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The Need for Religious Literacy about Christianity in the K-12 Public School Classroom

 

The Need for Religious Literacy about Christianity in the K-12 Public School Classroom

By Lesley Barker PhD

When we teachers introduce American holidays to primary school students our curriculum uses Thanksgiving as a way to introduce the Pilgrims and their debt to the Native Americans. To whom did the Pilgrims direct their thanks? To the Christian God.  When we introduce elementary students to the explorers and navigators who mapped and opened the way for the Catholic and Christian European nations to colonize the “New World”, we explain their motives in terms of “God, gold and glory”. When middle school students first encounter the Declaration of Independence or the Mayflower Compact, they need to understand what our nation’s founders meant by references to the creator and what the earliest colonial communities meant by dedicating themselves to “the glory of God and to the advancement of the Christian faith”. When high school students encounter Shakespeare for the first time, they must navigate many biblical references. Indeed, Shakespeare’s plays contain over 1300 biblical references. Other key authors in the American canon of literature rely on biblical allusions and themes as well.

Music teachers cannot ignore the integration of Christian themes and dedications in classical music by Bach, Handel and so many other composers. The anthology of choral music used in elementary school classes also frequently contains lyrics that can only be understood in the context of America’s Christian traditions. It is impossible to understand the art of Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Brueghel and many others without knowing the biblical stories represented in their paintings. The core ideas, images and music of Western Civilization depend on an understanding of the Christian religion and the Bible, but we neglect to introduce both the religion and its book to our students. Perhaps this is due to an erroneous assumption that American students are already familiar with them.

However, for the past 57 years since the Supreme Court’s eight-to-one decision on June 18, 1963, school-sponsored Bible readings have been illegal in American public schools. For students from families who do not ascribe to Christianity or who affiliate as Christians but who do not practice their faith, there is little to no avenue for them to gain an adequate enough understanding of the Christian religion to appreciate its foundational inspiration to our nation and its culture.

Forty-nine (49) percent of Kentucky’s 4,339,369 citizens do not ascribe to any faith group according to The Association of Religion Data Archives[1].  The Pew Research Center’s 2004 Religious Knowledge Survey[2] indicates that most Americans can answer correctly only around half of the questions about Christianity, the Bible, and world religions. American High School English teachers estimate that fewer than 25% of their current students are biblically literate according to a report by Marie Wachlin and Byron R. Johnson[3]. These statistics indicate that Kentuckians, in general, and Kentucky public school students and teachers, in particular, may be ill-prepared to consider and understand the significant impact that Christianity has had on the history of this Commonwealth in spite of the assumption that we are a “Christian” nation. This is why the Kentucky Faith and Public History Education Project exists. The purpose of the Project is, first, to identify essential facts about Christianity, the history of Christianity in Kentucky and how Kentucky’s public history has been impacted by Christians and by the church.  Second, the Project will produce, disseminate and deliver instructional tools and experiences to benefit students in Kentucky’s 173 public school districts and beyond.

About this blog

This blog is the Project’s way to connect with public school teachers in Kentucky and beyond. Please use the comments to dialog with us. We are fully committed to a collegial conversation conducted respectfully using secular, objective and non-devotional language. No question or ideological position is out of bounds. However, statements that are disrespectful or unkind will not be approved by the moderator. Thank you for participating in the conversation.

 


[1] Thearda.com

[2] Pew Charitable Trust, US Religious Knowledge Survey

[3] Wachlin and Johnson, 2004. Bible Literacy Project

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