What should they know?

I haven't posted in a while, both because I have been busy (getting married a month ago--yay!) and because I haven't been thinking very many deep thoughts, outside of my own fearful lament that I don't know what to do with my life. The passion I felt in the months right after my Divinity School graduation, the drive to return for a Ph.D. in religion, has fizzled, killed by my feelings of annoyance with the egotystical and overly-competitive academic community. (Thank goodness I audited a class this term--it washed the rose-colored haze off of academia.) Not that I wouldn't still love to be a professor, to help mold young minds to think more critically about issues of religion and culture, but for the moment, at least, I am not willing to put up with the B.S. and constant feelings of inadequacy that I would have to endure to pursue a Ph.D.

I've contemplated pursuing higher degrees in history, rather than religion, taking classes in graphic design, starting my own papercrafting company, and looking for better jobs in the business world. I have days where there are glimmers of excitement around one or more of these ideas, while overall, I just feel blase about work in general, but one thing that sounds (possibly) more appealing than the rest, is teaching religion in high schools. This is constitutional, even in public schools, though public schools are more wary, for obvious reasons. (Some public schools do offer such electives, however.) Parochial schools, of course, offer religion classes of the sacred sort, sometimes to the exclusion of critical reflection on the subject. Independent private schools seem to be the major market for this service, so I think about marketing myself to such schools, but I worry--with no educational experience, and with a subject that many schools shy away from anyway--could anyone be convinced to hire me? Before I even tackle that challenge, though, the question I should really think about is: What would I teach high schoolers about religion? What should they know?

The overall goal of such education is to broaden students' understanding of the world around them, and to help them view and analyze religion as a cultural component like art, politics, entertainment, etc., only with even more power to affect human behavior than those other elements. Religion is, of course, also useful in history and english classes, when one understands the narratives, themes, worldview-shaping doctrines and collective memories of various religious groups. I would want to expose students to the religious texts and major doctrines and histories of the major world religions. We would discuss the major components of religion as a concept (sacred text, ritual, boundaries, etc.), and the differences between cults, sects, and religions. We would talk about the psychology and sociology of religion. The students could analyze data from religious polls, like I do in my current job, and watch for trends in religious perspectives and biases evident in the vocabulary of both survey and respondent. We could read books and view movies that have brought religion into mainstream culture, like Left Behind, The DaVinci Code, etc. We could look at the impact of religion in politics, particularly the last presidential election, and look at the use of religious rhetoric in political arguments. I would give them a paper assignment to analyze how religion affected an incident in history, or how it influences the sides of a political or social debate.

Yeah. That could be really great. Yes, it could challenge the faith of some students, and the comfort-level of their parents, but it would also open their minds, and make them more discerning individuals. It would show them that religion is relevant to practically every part of human existance, and is not something relegated to Sunday School or tiny enclaves of "religious fanatics" (as a classmate of mine in high school used to refer to anyone who was even mildly religious). Maybe I could build relationships with students and engage them in real dialogue. Maybe I could get them thinking in a way that could transform their entire lives. Maybe I could convince someone to give me that opportunity.