{"id":4926,"date":"2014-07-31T11:15:59","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T16:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/?p=4926"},"modified":"2014-08-22T15:56:21","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T20:56:21","slug":"why-schools-should-teach-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/worldreligions\/2014\/07\/why-schools-should-teach-religion.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Schools Should Teach Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"classrom123\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Stephen Prothero, the religious scholar and professor, argues that a basic understanding of \u00a0world religions is\u00a0a\u00a0matter of \u00a0\u201curgent citizenship.'\u201d<\/p>\n

He \u00a0notes, for example, that we all need some Biblical literacy because the two American political parties often speak the language of Christianity. \u00a0Likewise,\u00a0he believes that\u00a0students need to understand other religions so that they can better understand \u00a0important events like the recent election in India or the\u00a0war between Gaza and Israel.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Kripal, \u00a0another religious scholar and professor, agrees with Prothero, \u00a0suggesting that\u00a0offering world religion\u00a0courses in public schools could have \u201ca transformative effect on public life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prothero and Kripal were guests this past week\u00a0on Maureen Fiedler\u2019s radio show,\u00a0Interfaith Voices <\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stephen Prothero\u00a0\u00a0is a professor at Boston University and the author of God is\u00a0not One<\/a>\u00a0 and Jefferey Kripal, a professor at Rice University, just released a new textbook called \u201cComparing Religions: Coming to Terms<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Religious scholars are not the only ones arguing for \u00a0world religions classes in public schools. \u00a0New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, made a similar argument in April in a column<\/a>. \u201cHow can one understand Afghanistan without some knowledge of Islam?\u201d Or, says Kristof, \u00a0\u201cHow can one understand America without any intellectual curiosity about Evangelicals?\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a link the radio broadcast<\/a>. And here\u2019s a link to a story from the Desert News called \u201c10 Reasons why religion Belongs in Schools.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Prothero, the religious scholar and professor, argues that a basic understanding of \u00a0world religions is\u00a0a\u00a0matter of \u00a0\u201curgent citizenship.’\u201d He \u00a0notes, for example, that we all need some Biblical literacy because the two American political parties often speak the language of Christianity. \u00a0Likewise,\u00a0he believes that\u00a0students need to understand other religions so that they can better […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1838,"featured_media":4933,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26,29],"class_list":["post-4926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-religion","tag-schools"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Schools Should Teach Religion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stephen Prothero, the religious scholar and professor, argues that a basic understanding of \u00a0world religions is\u00a0a\u00a0matter of \u00a0"urgent citizenship.'" 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