Question

1500-1800 words, sources listed on a separate reference page. Can only use articles found through NC LIVE searched through the Library. I cannot use Wiki articles or Google searches. Needs to be APA style, have a title page, one-inch margins, typed (Times New Roman, twelve-point font), with an abstract page and double spaced.

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Abstract

This paper explores the place of education in the context of today’s public education policy. The existing tensions between religion and the existing approaches to religious education are highlighted. The conflict that exists between religious conservatives and liberals in American society are explored.

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Differences between the tasks assigned to religion in public education policy are indicated with specific reference to both liberal democracies and theocracies. The issues raised are based on the concept of separation of state and religion. Finally, the essay highlights the role that educators should play as opinion leaders in ensuring that people with conflicting interests come up with effective public education policies that are representative of the citizens’ views.

Education and religion are both essential aspects of human life. Education plays a key role in the progress of both an individual’s mind and that of the country. Education open’s up an aura of pride and wisdom that comes with the ability to understand one’s world and philosophy. Educating people is the most critical step towards fighting poverty, ignorance, and disease, paving the way for development.

Religion is just as crucial to man as education. Man is a spiritual being who derives a purpose in life from, among other things, religion. Religion is a crucial way through which people come together in meditation. On the other hand, however, religion has the power to divide people who subscribe to different beliefs, for instance, Christians and Muslims. Additionally, sometimes people who follow different denominations and doctrines within the same religion also get entangled in conflicts.

In many countries, religion is taught as part of the education system. It forms a crucial component of a society’s moral foundation. It is considered as an anchor for the learner’s spiritual mind. However, religion, unlike education, the element of belief is critical to the learners’ ability to grasp all the concepts being taught.

Alexander & McLaughlin (2003) state that there are three apparent tensions that complicate all attempts to achieve a justifiable and coherent account of education in spirituality and in education. First, many educational concepts emphasize rationality and knowledge, aspects that are in tension with several features of all religious domains such as trust, faith, and receptivity. Secondly, education always embodies an unwavering commitment to some notion of personal empowerment and liberation. The pursuit of personal rationality is often hindered by aspects of religion that are always in tension with critical rationality.

Thirdly, education is often strongly linked to the principles, practices, and values of liberal democratic societies. In these societies, notions such as multiculturalism, pluralism, and tolerance are emphasized. In these societies, common educational influence is taken to be appropriate for, and largely acceptable to the citizens.

Religious education, in most cases, addresses beliefs and practices that are considered part of a society’s shared consciousness. The reflective decisions of individuals and the right to rule in liberal democratic societies are derived from the consent of the governed. Education is critical to ensuring that these decisions are sound and rational. However, in many spiritual traditions and religious, political and moral decisions are justified through reference to higher authorities such as divine revelation, sacred texts and religious authorities (Alexander & McLaughlin, 2003).

The theoretical tensions between education meant for democratic citizenship and education for spirituality raise many practical concerns. The tensions are the root of many deep-seated disputes on educational policy and the place of religious education in schools. There are also disagreements on the extent to which separate religious schools ought to be tolerated and supported by the state. These practical concerns also extend to the issues of parental influence and public educational influence on religion.

Some people doubt that these tensions are resolvable, insisting that there is no hope of addressing both the emerging and long-standing practical concerns (Wexler, 1996). Alexander & McLaughlin (2003) state that the tensions can be eased through an exploration of all the complex philosophical issues that arise. In order for these philosophical issues to be acknowledged, the diversity of traditions, faiths, and communities of practice that fall under the banner of religion should be acknowledged. In this regard, it may be appropriate to talk about ‘religions’ instead of ‘religion’ (Alexander & McLaughlin, 2003).

For purposes of education, similar philosophical concepts in all religions should be understood. For instance, all religions respond to the fundamental question of existence, responses to death and suffering and celebration of life, though in different ways. Additionally, different traditional images, concepts, and realities appear to be intertwined with elements of spirituality, such as gods and goddesses. In Hindu, reference is made to the concept of reincarnation or nirvana. In all religions, these realities are regarded as the highest good since they exemplify the ideal life. They also strive for dialogue and devotion to worship while at the same time motivating intelligent deliberation.

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As the debate on education in religion rages, the spiritual elements to which children should be introduced to take center stage. Disagreements exist on whether certain basic commonalities of all religions should be introduced to learners during their early levels of schooling. Opponents of this approach insist that it is impossible for a learner to understand these concepts from the point of view of an outsider. However, such views are always opposed in liberal democratic societies, whereby learners are made aware of the basic concepts of religions other than the ones to which they subscribe.

In many countries, the separation of religion and the state is firmly emphasized in the constitution. However, politics tend to have a strong influence on both educational and religious practices in many ways, including policies, development strategies, and ideologies. Politics, religion, and religion have all become intertwined in an intricate pattern that sometimes appears difficult to understand. In many countries and societies, it may be difficult to tell which institution is influencing the other.

Religious extremism, for instance, can be perpetuated by politics. Whenever politicians entangle themselves in politics of religion, the education policies that they put in place tend to reflect this influence. In theocracies, the belief in a particular religion is regarded as a crucial aspect of being an educated and informed citizen (Sacerdote&Glaeser, 2001). In such states, it is highly unlikely that any other religion other than the one that has been formally endorsed by the state is strongly opposed.

On the other hand, no religious censorship exists in secular countries. Religious tolerance tends to be high as people are free to associate and believe in any religion without feeling as if they are contravening the state. Whenever there is the interaction between the state and religion through politics, passion is created from among secularists as well as the faithful. The passion extends to everyone in society: educators, civic leaders, parents and taxpayers (Nord, 1995).

The debate on education and religion not limited to the religious members of the society alone; it is for every citizen. This is one of the reasons why this problem becomes an intractable one. This problem is an academic one and not a legal one; every citizen is a stakeholder in all the issues that keep arising. When an academic approach is adopted, the various subgroups involved can engage in a constructive debate that generates more light than heat, thereby bringing about many outcomes that are mutually beneficial (Nord, 1995).

Since the era of the enlightenment, many western societies have been promoting a secular model, whereby the church is separated from the state. The enlightenment model has been reinforced through both legal decisions and government policies. However, citizens with a religious agenda have tended to launch counter-movements, demanding public education policies that are reflective of their views. Presently, the positions held by different people in the US are opposed, with secularists insisting that the church should be separated from the state. On the other hand, opposition groups demand that public policies should be a reflection of their views, including religious beliefs and convictions (Alexander & McLaughlin, 2003).

Since the beginning, one of the violent battles that have been fought as part of the ongoing culture wars in the United States is about the place of religion in the country’s public education system. The heat of the battle has taken the form of direct mail campaigns, demonstrations, court fights, dispatches of journalists and school board elections, thereby polarizing public opinion (Nord, 1995).

Religious conservatives believe that American education has been taken hostage for diverse forces of secular humanism, rendering it godless and utterly hostile to religion. These conservatives always strive to restore religious practices, purposes, and teachings in public education. On the other hand, liberals consider religion as a dangerous intruder into the secular sphere of modern public institutions. For liberals, religion is strictly a private matter; therefore, it is irrelevant to the purposes, intent, and content of education. It is upon this conviction that liberals consider it their goal to disentangle religious purposes, practices, and teachings from all public schools and universities.

For the majority of religious conservatives, America is a Judeo-Christian nation. By contrast, many liberals cling onto the conviction that America is a secular nation that possesses an enduring element of religious neutrality. For liberals, this wall of separation should always be kept high and impregnable. According to Nord (1995), the resulting dilemma of either making all schools Christian or eliminating all religions from public education is a false one; there are many other available alternatives.

Although liberals are always trying to build the wall of separation between religion and state higher, American learners are far from secular. On the other hand, religious conservatives should accept that making all public education institutions Christian should be out of the question, owing to the many different religions that are practiced by American citizens.

Educators have a pivotal role to play in reconciling different warring parties in the raging debate on religion and education. These educators need to take religion seriously for moral, political and constitutional reasons. The extent to which religion is separated from the state may be a significant determinant of the outcome of religious conflict.

Educators need to be well informed in matters of religion in order to instill some measure of conventional wisdom and professionalism in the debate. From the point of view of a specialist theologian, the cultural war may be a difficult one to solve since many deep assumptions that shape the thinking of all parties to the conflict may be overlooked.

All of today’s great world religions emphasize the importance of living a life of love and overcoming self-interest. All parties to the debate on religion and public education policy should understand that the conflicts that arise are caused by means of achieving the desired goals and not the goals themselves. Tolerance can enable people of various religious convictions to come up with a public education policy that serves the best interests of all citizens.

References

Alexander, H. & McLaughlin, T. (2003) “Education in religion and spirituality” in Blake, N. The Blackwell guide to the philosophy of education, Victoria: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Nord, W. (1995) Religion & American education: rethinking a national dilemma, Raleigh: University of North Carolina Press.

Sacerdote, B. &Glaeser, E. (2001) Education and Religion, NBER Working Paper No. w8080, New York: Macmillan.

Wexler, P. (1996) Holy sparks: social theory, education, and religion, London: Routledge.