What effect should the month-long Islamic observance of Ramadan, efforts of early Mormon pioneers to settle the territory of Utah and the Buddhist celebration of the Obon Festival have on public schools?
It's OK to teach about them, but don't preach about them.That was the conclusion of a three-member panel that discussed the role of religious education in public schools Tuesday night at the McDougall Lectures on Religion and Study at the Cathedral of the Madeleine.
"We can teach about religion," Salt Lake School District Superintendent Darline Robles said. "But there's a fine line between teaching certain beliefs and teaching about value systems."
Robles, along with Deacon Owen F. Cummings, director of education for the Cathedral of the Madeleine, and Ted Wilson, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, concluded that teachers may fundamentally educate about comparative religions but must avoid indoctrinating schoolchildren with tenets and specific beliefs.
"Certainly we can teach about the cultural aspects of religion, the richness, the goodness it brings to a certain society," Wilson said. "But we cannot teach about dogma. Otherwise we're violating the constitutional right of the separation of church and state. And we have to teach about respecting other religions."
Cummings said awareness of religion in the humanities is as much an intrinsic component of a solid education as are skills in literacy, mathematics, history and geography.
"Leave religion out and something central in the educational process is missing," Cummings said. "One could not appreciate the diverse disciplines in a given cur-riculum, the arts, literature and history, for example, without an appreciation of the religious background they come from."
There would also be very little comprehension of peace without the integration of religious awareness in schools, Cummings added.
"But there can be no proselytism," he said. "That has no place in public schools. And the rights of all need to be respected."
Awareness, tolerance and understanding are integral components when approaching the issue of religion in the classroom, many of the 30 people attending the panel discussion remarked.
"Children mirror back what we teach, whether positive and negative," one parent said. "If we don't educate them as to what is out there, our ignorance is mirrored back."