The First Amendment, Religious Freedom, and Public Schools in the South

“We Don’t Know Enough About It”: Student Perceptions of Judaism as a Race, Religion, or Ethnicity

“…Neglecting to teach students about religion or prioritizing instruction about one religion over others is harmful to students. Lack of exposure to these ideas leaves them unable to speak out against religious intolerance, discrimination, or violence (Prothero, 2007;Saylor et al, 2022), but religious literacy can be increased through a nondevotional approach to teaching about religion at every grade level, including in elementary schools (AAR, 2010). In fact, as agents of the state, K-12 public school teachers should be engaged in religious neutrality that includes exposure to religious and nonreligious ideas without advancing a specific religion while simultaneously respecting individual students' religious expression (Nord, 2010;Saylor et al, 2022).…”

“…Lack of exposure to these ideas leaves them unable to speak out against religious intolerance, discrimination, or violence (Prothero, 2007;Saylor et al, 2022), but religious literacy can be increased through a nondevotional approach to teaching about religion at every grade level, including in elementary schools (AAR, 2010). In fact, as agents of the state, K-12 public school teachers should be engaged in religious neutrality that includes exposure to religious and nonreligious ideas without advancing a specific religion while simultaneously respecting individual students' religious expression (Nord, 2010;Saylor et al, 2022). The National Council for Social Studies acknowledge the place of religious studies in the public school curriculum (NCSS, 2017), and 42 states include religious topics in their elementary social studies standards (author, under review).…”

“…Finding space within these time constraints to include religious topics can be daunting. However, the avoidance of religion may also be due to feeling uncomfortable (Gunn et al, 2020), a lack of preparation (Saylor et al, 2022), or because teachers worry about becoming the subject of a lawsuit (Bishop & Nash, 2007). Additionally, privileging one religion over another may happen because Christian teachers often view teaching as a way to proselytize (White, 2009).…”