I’m British and schools here teach a class called “Religious Education” or R.E. In my experience we were taught and analysed stories from the Bible for the first few years and then learned about other religions and covered ethical questions i.e. what do religions think about abortion or cloning. We were taught quite a bit about Islam because our final test needed you to compare 2 religions so they decided it’d be easiest to compare Christianity and Islam.
I did go to a school that wasn’t ran by a religious organisation however, and I know the US has a bit of a different view on the separation of Church and state so I’d like to ask if you were taught some form of R.E. and if so what did it look like?
32 comments
Religious Education classes are not required in schools that are not religious based, there are however elective courses on religion and comparative religion available at many schools.
Required Religion classes are not allowed in American public schools. The exception to this are classes that talk about many different major religions objectively. This is normally part of a history or social studies class and all major abrahamic (Islam, Judaism, Protestantism, Catholicism, etc) religions are usually covered. Hinduism, Daoism, and Shintoism are normally briefly mentioned, but not covered to any significant degree.
Private schools may have religion classes pushing or teaching one or more religions
Public schools are allowed to have classes where students learn about religion, but the lessons have to be framed as educational rather than as advocacy. Like you can say for example “Christians believe Jesus is the son of god” but you cannot teach “Jesus is the son of god”. These classes are not required though, or at least they weren’t in Texas when I was in school.
Of course in private schools they can teach whatever religious doctrine they please, so if you want a kid to receive an explicit religious doctrine, that’s always an option.
You can’t really separate history of man without discussing religion so it naturally comes up in history courses. That said you aren’t going to be taking a study of the religion outside of maybe what the very basic foundation of Islam, Judaism, etc…
You can take religious studies courses as an elective in college, or in some high schools, for a more indepth study.
No, at least not in public schools. People would have a conniption fit if a teacher tried to talk about Christianity in a public school in anything other than a very basic historic context, and it is usually roped into a history class. I would kind of be surprised if even that is universal. I remember we talked about Islam for like 4 minutes when I was in highschool. Some private schools have them, like Catholic or Christian schools. I You could take religious education courses at universities, and a lot of religious universities will require a couple to be taken.
Not exactly. I had Sunday school when I was younger, but that was run by the church and was completely voluntary to join. I did have some world history classes that would touch repeatedly on religion world wide. However, the teachers could never say anything to favor one religion over another, and we never had a class 100% dedicated to studying religion in school. I think that type of course is only found in college.
Not in public school, though Sunday School or Hebrew school that takes place outside of school is common
You will learn the bare bone basics of major world religions in world history class
In depth religious education is very uncommon and is only offered as a voluntary class in some public schools or as a class in a religious school
In our public education system we do not have religious teachings. However, there are lots of private schools that are religious based depending on denomination.
Government-run primary and secondary schools are unlikely to have a class called Religious Education, but students will learn about different religions as they come up in a World History type class.
It gets snuck in sometimes, depending on where you grow up. I don’t think there’s ever *overtly* a class called “Religious Education”.
When I was in school it was a class called “Life Management”. They did a pretty good job of not making it outright religion class, but they definitely put their toes close to the line at a few points.
As a follow on – did any of your schools have a relationship with a local church?
I know (or think) public schools in America don’t sing hymns or recite prayers at the beginning of the day but my Primary school was associated with a church where we’d hold school plays and in high school groups were taken on certain events like remembrance days out of the school and to a church to pray and take part in a service instead of a lesson.
I recall either having a class on comparative religion, or it was part of a sociology/cultural/history class- we learned about different religions, not overly in-depth, though. Honestly, the only thing I recall was watching something about Jewish mysticism and remembering guys dancing in robes with spectacular skirts that flared out when they spun, lol. This was at a public, secular school.
No.
Religion wasn’t taught as its own subject. It was usually weaved in as part of something like World History and Geography.
Some private schools have them. Public schools don’t. In America public schools are government run.
It’s also very common for kids to go to a secular school for most subjects while also going to a separate school for religious education. For example Christian kids with Sunday school, Jewish kids with Hebrew school, etc.
Comparative world religion is typically part of the history curriculum.
Public schools do not, unless it is a high school elective.
Churches will run classes that are voluntary. I went to parochial school, where it was taught every year, but make no mistake, it only focused on Catholicism, none of the other religions. One day a week we got out a hour earlier so our classrooms could be used for CCD..again, only Catholic teachings. Members of the church whose kids went to public school sent their kids to CCD
In social studies, we learn about world religions briefly. I didn’t have the option for a dedicated course until college, though.
Otherwise, churches often have Sunday or evening programs for students. But these are focused strictly on their own faith.
There are some schools that offer world religion as electives in high school. But this isn’t ubiquitous across the country. My high school didn’t have such classes. And religion wasn’t really mentioned. So it isn’t like the UK or other European countries where religious education classes are given.
I’d actually wouldn’t have minded a world religion class. I find that learning about religions in an objective way broadens your horizons and knowledge of other cultures and people. It is a part of history and the human experience for many.
Btw, I’m an atheist so this isn’t some ulterior motive to cram religion down children’s throat. I just believe in a liberal arts, classical education which traditionally includes religious education.
Went to a public high school and no… we had theology sections of history classes. We learned about the Abrahamic religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, and maybe a few other religions.
I went to a private Jesuit Catholic university though and we were required to take 2 semesters of theology courses but religion was never really pushed onto anyone, it was just there. The theology courses covered all religions and had a specific unit on Jesuit Catholicism. I’m nowhere near Catholic and I really enjoyed my time there. The kindest professors I had were a priest and nun lol
My school system did not have any elective comparative religion classes.
We had an ancient civilizations unit in 6th grade. And 10th grade we had World Cultures class where we learned about the cultures from around the world.
Privet schools do
It’s often bundled into social studies and history classes.
As someone who went to public school, religion was not a required class nor was it an elective, at least in my school. Some of these other comments say it was an optional elective.
The closest I had was a few mentions of religion in history classes, but they weren’t detailed lessons at all.
Private religion schools on the other hand do have religion classes, but it’s almost certainly whatever religion the school adheres to, like Catholicism, Judaism, Protestantism, etc
We have world religions electives at some public schools, which gives an overview of different religions and their beliefs. Some schools give a brief overview of some religions in world history class.
I went to a Christian private school, so I had a Bible class each year.
Generally, students learn about the history of major world religions(I was taught about Christianity, Judaism, Íslam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and the ancient religions of the Greeks, Egyptians and Romans). Those are in the standard curriculum for the State of New York. I also took a class on ancient philosophies, which covered mostly Hebrew, Greek and Roman philosophers.
No, not in public schools. We may learn some history of religions as part of history classes but not religious teachings and such.
Usually religious history is taught in history or sociology classes.
Public schools don’t teach religious dogma but teach about world religions.
I went to Catholic school and we didn’t even have catechism type classes (as in learning about the liturgy of the church) and were only about 50% Catholic. We did have world religion class and religion class that was mostly a psychology class.
Not unless they go to a private religious school
It would likely be illegal for the government to mandate students take religious classes as that would likely be a first amendment violation
I don’t think they can in Oregon. Oregon separates Church from State. They can’t even celebrate Christmas. It’s “Holiday”. You can’t preach/influence or direct public students to religions. Unless you go to a church affiliated private school.