The Salt Lake Tribune is praising Utah public schools for utilizing their religious freedoms. According to the article, educators in Utah are teaching their students about various world faiths and how to engage in religious debate civilly and respectfully.
This would cause a stir in other states, but educators there are trying to find constitutional and educational ways to talk about religion in the context of other subjects.
Utah is involved in the 3Rs Project, which stands for rights, responsibilities and respect. The Freedom Forum, which is dedicated to preserving free press and free speech, will name four Utah schools as national models in a new initiative to get schools to teach democratic principles.
Martha Ball, a retired history teacher, helped start the 3Rs project as a vehicle for covering religion. In history, English and even music classes, teachers learn to discuss histories of various faiths — their origins, their primary beliefs and scriptures. Of course, teachers cannot promote or bash any religion.
Do you think that this is a reasonable approach to cover religion in public classrooms?
