conflicts erupting over religious issues, teaching about religion has the potential to foster either harmony or division. Explicit acknowledgment of religious differences could be a source of irreconcilable conflict, or it could help Americans negotiate differences and discuss common values more civilly (Segers and Jelen 1998; Eck 2002). The consensus on teaching about religion is neither comprehensive nor seamless. Members of non-Christian religious minorities, atheists, and agnostics fear that courses will be biased in favor of religion in general and more populous religions in particular. Many evangelical and particularly fundamentalist Christians worry that teaching about many religions will weaken their children's commitment to their faith.1
Despite the impressive array of opinions voiced on this important and controversial educational policy debate, survey research on the subject is scant. This article presents the results of the first extended research examining the effects of teaching students about religion in public schools as a means to improve students' knowledge about religion and increase tolerant attitudes and behaviors. Over a two-year period, we surveyed over 300 students three times and approximately 170 a fourth time, and conducted numerous interviews with students, educators, and community members in Modesto, California. We chose Modesto because it is the only school district in the nation to require all students to take an independent, extended course in world religions.2 Our research found that Modesto's course increased students' knowledge about other religions, as well as their tolerance for religious diversity, and...