Overcoming Religious Illiteracy

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Overcoming Religious Illiteracy

• Professor Diane L. Moore
• Harvard Divinity School
• diane_moore_at_harvard.edu

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Three Premises One

• There exists a widespread illiteracy about
  religion that spans the globe

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Premise Two

• Many consequences most significant is that it
  fuels antagonism and hinders respect for
  pluralism, peaceful coexistence, and cooperative
  endeavors in local, national, and global arenas

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Premise Three

• It is possible to diminish religious illiteracy
  by teaching about religion from a nonsectarian
  perspective in schools.

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Definition of Religious Illiteracy

• A lack of understanding about
• 1) the basic tenets of the worlds religious
  traditions
• 2) the diversity of expressions and beliefs
  within traditions that emerge in differing
  social/historical contexts and
• 3) the profound role that religion plays in
  human social, cultural and political life in
  both contemporary and historical contexts.

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Definition of Religious Literacy

• Religious literacy entails the ability to discern
  and analyze the fundamental intersections of
  religion and social/political/cultural life
  through multiple lenses

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Religious Literacy Continued

• Specifically, a religiously literate person will
  possess
• 1) a basic understanding of the history, central
  texts (where applicable), beliefs, practices and
  contemporary manifestations of several of the
  worlds religious traditions as they arose out of
  and continue to be shaped by particular social,
  historical, and cultural contexts and

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Religious Literacy Continued

• 2) the ability to discern and explore the
  religious dimensions of political, social, and
  cultural expressions across time and place.

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Examples of Religious Illiteracy

• 1) Religious traditions are represented
  inaccurately.

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Examples of Illiteracy

• 2) Religious traditions represented as internally
  uniform and static as opposed to diverse and
  evolving.

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Examples of Illiteracy

• 3) Religious traditions represented as wholly
  positive or wholly negative.

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Examples of Illiteracy

• 4) Religion is deeply and nearly exclusively
  equated with sectarianism.

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Examples of Illiteracy

• 5) Practitioners and religious leaders assumed to
  be experts of their traditions.

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Examples of Illiteracy

• 6) Religion is assumed to be a private matter and
  not appropriately relevant to the public sphere.

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Consequences of Religious Illiteracy Some
Examples

• 1) Christian anti-semitism
• 2) Equation of Islam with violence and terrorism
• 3) Antagonisms within traditions
• 4) Blanket portrayal of religion as obsolete,
  irrational, and/or oppressive

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Religious Illiteracy Can be Diminished Through
Education From a Nonsectarian Perspective

• Curricula must be Intentional and Informed
• Teachers must be adequately trained
• Must be justified in local and national context

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Challenges to Teaching About Religion Responsibly

• 1) Few teachers are adequately trained.

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Challenges

• 2) Teachers and students harbor strong,
  imbedded, often unconscious assumptions about
  religion.

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Challenges

• 3) Efforts may be misconstrued as
  proselytizing.

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Challenges

• 4) How to teach about religion is as important as
  what is taught.

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Components of a Cultural Studies Model

• 1) The approach is multidisciplinary and
  interdisciplinary

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Cultural Studies

• 2) All knowledge claims recognized as situated

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Cultural Studies

• 3) Situatedness applies to all dimensions of
  inquiry

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Cultural Studies

• 4) Includes an analysis of power and
  powerlessness

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Cultural Studies

• 5) Must be relevant

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Review of Cultural Studies Model

• 1) The approach is multidisciplinary and
  interdisciplinary
• 2) All knowledge claims recognized as situated
• 3) Situatedness applies to all dimensions of
  inquiry
• 4) Includes an analysis of power and
  powerlessness
• 5) Must be relevant

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Two Examples of Programs Employing Cultural
Studies Model

• 1) Program in Religious Studies and Education
  (PRSE) at the Harvard Divinity School.
• 2) Citation in Religious Studies and Education
  through the Harvard Extension School

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AAR Guidelines Project

• American Academy of Religion Guidelines for
  Teaching About Religion in Kindergarten through
  Twelfth Grade Pubic Schools

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VISUAL CULTURE AND CULTURAL STUDIES
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