6:070 Teaching About Religions
The School District’s curriculum may include the study of religions as they relate to geography, history, culture, and the development of various ethnic groups. The study of religions shall give neither preferential nor derogatory treatment to any single religious belief or to religion in general. The study of religions shall be treated as an academic subject with no emphasis on the advancement or practice of religion.
In light of constraints imposed by the courts, the School Board urges the following as guidelines for teaching about religion:
- The school may sponsor the study of religion, but may not sponsor the practice of religion.
- The school may expose students to all religious views but may not impose any particular views.
- The school’s approach to religion is one of information not one of indoctrination.
- The function of the school is to educate about all religious, not to convert to any one religion.
- The school’s approach to religion is academic, not devotional.
- The school should study what all people believe, but should not teach a pupil what he should believe.
- The school should strive for student awareness of all religions, but should not press for student acceptance of any one religion.
- The school should seek to inform the student about various beliefs, but should not seek to conform him to any one belief.
Cross Reference:
6:040 Curriculum Development and Instructional Resources
6:255 Assemblies and Ceremonies
Legal Reference(s):
School District of Abington Twp v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963).
Allegheny County v. ACLU Pittsburgh Chapter, 492 U.S. 573, 109 S.Ct. 3086, 106 L.Ed.2d 472 (1989).
Date Adopted: 02/28/2006
