by Michael Kellichner

Created on: July 19, 2009   Last Updated: July 25, 2009

While there are many subjects that are taught in schools but need serious revision to be adequate, I believe that implementing a religion course into schools could be very rounding to students education. However, I must be clear immediately that I do not mean "bringing God back into school," nor am I promoting daily Bible readings as part of the morning routine; I believe that church and school should remain separate. But I do believe that a class should be offered that looks at world religions, but not in a way of trying to find one that's "right" or "wrong" but in the same way we teach World History or Geography: offer up each world religion, delve into what each belief system is and what its internal structure is like, etc.

Often in America, and especially in rural communities, there is a strong Christian influence with many church-going families. However, this lends to very little variety when it comes to religious upbringing, and a class offering a look at all world religions would help to further round out our children and give them more options for their future lives. Show students that people out in the world believe things other than Christianity, and that Christianity varies in different regions and in different sects. Exposing children early (or simply earlier) to how different cultures view religions can end in several, positive ways.

First, it can allow children exposure to belief structures that they may not have even known about. This can offer a new avenue of spirituality for them to explore or at least consider in the face of what they already believe. This can help push students further in the direction of being his/her own person rather than simply who others tell him/her to be. Secondly, by learning what others believe in a detached fashion, without comparing it to what they already to believe, it can lead to a greater compassion for varied beliefs and help lower bigotry and racism. At the moment, America has a large contingent of its population afraid of the Muslim world because of extremists, and believes that what extremists believe is the fundamentals of Islam. Instead of leaving room for this type of behavior, lets educate the youth on what religions teach, so that they can approach cultures they don't understand with at least some level of compassion.

We could do much worse than help students begin to understand how others think and show them that every person doesn't believe exactly as they do. World religion will help them become more understanding, as well as help give more substance to other lessons, such as history, as it gives more insight into foreign cultures as well as our own. Students learn that Ireland saw fierce fighting between Protestants and Catholics, but it would help to understand the differences in each side's beliefs to better understand where the fighting originates. By providing a religion course to students, they stand to expand their knowledge base as well as their acceptance of the unknown and, sometimes, strange.

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