hortly after the release of Parenting Beyond Belief, I mentioned on the PBB Discussion Forum that I think religious literacy is an important thing for our kids (and ourselves) to have. Many agreed, as did most of the contributors to the book, but I received an email from one parent who asked,
Why should I fill my kids’ heads with all that mumbo-jumbo?
Here are my four reasons that religious literacy (knowledge of religion, as opposed to belief in it) is crucial:
1. To understand the world. A huge percentage of the news includes a religious component. Add the fact that 90 percent of our fellow humans express themselves through religion and it becomes clear that ignorance of religion cuts our children off from understanding what is happening in the world around them—and why.
2. To be empowered. In the U.S. presidential election of 2004, candidate Howard Dean identified Job as his favorite book of the New Testament. That Job is actually in the Old Testament was a trivial thing to most of us, but to a huge whack of the religious electorate, Dean had revealed a forehead-smacking level of ignorance about the central narrative of their lives. For those people, Dean was instantly discounted, irrelevant. Because we want our kids’ voices heard in the many issues with a religious component, it’s important for them to have knowledge of that component.
3. To make an informed decision. I really, truly, genuinely want my kids to make up their own minds about religion, and I trust them to do so. Any nonreligious parent who boasts of a willingness to allow their kids to make their own choices but never exposes them to religion or religious ideas is being dishonest. For kids to make a truly informed judgment about it, they must have access to it.
4. To avoid the “teen epiphany.” Here’s the big one. Struggles with identity, confidence, and countless other issues are a given part of the teen years. Sometimes these struggles generate a genuine personal crisis, at which point religious peers often pose a single question: “Don’t you know about Jesus?” If your child says, “No,” the peer will come back incredulously with, “YOU don’t know JESUS? Omigosh, Jesus is The Answer!” Boom, we have an emotional hijacking. And such hijackings don’t end up in moderate Methodism. This is the moment when nonreligious teens fly all the way across the spectrum to evangelical fundamentalism.
A little knowledge about religion allows the teen to say, “Yeah, I know about Jesus”—and to know that reliable answers to personal problems are better found elsewhere.
So should you take your kids to a mainstream, bible-believing church? Hardly. They shouldn’t get to age 18 without seeing the inside of a church, or you risk creating forbidden fruit. Take them once in a while just to see what it’s all about and to see that there’s no magical land of unicorns and faeries behind those doors. But know that churchgoing generally has squat to do with religious literacy.
In his (fabulous) book Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—And Doesn’t, Stephen Prothero points out that faithfully churchgoing Americans are incredibly ignorant of even the most basic tenets of their own belief systems, not to mention others. Europeans, on the other hand, are religiously knowledgeable and rarely darken the door of a church.
Coincidence? I don’t think so. Most European countries have mandated religious education and decidedly secular populations. Unless they attend a UU or Ethical Society, U.S. kids have almost no religious education. Faith is most easily sustained in ignorance. Learning about religion leads to thinking about religion—and you know what happens then.
Mainstream churchgoing also exposes kids to a single religious perspective. That’s not literacy—in fact, it usually amounts to indoctrination.
So how do you get religiously-literate kids?
1. Talk, talk, talk. All literacy begins with oral language. Toss tidbits of religious knowledge into your everyday conversations. If you drive by a mosque and your four-year-old points out the pretty gold dome, take the opportunity: “Isn’t that pretty? It’s a kind of church called a mosque. People who go there pray five times every day, and they all face a city far away when they do it.” No need to get into the Five Pillars of Islam. A few months later, you see a woman on the street wearing a hijab and connect it to previous knowledge: “Remember the mosque, the church with that gold dome? That’s what some people wear who go to that church.”
As kids mature, include more complex information—good, bad, and ugly. No discussion of Martin Luther King, Jr. is complete without noting that he was a Baptist minister, and that his religion was important to him. You can’t grasp 9/11 without understanding Islamic afterlife beliefs. And the founding of our country is reframed by noting that the majority of the founders were religious skeptics of one stripe or another. Talk about the religious components of events in the news, from the stem cell debate to global warming to terrorism to nonviolence advocacy.
2. Read myths of many traditions. Myths make terrific bedtime stories. Start with creation myths from around the world, then move into the many rich mythic traditions—Greek, Roman, Norse, Hopi, Inuit, Zulu, Indian, and more. And don’t forget the Judeo-Christian stories. Placing them side by side with other traditions removes the pedestal and underlines what they have in common.
3. Attend church on occasion with trusted relatives. Keeping kids entirely separated from the experience of church can make them think something magical happens there. If your children are invited by friends, say yes—and go along. The conversations afterward can be some of the most productive in your entire religious education plan.
4. Movies. One of the most effective and enjoyable ways to expose your kids to religious ideas is through movies. For the youngest, this might include Prince of Egypt, Little Buddha, Kirikou and the Sorceress, and Fiddler on the Roof. By middle school it’s Jason and the Argonauts, Gandhi, Bruce Almighty, and Kundun. High schoolers can see and enjoy Seven Years in Tibet, Romero, Schindler’s List, Jesus Camp, Dogma, and Inherit the Wind. This list alone touches eight different religious systems (seven more than they’ll get in a mainstream Sunday School) and both the positive and negative influences of religion in history (one more than you get in Sunday School).
Special gem: Don’t forget Jesus Christ Superstar, a subversive and thought-provoking retelling of the last days of Christ. There are no miracles; the story ends with the crucifixion, not the resurrection; and Judas is the hero, urging Jesus not to forget about the poor as the ministry becomes a personality cult.
‘faith is most easily sustained in ignorance’ – I think that about sums it all up thankyouverymuch!
are there going to be copies of your books on sale at your seminar this weekend? I am sorry to say that none of my local booksellers keep it on the shelf. I should have ordered a copy but I am getting a loaner from the library to tide me over.
Comment: megmcg – 10. March 2009 @ 10:05 am
The hosts may have books available, but I don’t bring them anymore. I hauled the same 20 lb. box to three seminars in a row and sold exactly two books, then realized almost everyone has copies already. That plus the new airline surcharges for luggage (%$@#!) led to a change in policy here at PBB Central. Amazon is your best bet.
Comment: Dale – 10. March 2009 @ 10:13 am
Good post as always and btw, as happy unschoolers, this is exactly the way we’ve educated our kids about education and schooling, for the same reasons and in the same predominant culture . . .
Comment: JJ Ross – 10. March 2009 @ 12:25 pm
Hear, hear! Your first 1-4 list is especially well put.
I cede to few people in my distaste for the popular religious scriptures and doctrines of our time, but it seems to me that the “Why should I fill my kids’ heads with all that mumbo-jumbo?” attitude is obviously the wrong way to go about addressing those materials and ideas.
I find that e-mail a little infuriating, actually. We nonbelievers are regularly accused of bringing our children up ignorant of religion, and I don’t think it’s generally true–but it appears that that parent wants exactly that. What the heck, buddy?
I guess I’d like my kids to be nonbelievers when they grow up–but if they’re religiously illiterate nonbelievers (or indeed nonbelievers who never had the chance to explore what they do and don’t believe for themselves), I think I’ll have failed rather badly.
Comment: Rieux – 10. March 2009 @ 3:10 pm
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Excellent points. The teen epiphany alone would be reason enough for me, since, well, that’s what got me. I could go on for a long time about how Christian youth ministry exploits every practically emotion teens experience, but I’ll stop myself and just say that you’re spot-on.
New, young Christians may still be thoughtful enough to be thrown upon discovering that the person to whom they’re evangelizing actually knows their religion better than they do. I remember being in college and talking about the Book of Revelation when my roommates friend said dryly, “But isn’t it about Nero and the fall of the Roman Empire?” Stopped me dead in my tracks.
Godspell is another good Jesus musical, and the movie Saved! is a pretty good caricature of Christian youth subculture. Over-the-top, yes. But only just.
Comment: Michelle Galo – 11. March 2009 @ 8:30 am
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[...] Best Practices 5: Encourage religious literacyI’ve never forbidden my daughter from attending church with religious relatives. Knowledge is the greatest threat to religious belief. [...]
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You’ve answered my previous question about what atheist parenting looks like during religious festivals such as Easter and Xmas. Thanks for this entry and I’ll seek out the Prothero book.
Comment: jodiemiller – 30. March 2009 @ 3:16 am
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This is a well laid out plan for good religious instruction. As I read it, I’m reminded of 2 specific Norman Rockwell illustrations: “The Golden Rule” and all four of his ‘Four Freedoms’ paintings [http://www.curtispublishing.com/images/Rockwell/9610401.jpg and http://www.curtispublishing.com/artists/rockwell_freedoms.shtml respectively.
Proper, thorough, appropriate are all words that come to mind in reading this article.
As a Faith Formation professional for the Catholic Church I am challenged by some of the principles highlighted in this article. But like the great free thinkers of the past like Carl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, I accept the challenge to be better, I would hope that our entire Church could benefit from always taking the high rode, teaching clearly while helping to open hearts to the saving power of Christ. And of course we as a Church need to be calling our congregations to that higher rode. As Mahatma Gandhi himself said “If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.” Those teachings must be clearly laid out, yes, and shown how they are “shared” beliefs among so many. It is in that spirit of cooperation we would show true honor to God as a unified human race, a unified family committed to life. Thank you for the Best Practices list and the opportunity to share openly!
Comment: Matthew Krumdrick – 14. April 2009 @ 8:48 pm
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