Religion Matters
Webpage managed by Tim Hall, Ph.D. focused on K-16 education for #religiousliteracy, #religiousdiversity, #religiousfreedom, #globalcompetence
Guest Post: Sana Patel, Zwan Postdoctoral Associate at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University Imams or E-mams are Islamic authority figures that many Muslims look up to for spiritual guidance or religious legal rulings. Traditionally, imams were found at mosques and religious institutions only; today, many Muslims have direct access to them through […]
Guest Post: Nathan Haines, Secondary Social Studies Teacher in the U.S. and East Africa A few years ago, I was one of several teachers teaching the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course at an International Baccalaureate (IB) school in Ethiopia. While reviewing the scores of our students that year, I was surprised by the poor result […]
Guest Blog: Jane Fitzpatrick, Contributing Writer for Religion Matters Ten Theories of Religion by Daniel L. Pals introduces several of the most commonly encountered themes in the study of religious traditions and a host of historically significant anthropological and philosophical attempts at defining religion. Pals originally published Seven Theories of Religion in 1996, and his […]
Guest Post: Vicki Garlock, founder World Religions 4 Kids Ramadan is a month-long Islamic holy period that begins with the sighting of the new moon. During the month, observant Muslims fast during daylight hours, read the entire Qur’an, connect with family and friends, share with those in need, and visit the mosque for prayers and […]
Guest Blog: Jane Fitzpatrick, Contributing Writer for Religion Matters Danish anthropologist Rane Willerslev documented his personal experiences with a group of Siberian hunters called the Upper Kolyma Yukaghirs in his book, Soul Hunters. He primarily studied their hunting practices, which demonstrated the group’s distinct views of the world: spirits, along with humans and animals, persistently […]
Guest Post: Susan Katz-Miller and Dalia El Ariny What do you think of when you hear the word “interfaith”? Perhaps your town gathers people of different religions for an annual Thanksgiving service. Or, maybe you get together more regularly, for community service in a soup kitchen. Or, you may have attended educational programs, with representatives […]
Guest Post: Elsa Kunz, History Department, The Webb School This semester, I have the privilege of teaching a high school elective about lived religion in the contemporary United States. For many of my students, if not all, this course will be their first experience with the academic study of religion. However, their lack of academic […]
Guest Post: Vicki Garlock, Founder of World Religions 4 Kids Hanukkah, often called the Jewish festival of lights, lasts for eight days and nights. The most obvious ritual practice is lighting a menorah. According to tradition, a small band of Jewish rebels retook control of their temple after it had been trashed by the ruling […]
Guest Blog: Scott M. Petri, Ed.D. A Ross Douthat editorial in the NY Times entitled Is The World Ready for a Religious Comeback? posits that the decline of religious practice is increasingly seen as a social problem. He then cites a study that investigates the demise of the “Nones” — Americans with no religious affiliation […]
Guest Blog: Jane Fitzpatrick, Contributing Writer for Religion Matters Review of A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (Harper, 2021) From the schemes of the Goddess of Discord to the vicious revenge of Hecabe, queen of the fallen city of Troy, Natalie Haynes turns a familiar story into a brand new set of accounts. In the […]
Guest Post: Vicki Garlock, Founder, World Religions 4 Kids Diwali is commonly known as the Hindu festival of lights. The light can be taken literally, as in clay lamps (diyas) and fireworks, or metaphorically, as in “the victory of light over darkness.” Diwali is also celebrated by Sikhs and Jains, but people all over India […]
Guest Post: Nancy Thompson, Community College of Vermont Every summer, the Interfaith Center of New York offers a 3-week institute, Religious Worlds of New York, that helps educators from around the country explore religious diversity in the U.S. Participants meet a wide range of local religious leaders, visit diverse houses of worship, and work with […]
Guest Post: Journeys in Film We have compiled a small collection of films for you centered around one of our favorite themes: celebrating the importance of both educators and education. These global films bring world religions to life while providing a cross-cultural perspective on learning in different contexts. We recommend these films for your classroom […]
This Op-Ed by Vicki Garlock, Founder of World Religions 4 Kids and Editor for the Religion Matters blog, was published by Deseret News on 8/18/24. It is reprinted here in its entirety. Recent laws pushing mostly Christian principles into public school classrooms in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas are producing a range of emotions and varying […]
Guest Blog: Jane Fitzpatrick, Contributing Writer for Religion Matters Review of Persepolis: The Story of Childhood (2004) by Marjane Satrapi Marjane Satrapi has created an unforgettable artifact of the Iranian Revolution through her autobiographical coming-of-age memoir. Formatted as a black-and-white graphic novel, it was listed as one of the top 100 books of the 21st century […]
Guest Post: Jane Fitzpatrick, Contributing Writer for Religion Matters With a vast sea of unique blogs across the online world ranging from cooking tips to travel memories to AI development, how can any blogging platform stand out among the rest? And are they effectively engaging their targeted audiences? Furthermore, how can a religious education blog […]
Guest Post: Journeys in Film Film offers an immersive and emotionally-engaging way to give students productive encounters with world religions, thereby building empathy and understanding. In the case of Buddhism, there are wonderful Buddhist films from around the world that offer students a window into the diverse array of Buddhist experiences and practices. This selection […]
Guest Post: Anne Selman Raybon “That’s sacrilegious.” I was teaching an adult Bible Study class at First Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina. I’d asked the regular teacher if I could teach the class over four Sundays as a trial run for a unit on Christian Nationalism that I’d developed. After a session on the […]
Guest Post: Scott Petri, John F. Kennedy High School (California), and Adam Moler, New Richmond Middle School (Ohio) The Pew Research Center recently released survey results showing that atheists and agnostics tend to participate in civic life at rates matching or exceeding those of religiously affiliated people. This study is important because it counters the […]
Guest Blog: Jane Fitzpatrick, Contributing Writer for Religion Matters Review of The Lover (2019) by Laury Silvers North American author, Laury Silvers, has created a Sufi mystery series that grabs any avid reader into its plot while offering an accessible learning experience for those interested in studying Sufism. The Lover is the first book in […]
Guest Post: Journeys in Film and Jennifer Fischer, Co-Founder, Think Ten Media Group Film offers an engaging way to bring the stories of notable women to your classroom, particularly during March, which is Women’s History Month. Documentaries take that one step further by focusing on real-life figures. The women in these films are young and […]
Guest Post: Jane Fitzpatrick, Contributing Writer for Religion Matters Religion is no stranger to the opera world. Richard Wagner’s musical devotion to Norse mythology and endless operatic retellings of ancient Greek myths are just a few examples. A variety of tales driven by sins and divine justice have also graced the world’s stages for centuries. […]
Guest Blog: Elsa Kunz, History Department, The Webb School Overview Ethics is typically characterized as an inquiry into right and wrong dispositions and behaviors. However, the high school ethics classroom is about much more than simply answering the question, “What should I do?” It’s also about how we understand the world. Tackling this broader endeavor […]
Guest Post: Prof. Rev. ‘Public Friend’ Felipe Ribeiro, Latin American Permanent Forum on Religious Teaching (CLAECIR FONAPER), Interfaith Religious Teaching Association of Brazil (ASSINTEC), Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA), Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC) Since its colonization, America has been a multi-religious continent. When operating at their best, these various religious and belief traditions have […]
Guest Post: Jon Resendez, Social Studies Teacher, Portola High School, Irvine, CA When I started my journey as a secondary social studies teacher, I never expected that one day I would teach religious studies. So, imagine my surprise when I took over my mentor’s Comparative Religions elective course when he retired during my first year […]
Post: Tim Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director, Religion Matters I had a fantastic night co-hosting #SSChat on September 11th on multiple religious belonging in the K-12 classroom. I co-hosted this #SSChat session titled: “Understanding Interfaith Identity in the K-12 Classroom” with Susan Katz Miller, author of Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family. The online […]
Guest Post: Jennifer Fischer, Co-Founder, Think Ten Media Group Religious literacy and cross-cultural understanding are intimately linked, which means educators have numerous, readily-available options when exploring world religions with their students. Stories, books, and films are routinely highlighted. For example, National Geographic’s The Story of God, with Morgan Freeman, is a documentary film series that […]
For students to fully participate in civic life, they must understand and appreciate the diversity and complexity of religious traditions. To gain this understanding, educators should teach about lived religions. This approach, advocated by Henry Goldschmidt of the Interfaith Center of New York, takes religion out of “the rarified realm of doctrine and text and […]
Guest Post: Abeer Ramadan-Shinnawi, Founder of Altair Education Consulting Finding one’s identity, in any community, and especially during adolescence, is not a linear path. But this journey is often more fraught when one is a member of a community of color or a community that is negatively perceived. In the case of Muslim youth, such […]
Guest Blog: Vicki Michela Garlock, Ph.D., Editor, Religion Matters Review of Teaching Religious Literacy to Combat Religious Bullying: Insights from North American Secondary Schools by W.Y. Alice Chan (Routledge, 2021) We’ve read about increased antisemitism in the U.S. (Shveda/CNN, 2023). We might have heard that the majority of Sikh school students are harassed and ridiculed […]
Guest Blog: Elsa Kunz, Graduate Student, Harvard Divinity School Overview Covid-19 impacted religious communities throughout the world. Grounded in the cultural studies approach to religion, advocated by The Program for Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School, this lesson aims to provide students an opportunity to explore the impact of Covid-19 on Muslim communities […]
A Response to the Criticism of Janani Mandayam Comar’s Reading Religion Review Dr. Sabrina D. MisirHiralall, Montclair State University While I welcome the constructive criticism of scholars in the field, I believe it is crucial to respond to the criticism of Janani Mandayam Comar who misunderstands and misrepresents my monograph Devotional Hindu Dance: A Return […]
Guest Post: John Soboslai, Assistant Professor of Religion, Montclair State University This article is the third in a three-part series on using virtual reality (VR) to promote religious literacy and enhance civil discourse. My first post outlined the general idea of using virtual reality (VR) as a way to remotely step into various religious rituals. […]
Guest Post: Shai Afsai Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s Founding Fathers, was born on this date, January 17, in 1706. In addition to being a well-known statesman, he was a successful newspaper editor and inventor. He was also one of the founders of the Academy and College of Philadelphia, a predecessor of the University of […]
Guest Post: Jennifer Fischer, Co-Founder, Think Ten Media Group Big Sonia follows the life of Sonia Warshawski, a Jewish teenager living in Poland when the German army invades in the 1930s. Her father and brother were shot, her sister disappeared; she and her mother became slave laborers and were finally deported to a death camp. […]
Guest Post: John Soboslai, Assistant Professor of Religion, Montclair State University In my first post I outlined the goals and hopes that brought an interdisciplinary group of scholars and media creators together in June of 2022. Seeking to lay the foundation for a series of immersive, interactive, virtual reality experiences of religious rituals around the […]
Guest Post: Jennifer Fischer, Co-Founder, Think Ten Media Group Given how prevalent media is in our daily lives, challenging Islamophobia through film is an important and urgent matter. But doing so requires careful curation of the media that we consume. Nuanced, complex and authentic media representations do exist, but deliberate efforts are needed if we […]
Guest Post: John Soboslai, Assistant Professor of Religion, Montclair State University In the course evaluations from my Understanding Religion classes, students routinely wrote “this class should include more videos.” After initially shrugging off the request as students simply wanting to watch movies, I began to recognize the pedagogic insight behind their words. Students’ lives are, […]
Guest Blog: Rev. Lauren Zinn, Ph.D. This post is an edited version of If You Meet a Religious Leader on the Road… first published by ZinnHouse in 2016. Who is honored? He who gives honor to others. – Pirkei Avot An interfaith orientation within a mono-faith educational program is no longer optional. Today, it is essential. As countries around […]
Guest Blog: Meredith Henne Baker British colonization of the Atlantic Coast was widespread in 17th century America. However, that colonization was not entirely uniform. Environmental, cultural, and demographic factors all influenced the character of the colonies in different regions along the coast. In this lesson plan, comparisons between the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies […]
Guest Blog: Samuel J. Richards International schools often promote international mindedness. This fuzzy phrase is ubiquitous but oftentimes not well-defined. The definition used by the widely-influential International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) has changed over time. At its core, international mindedness is an aspirational call for students and faculty to recognize our interrelatedness as diverse nations and […]
Guest Blog: Dhanesh Rishi Budhram This article was first published by Hinduism Today on 6/30/22. In conjunction with the author, we have added short definitions, numerous links, and section headers to help non-Hindu readers more fully appreciate the richness of this post. I am a first-generation Hindu-American whose parents are from Guyana. My earlier ancestors […]
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