How to Talk About Religion--in Schools or on Blogs

It absolutely blows me away that this kind of remedial training is necessary among both liberal and conservative bloggers, but the Edwards affair and many anti-Muslim comments on right-wing blogs makes it plain that it is. This is from Teaching Tolerance

In order to achieve these higher aims, schools must teach about world religions as an integrated part of academic life. In the public schoolhouse, four simple rules apply:

Maintain neutrality. Don't promote a specific religion, show favoritism for one faith over another, or even promote religion in general over atheism. Teaching students about diverse faiths and their influences on societies and cultures is constitutional, indoctrinating students or encouraging them to participate in specific faith activities is not.


Keep it academic. Incorporate the study of religion where it fits naturally into curricula. Display or use related art, religious symbols, drama, music and literature only for academic purposes.


Teach about the faiths behind the holidays. Although fun, activities simply focusing on festivals, foods or secular aspects of holidays rarely advance students' understanding of, or respect for, religion. In addition to looking at how the faithful typically observe a given holiday, classroom lessons need to incorporate study of its religious origin, history and general meaning.


Focus on respectful inquiry. Set ground rules for classroom explorations about religion. As students learn about diverse faiths, they likely will discover ideas or beliefs that seem "strange" to them. Help students explore the similarities, as well as the differences, of various faiths.