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Shows parents, students, teachers and administrators how to implement policies that will allow the free expression of religious views in public schools.
This text presents a comparative, cross-cultural analysis of the legal status of religion in public education in eighteen different nations while offering recommendations for the future improvement of religious education in public schools. Offering rich, analytical insights from a range of renowned scholars with expertise in law, education, and religion, this volume provides detailed consideration of legal complexities impacting the place of religion and religious education in public education. The volume pays attention to issues of national and international relevance including the separation of the church and state; public funding of religious education; the accommodation of students’ devotional needs; and compulsory religious education. The volume thus highlights the increasingly complex interplay of religion, law, and education in diverse educational settings and cultures across developing and developed nations. Providing a valuable contribution to the field of religious secondary education research, this volume will be of interest to researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in religion and law, international and comparative education, and those involved with educational policy at all levels. Those more broadly interested in moral and values education will also benefit from the discussions the book contains.
Explains what the law is on common religious liberty and church-state questions in the public school context. Covers: prayer in the schools; teaching about religion; use of classroom space for student-initiated religious activities; holiday observances; released time programs; physical facilities; dual enrollment; distribution of Gideon bibles or religious literature; scientific creationism; curriculum content; secular humanism; compulsory attendance and religious holidays; dress codes; vaccination requirements; and teachers' rights and responsibilities.
Religion plays a significant role among people. Human beings have always turned to religion for answers to critical questions about life such as reasons for existence. Religious beliefs also inform people's conceptions about morality and justice. However, religion is also a very controversial topic. It has both the potential to divide or unite nations. Hence, the global view of religious freedom as a fundamental human right. Among contestations involving religious freedom is the issue of parents' primary right to determine religious observances for their children at public schools. A right which is protected internationally, by among others, Article 5 of the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion and Belief; Article 26(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948); and Article 18 (4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (1966). These covenants emphasise the inalienable right of parents to have their children educated in accordance with their own religious convictions or beliefs. In South Africa, this a priori right of parents is protected by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Gov. za, 2017); and the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 (SASA), respectively. Section 15(2) of the Constitution provides for religious observances to be conducted at public schools provided that such observances follow rules made by the appropriate public authorities; are conducted on an equitable basis; and, attendance at them is free and voluntary. The South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 (SASA) entrusts the authority to determine such rules to parents through the School Governing Body (SGB). However, the National Policy on Religion and Education (2003) has generated much confusion around the issue of religious observances, because it imposes a multi-faith approach to religious observances in public schools. It was therefore, rejected by many who viewed it as a usurpation of parents' rights, and an imposition of secularism on schools, while embraced by others, who perceived it as a welcome relief from what they perceived to be learner indoctrination in public schools. The apparent confusion generated by the policy resulted in SGBs adopting a laissez-faire attitude towards religious observances policy design at public schools. For example, some SGBs banished all forms of religious observances from their schools, while others continued with the pre-democracy status quo of single faith religious observances. Against this backdrop, the object of this study was to determine the constructions of SGB members, particularly, parents, on how they realise their constitutionally mandated function of determining religious observances policy at public schools, given such a confusion riddled environment.
Despair over the reported inadequacies of public education leads many people to consider religious schools as an alternative. James G. Dwyer demonstrates, however, that religious schooling is almost completely unregulated and that common pedagogical practices in fundamentalist Christian and Catholic schools may be damaging to children. He presents evidence of excessive restriction of children's basic liberties, stifling of intellectual development, the instilling of dogmatic and intolerant attitudes, as well as the infliction of psychological and emotional harms, including excessive guilt and repression and, especially among girls, diminished self-esteem. Courts, legal and political theorists, and the public typically argue that families and religious communities are entitled to raise their children as they see fit and that the state must remain neutral on religious matters. Dwyer proposes an alternative framework for state policy regarding religious schooling and other child-rearing practices, urging that the focus always be on what is best, from a secular perspective, for the affected children. He argues that the children who attend religious schools have a right to adequate state regulation and oversight of their education. States are obligated to ensure that such schools do not engage in harmful practices and that they provide their students with the training necessary for pursuit of a broad range of careers and for full citizenship in a pluralistic, democratic society.
This volume shows how and why our public schools should prepare to understand and deal with religious diversity in the United States and the world. Defending Religious Diversity in Public Schools: A Practical Guide for Building Our Democracy and Deepening Our Education makes a powerful case for exposing students to the multiplicity of faiths practiced in the United States and around the world—then offers a range of practical solutions for promoting religious understanding and tolerance in the school environment. Nathan Kollar's timely volume centers on the common issues associated with respecting religion in people's lives, including religious identities, the religious rights of students, bullying and other acts of intolerance, and legal perspectives on what should and should not happen in the classroom. It then focuses on the skills teachers, counselors, and administrators need to master to address those issues, including forming an advocacy coalition, listening, cultural analysis, conflict resolution, institutional development, choosing a leader, and keeping up to date with all the latest research developments from both the legal and educational communities.
Controversial Supreme Court decisions have barred organized school prayer, but neither the Court nor public policy exclude religion from schools altogether. In this book, one of America's leading constitutional scholars asks what role religion ought to play in public schools. Kent Greenawalt explores many of the most divisive issues in educational debate, including teaching about the origins of life, sex education, and when--or whether--students can opt out of school activities for religious reasons. Using these and other case studies, Greenawalt considers how to balance the country's constitutional commitment to personal freedoms and to the separation of church and state with the vital role that religion has always played in American society. Do we risk distorting students' understanding of America's past and present by ignoring religion in public-school curricula? When does teaching about religion cross the line into the promotion of religion? Tracing the historical development of religion within public schools and considering every major Supreme Court case, Greenawalt concludes that the bans on school prayer and the teaching of creationism are justified, and that the court should more closely examine such activities as the singing of religious songs and student papers on religious topics. He also argues that students ought to be taught more about religion--both its contributions and shortcomings--especially in courses in history. To do otherwise, he writes, is to present a seriously distorted picture of society and indirectly to be other than neutral in presenting secularism and religion. Written with exemplary clarity and even-handedness, this is a major book about some of the most pressing and contentious issues in educational policy and constitutional law today.