Religious Foundations

of Education
MA 201- Foundations of Education

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What is Religion?

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Religion is a set of organized beliefs, practices, and systems that
most often relate to the belief and worship of a controlling force,
such as a personal god or another supernatural being.

While this is a basic definition, there are many different

understandings of what religion is. Not all religions are centered on a
belief in a god, gods, or supernatural forces.

The famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud described religion as as a

form of wish fulfillment. However, modern psychology recognizes
that religion can play an important role in an individual's life and
experiences and can even improve health and well-being.

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 Classifications of Religion
Religious Classification What/Who Is Divine Example

Polytheism Multiple gods Belief systems of the

ancient Greeks and
Romans
Monotheism Single god Judaism, Islam
Atheism No deities Atheism
Animism Nonhuman beings Indigenous nature worship
(animals, plants, natural (Shinto)
world)
Totemism Human-natural being Ojibwa (Native American)
connection beliefs

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 Christianity
Today the largest religion in the world, Christianity began 2,000
years ago in Palestine, with Jesus of Nazareth, a leader who taught
his followers about caritas (charity) or treating others as you would
like to be treated yourself.
The sacred text for Christians is the Bible. In their shared sacred
stories, it is suggested that the son of God—a messiah—will return
to save God’s followers.

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 Judaism
After their Exodus from Egypt in the thirteenth century B.C.E., Jews, a nomadic
society, became monotheistic, worshipping only one God. The Jews’ covenant,
or promise of a special relationship with Yahweh (God), is an important element
of Judaism. Abraham, a key figure in the foundation of the Jewish faith, is also
recognized as a foundation of Christianity and Islam, resulting in the three
religions and a few others being referred to as “Abrahamic.”
Today, Jewish people are the second-largest religious group in the United
States at 1.9% and the United States is also home to the second largest
population of Jewish people.

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 Hinduism
The oldest religion in the world, Hinduism originated in the Indus River
Valley about 4,500 years ago in what is now modern-day northwest
India and Pakistan. It arose contemporaneously with ancient Egyptian
and Mesopotamian cultures. With roughly one billion followers,
Hinduism is the third-largest of the world’s religions. Hindus believe in a
divine power that can manifest as different entities. Three main
incarnations—Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva—are sometimes compared to
the manifestations of the divine in the Christian Trinity.

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 Importance of
Religious Education

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Religious Education is the opportunity to explore a major and
distinctive dimension of what it means to be a person: the search for
meaning, purpose and value in a wondrous but also often confusing
and sometimes threatening world. Religious Education offers pupils the
chance to raise and reflect on perennial questions about life.

Thus, there are two main educational purposes to Religious Education.

Firstly, so that pupils can learn more about themselves and their place
in the world from their study of religion and worldviews. Secondly, so
that they can learn about religions and worldviews which have
influenced the lives of millions of people and heavily influenced the
development of different human cultures.

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RE is therefore both rigorously academic and personally significant.

Quality Religious Education:

•Teaches pupils about Christianity and other religions and worldviews so that they can understand the
world better and develop their own sense of place within it.
•Engages pupils of any religious faith or none and of all academic abilities and social backgrounds.
•Enables pupils to engage with a range of sources such as texts, artefacts, and people.
•Challenges pupils to question and explore their own and others’ understanding of the world.
•Does not seek to urge beliefs upon pupils, nor compromise their own beliefs but rather to deepen
their self-understanding and understanding of others.
•Raises questions of identity, meaning, purpose and value and encourages pupils to reflect on
experience, ways of living and ways of knowing.
•Contributes positively and powerfully to the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of
pupils (SMSC).
•Provides opportunities for pupils to develop communication and thinking skills.
•Explores visions of humanity and at the same time reflects on the depths to which humanity can sink.

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 Issues On Religion
in Public Education

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•Public schools may not teach religion, although teaching about religion
in a secular context is permitted.
Religion may be presented as part of a secular educational program. Programs that "teach about religion"
are geared toward teaching students about the role of religion in the historical, cultural, literary and social
development of the United States and other nations. These programs should instill understanding,
tolerance and respect for a pluralistic society. When discussing religion in this context, religion must be
discussed in a neutral, objective, balanced and factual manner. Such programs should educate students
about the principle of religious liberty as one of the fundamental elements of freedom and democracy in
the United States.
"Teaching religion" amounts to religious indoctrination or practice and is clearly prohibited in public
schools. A public school curriculum may not be devotional or doctrinal. Nor may it have the effect of
promoting or inhibiting religion. A teacher must not promote or denigrate any particular religion, religion
in general, or lack of religious belief. A teacher must not interject personal views or advocate those of
certain students. Teachers must be extremely sensitive to respect, and not interfere with, a student's
religious beliefs and practices. Students must not be encouraged to accept or conform to specific religious
beliefs or practices. A program intended to teach religion, disguised as teaching about religion, will be
found unconstitutional.

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•The Bible may be taught in a school, but only for its historical, cultural
or literary value and never in a devotional, celebratory or doctrinal
manner, or in such a way that encourages acceptance of the Bible as a
religious document.

The Bible may be studied as literature, but not as religious doctrine. The lesson
must be secular, religiously neutral and objective. Classes on the Bible as literature
should be optional. The Anti-Defamation League strongly suggests that such
classes be taught by school personnel who have some training in Establishment
Clause issues.

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THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

RHENZEL E. EMPEÑO
MA201- FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION