#8 Religion

Guests
I enjoyed our "guests" on Monday night.  I found David's insights about moving to America interesting.  It is always interesting to see how people from outside our country view our culture.  Norma's experiences growing up in Gary, Indiana were not what I expected.  I always perceive problems in Gary to be black/white.  I had not considered the role of the Hispanic population.  Deidre's insights about growing up in Chicago and moving to the south were interesting.  I had the opposite experience to hers (moved from south to north), but agreed with her assessment of the differences.

Religion
As a World History teacher, I teach about different religions all of the time.  Knowing about and talking about other religions is a big part of my life.  Over the years, I've heard all sorts of stereotypes and misinformation from students about different religions.  I expect this from my students because they are teenagers.  However, I'm always shocked about how little other adults know about other religions.  Several weeks ago in my Global Education class several teachers in the class did not know that a Muslim was a person who practiced Islam.  They legitimately thought they were different things.  These were people I deeply respect and could not believe they did not know this.  Our education system needs to do a better job about teaching students about other religions.  Not understanding or misinterpreting what people believe leads to all sorts of misunderstandings that could be easily avoided.

One of the questions my group was given related to whether the majority should rule in matters of religion.  I do not feel majority rule should apply to religion and I believe the majority should respect the beliefs of the minority.  I was raised Presbyterian and have always been part of the religious majority.  However, I gained a great deal of understanding in what it was like to be an outsider when I met my husband who was raised Mormon.  Most Mormons are not allowed to participate in any activities outside the home on Sundays except attending church.  Thus, school activities, organized sporting events, etc. are off limits to Mormon kids on Sundays.  My husband says he would miss out on bonus points for missing Sunday review sessions or would be left out in his group of friends because he couldn't attend Super Bowl parties, concerts, or other social events on Sundays. Seeing how left out my husband always felt, I try to avoid class activities that may cause someone to feel left out because of their religious beliefs.  

I am constantly shocked by the responses I get from people when I tell them my husband and his family are Mormon.  "Are you his only wife?"  "Is that allowed?"  "But you drink caffeine..." are some of my favorite responses.  And Mormons are considered Christians!  I can only imagine the kinds of questions Muslims or Hindus get.  While Mormon kids aren't much different than the average kid, there are some unique elements to Mormon culture.  There is a lingo that only Mormons understand, dating rules that only Mormon kids follow, and cultural ideas about marriage and family that the rest of the population does not follow.  While teachers can't know everything about the cultural values of each student, it is important for teachers to realize religion does create different values.  Teachers should ask students about their beliefs and encourage students to speak up when something is uncomfortable. 

This is a video about Mormon culture by some Mormon girls.  The lyrics are in the notes.  I laughed hysterically because the rap describes the stereotypical Mormon life.  This would have not been funny or made any sense to me 15 years ago.  



My group also discussed the role of prayer in school.  The presenters also brought up references to God and religion mentioned in the pledge of allegiance and on our money.   I believe strongly in separation of church and state.  I believe prayer and religion are always present privately, but outward expressions at school are not necessary.  They can disrupt the learning environment for the minority.  Further, separation of church and state exists not only to protect the religious minority, but also to protect religion in general.  If the state and schools get too involved in religion, it takes rights away from the religion.  Keeping religion separate protects people of all faiths from government interference and protects their rights to worship as they please.