An excerpt from the Federal Guidelines for Religious Expression in Public Schools states that “public schools may not provide religious instruction but may teach about religion.” While this has confused many people and has been purposely misconstrued by others to pursue their own personal agendas, it simply states that the overall concept of religion is fair game,

but getting into the intricacies of any one religion is not. If we can extricate ourselves from the stifling chains of political correctness, what purpose would be served by bringing in lessons of spiritual diversity into the early childhood learning process? We’re not talking about the specifics of any specific religion, but rather the simple fact that they do exist, what they are, and dare I say it – perhaps the basic tenet behind each religion that makes them different.

Addressed properly, this can have an incredibly powerful effect on the child’s view of the world in terms of respect, compassion and understanding. Addressed improperly, we run the risk of why the separation of church and state exists in the first place. The secret to success is in separating the teacher’s personal beliefs from their teachings. It’s ok to say that the Christians believe that Christ performed miracles – this is a fact. It is not ok to say that Christ performed miracles because now the teacher is imparting their beliefs on their audience. Subtle difference, but huge! I am not advocating that religion be brought into the school – this bears repeating.

But lessons on the existence of other faiths and non-judgmental, unbiased factual discussions can’t help but give our young children a better perspective of the world through the eyes of others. Now it’s time for me to leave my fantasy world where political correctness does not exist. No matter how simplistic and benign these lessons would be, there were still be tremendous sensitivity surrounding them. My way of addressing this issue would be to ensure that the curriculums were tightly managed as well as the questions in the classrooms.

I would also submit that this particular class include at least one observer to audit the class. Or forgive me for entering my fantasy world again, but open it up to the parents to sit in the back of the class, under the guideline that they could observe but not participate. Now that would be a miracle!