Connections Quarterly Winter 2018 - World Religions

T EAC H I NG AB O UT R ELI G I O N S A S D I V E RS I T Y E D U C ATI O N “ standing and living in a world of diversity.” 5 Modesto, California is the only public school district in the U.S. that requires high school students to take a world religions course. A research study of the district’s courses has shed some light on the intellectual and social benefits of teaching about religions. Researchers found that students were not only significantly more knowledgeable about world religions immediately after taking a world religions course, but this knowledge persisted several months after the course. Students also emerged from the course more supportive of basic First Amendment and political rights in general. A pre-test of students found that they were alarmingly intolerant on questions dealing with respect for First Amendment rights. After the course, students were more will- ing to extend the rights to run for public office, teach in public schools, hold public rallies and make a public speech to their “least-liked group.” Another researcher from McGill University found that the Modesto program reduced religious-based bullying on school campuses. The FBI reported that the second most common motivator for hate crimes was bias against religion... ” years. SPLC counted five anti-Muslim hate groups in 2010, 34 groups in 2015, and at least 114 anti-Muslim hate groups in 2017. 6 Hate crime statistics gathered by the FBI in 2016 are even more disturbing. The FBI re- ported that the second most common mo- tivator for hate crimes was bias against reli- gion (the first most common motivator was bias against race, ethnicity, and/or ances- try). In 2016, 1,584 anti-religious hate crimes were reported, with Jews being the most targeted (more than half of the reported crimes). About one-fourth of victims were Muslims and less than six percent of victims were Christians. 7 This data is disquieting, but intolerance of religious difference is not something new. In the colonial era pilgrims hanged Quakers; in the nineteenth century states declared war against Native Americans The importance of these findings cannot be overstated. According to the Southern Pov- erty Law Center (SPLC), anti-Muslim hate groups have more than tripled in recent 5. Robert J. Dilzer. Including the Study About Religion in the Social Studies Curriculum: A Position Statement and Guide- lines. [S.l: s.n.], 1984. 6. Southern Poverty Law Center. “Anti-Muslims.” https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/anti- muslim. Accessed August 2018. 7. Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Hate Crime Statistics 2016.” https://ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2016. Accessed August 2018. Continues on page 20 CSEE Connections Winter 2018 Page 5

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