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Teaching About Religion |
in support of civic pluralism |
Religion in the Social Studies Curriculum By C. Frederick Risinger Source: Risinger, C. F. (1993). Religion in the social studies curriculum. Bloomington, Indiana: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education. [ED363553] ________________________________________________________ In the past decade, educators and policymakers have agreed that public schools should strengthen and improve teaching about religion and its function in human affairs. While religion is an important element in many areas of literature, art, and music, the social studies--especially history and civics--provide the best opportunity for including religion in the curriculum. Several state education departments and local school districts have issued new mandates and guidelines for including religion in the curriculum. Textbook publishers have expanded and improved their coverage of religion, and many supplementary materials are available at both the elementary and secondary levels. For most school systems, the question has changed from "Should we teach about religion?" to "How should we include the study of religion in the curriculum?" Several local, state, and national programs have been established to help teachers and administrators answer this question. This is the first paragraph of the paper. Full text |
[Religion in the social studies curriculum?] The question has changed from... "whether or not"... to "how". |