Religious Diversity In Schools

In, “Native American Religious Liberty: Five Hundred Years After Columbus,” by Walter R. Echo-Hawk, he writes about the religious oppression of native americans. According to Echo-Hawk, United States settlers used religion to justify the Indian Removal Act. He writes that, “a basic goal of federal Indian policy was to convert the “savage” Indians into Christian citizens…” (Echo-Hawk 277). This drove the white settlers to implement different laws that banned Native American religious practice. Echo-Hawk, also mentions the Lyng law, which states that Indians are not protected under the first amendment to practice their religion freely when on federal land (280). In, “From Pearl Harbor to 9/11: Lessons From the Internment of Japanese American …show more content…
Whittaker, Spencer Salend, and Hala Elhoweris, they write about the right ways to address and/ or navigate the issues surrounding religious diversity within schools without marginalizing or singling out one religion over the other. In this article, Whittaker, Salend, and Elhoweris list the different ways with which this can be done. They point out the importance of understanding “legal mandates and legislative policies” (Whittaker, Salend, and Elhoweris 306). One of the many policies they mention is that “schools cannot require students to say the Pledge of Allegiance if it violates their religious beliefs” (Whittaker, Salend, and Elhoweris 306). They also mention the importance of “incorporating content about [a variety of different] religion[s] into the curriculum” (Whittaker, Salend, and Elhoweris 307). By doing this, educators can represent diversity and knowledge about a certain religious group. Another way of addressing religious diversity they mention, is in implementing a variety of different holidays and symbols within a lesson. There is also the way in which educators can invite guest speakers of different religious groups that can speak in respect to their religious beliefs. This allows for a better representation of the religious group, since the information is coming from someone directly involved within the group. Also, Whittaker, Salend, and Elhoweris write that educators can “address issues that affect school performance” (308), such as an absence or missed assignment due to religion, or by involving the children’s family, in order to understand their religion, and the way it affects the child within an educational environment. Lastly, they write that it is important for educators to “[deal] with insensitive and intolerant acts” (Whittaker, Salend, and Elhoweris 309). This is in how other people may purposefully act negatively towards someone because of their religious