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CHAPTER 5: Fostering the 8 Strengths of Character—Outcome 8“Fortunately,” Haynes continues, “there is another alternativethat is consistent with the First Amendment andbroadly supported by many educational and religiousgroups.” He points out that the core of this alternativehas been articulated in Religious Liberty, Public Education,and the Future of American Democracy, a statement of principlesissued by 24 national organizations. Principle IV ofthis consensual document states:Public schools may not inculcate nor inhibit religion. Theymust be places where religion and religious conviction aretreated with fairness and respect. Public schools uphold theFirst Amendment when they protect the religious libertyrights of students of all faiths or none. Schools demonstratefairness when they ensure that the curriculum includes studyabout religion where appropriate, as an important part of acomplete education. 51A Teacher’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools goes on toaddress 18 commonly asked questions about what teachersand students may and may not do with respect to religionin the public school. The box on page 207 gives, inabridged form, the document’s answers to seven questions.Five Specific Things We Can DoWhat follows are five specific things we believe public aswell as religious schools can do to help youth understandWe’re poorly prepared to comprehend a worldthat is aflame with faith. College studentsfrequently know little about religion in theUnited States, much less about religion in theworld. High school graduates, who overwhelminglyconstitute the military in theUnited States, know almost nothing aboutIslam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, orthose branches of Christianity they do notpractice themselves. And yet they have beenasked to fight wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan,and Iraq over the past 15 years in which religionhas stood at the very center of each conflict.—JON BUTLERthe contribution of religion to our culture and the role ofreligion in character development, while honoring theFirst Amendment and the spirit of the guidelines quotedon page 207:1. Help students recognize the role religion has played inour moral beginnings as a nation (for example, theDeclaration of Independence asserts that we are“endowed by our Creator with certain unalienablerights”).2. Help students recognize that our country’s major socialreform movements—from the abolition of slavery tothe civil rights movement—have been inspired by areligious vision that life is sacred, that we are all equalin the sight of God, and that we are children of a commoncreator who calls us to live in harmony and justice.3. Help students recognize the role of religious motivationin the lives of individuals, both in history and currenttimes (in many texts, figures such as Mother Teresaare described with no mention of their religiousmotivation).4. Encourage students to develop a vision of life thataddresses ultimate questions about the meaning of life,human destiny, and so on. (What is the wisdom of theages with regard to such questions? What have notedthinkers, religious and non-religious, had to say?)5. Encourage students to make use of all their intellectualand cultural resources, including their faith traditions,when they consider social issues (e.g., our obligation tothe poor; see box on page 208) and make personalmoral decisions (e.g., whether to have sex before marriage).Fairness to Persons of No Faith“Atheism is the deepest difference of all,” said MyngaFutrell, a spokesperson for the organization Objectivity,Accuracy, and Balance in Teaching About Religion and aparticipant in a 2003 forum, Teaching About Religion inPublic Schools: Where Do We Go From Here? 54 “Many peoplefeel it’s okay to be prejudiced against atheists.”“Many people feel it’s okay to beprejudiced against atheists.”Futrell pointed out that there are more people who haveno religious faith than is commonly supposed. When TheAmerican Religious Identification Survey recently asked206Smart & Good High Schools