Sacred Pasts: Teaching about Religion in World and US Histo

Teaching about religion in school is hard. For those of us who teach US and World History, it is unavoidable, yet difficult—in fact, impossible—to teach about religion in a way that all people can accept. The alternative, which is not to teach about religion at all, would not meet content standards or offer a complete picture of the belief systems that influence politics and society.

 When I taught US history, I did a thematic unit on relationship of church and state, in which we considered what role religion should play in public life. Students started with the Puritan roots of the US in the Mayflower Compact, Anne Hutchinson’s blasphemy trial, and examined relevant sections of the Constitution as well as the famous letter in which Jefferson uses the phrase “separation of church and state.” We examined the history of Mormonism, the largest religion that has originated in the US, through the little-known Missouri Mormon War as well as the landmark case Reynolds v. US, in which federal law was found to trump the religious obligation to engage in bigamy. When I last taught the unit, in 2011, there was a controversy over whether a mosque should be built at Ground Zero, which I used as a current issue to launch the unit. Today, current issues could include whether taxpayer dollars can fund religious education in Montana, or whether the Trump administration can withhold federal funding from a university’s Middle Eastern Studies program because of its positive portrayal of Islam. Unfortunately, due to space constraints, I had to cut this unit from Teaching US History Thematically; I promised to post an outline of this unit in my blog, and I have finally done it (see the details below).

When I was teaching this church and state unit in my 8th grade classroom, I tried to be as even-handed as I could. Nonetheless, it led to difficult conversations. One student’s parents sent me back an angrily annotated homework assignment. In an attempt to help students understand Article IV, Clause 3’s promise that there shall be no “religious Test” for holding public office, I had created a multiple choice question something like this:

According to the Constitution,

A. you can be any religion and serve in Congress.

B. you must be Christian to serve in Congress.

C. you cannot be Christian and serve in Congress.

D. you must believe in God to serve in Congress.  

I wanted to show students that despite the fact that many of the Founders were Christian, they respected freedom of religion and were unwilling to force their own beliefs on others. However, my student’s parents felt that I had unfairly singled out Christianity, as if to imply that Christians were always imposing their beliefs on others. I saw their point, but options such as “you must be Hindu to serve in Congress” would make the question too easy. Nonetheless, I agreed to change it for the future. However, that students’ parents ended up deciding that their child should sit out the rest of the unit.  

This incident showed me that even with the best of intentions, it is easy to misstep. I think it’s really important for teachers covering this topic to examine their own religious beliefs (or lack thereof) and consider how their biases might emerge. I was raised as a not-very-observant Christian, and as an adult I attend Quaker Meetings and practice Buddhist meditation. I have been sensitized to the ways that Muslim and Jewish friends have felt marginalized in a majority Christian culture, but I was less aware of the ways that Christians feel maligned in some liberal and academic settings. Teaching about religious history in the Midwest was eye-opening in that regard.

 I have been considering these issues again over the past week as I have been writing the Religion and Society unit for Teaching World History Thematically. Teachers had told me that a unit on belief systems would help them meet standards, and I liked the idea of excerpting sacred texts in order to consider how religion influences people’s lives. I include documents on Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I have noticed that atheists, agnostics, and other “unaffiliated” people are often left out of studies of religion, although they currently make up about 16% of the world’s population. Therefore, the unit begins with some quotations from Albert Einstein, explaining his spiritual beliefs and his agnosticism. The current issue question asks students about the role of schools in teaching about religion, which allows them to reflect on their past experiences as well as to be critical about the unit itself.

In designing this unit, I made a conscious choice to focus on the core beliefs of each religion, rather than highlighting more controversial aspects. I knew better than to center the lesson on Islam on jihad, but in creating a lesson on Hinduism, my first inclination was to include the Law of Manu, which outlines the caste system. This social hierarchy often features prominently in world history textbooks’ coverage of Hinduism. Thank goodness I happened to find Sravya Tadepalli’s Hinduism: Misunderstood and Mistaught in the Classroom on the Teaching Tolerance website. She explains that some Hindus are offended that the caste system is taught as an essential (or the only) part of Hinduism when many scholars believe its predominance is relatively recent.

I believe that controversies and conflicts surrounding religion are important to cover, but I prefer to do so separately from the core belief systems. Later in the book, I include B.K. Ambedkar’s resistance to the caste system in India, Bernard of Clairvaux’s rationale for the Crusades, and Theodore Herzl’s articulation of Zionism. I hope that this approach helps students to separate how people have applied religious teachings to social and political life from the teachings themselves.

I also provide some guidance for teachers on enacting this unit. It is the only one for which I do not recommend holding a summit in which the historical figures involved meet and discuss the unit question. Having students represent Jesus Christ or the Prophet Muhammad is too great of a responsibility, and there is too much potential for offense. Instead, I recommend that teachers consider having students work in groups to create posters summarizing key facts and beliefs of each system, which could be displayed on the classroom walls for reference throughout the year.

This unit is one that I will vet carefully before publishing. I hope to find people who profess or are knowledgeable about each belief system to review the materials I have created. If you would like to be part of this process, please let me know! (Any Confucianists out there?)

I hope that these caveats and careful preparations allow me to support teachers in covering religion in a sensitive but substantive way. I cannot anticipate all the complexities that may arise in the classroom, but I can let teachers know that they are not alone in struggling with teaching this most difficult of topics.

Church and State Thematic Unit for US History

Unit Question: What role should religion play in public life?

1.     What kind of political structure did the Puritans establish at Plymouth?

a.  Historical figure: William Bradford

b.                  Event: Mayflower Compact signed, 1620

c. Document: Mayflower Compact, 1620

2.     Why did the Massachusetts Bay Colony exile Anne Hutchinson?

a. Historical figure: Anne Hutchinson

b.                  Event: Trial of Anne Hutchinson, 1637

c.  Document:  Massachusetts Bay Colony Case Against Anne Hutchinson, 1637

3.     Why did George Washington consider religion important for politicians?

a. Historical figure: George Washington

b.                  Event: Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796

c. Document: Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796

4.     What were Thomas Jefferson’s arguments for the separation of church and state?

a. Historical figure: Thomas Jefferson

b.                  Event: Thomas Jefferson’s presidency, 1801-1809

c. Document: Thomas Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists, 1801

5.     Why did Lilburn Boggs try to “exterminate” Mormons in Missouri?

a. Historical figure: Lilburn Boggs

b.                  Event: Missouri Mormon War, 1838

c. Document: Lilburn Boggs’s Extermination Order, 1838

6.     Why did the Supreme Court decide George Reynolds couldn’t marry two wives?

a. Historical Figure: George Reynolds

b.                  Event: Reynolds v. US, 1878

c. Document: Reynolds v. US, 1878

7.     Why did the State of Tennessee forbid John Scopes from teaching evolution in school?

a. Historical Figure: John Scopes

b.                  Event: Scopes Trial, 1925

c. Document: Transcript of Scopes Trial, 1925

8.     Why did Dwight Eisenhower change the Pledge of Allegiance?

a.  Historical Figure: Dwight D. Eisenhower

b.                  Event: Pledge of Allegiance changed, 1954

c.  Document: Dwight Eisenhower’s Flag Day Speech, 1954

9.     What is the Lemon Test?

a.  Historical Figure: Warren Burger

b.                  Event: Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971

c.  Document: Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971