Public schools should make religious education a mandatory part of the curriculum, a leading Canadian educator says.
Romulo Magsino, former dean of education at the University of Manitoba, said the legal concerns and fears of indoctrination that pushed religion out of the classroom in the first place were unwarranted, and cultural diversity, rather than being used as a reason for not teaching religion, "imposes an obligation on school systems to truly educate."
The intolerance following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington last September "points to a failure of societal and educational institutions to ensure the development of individual citizens to live up to expectations in a democratic society," he said.
Dr. Magsino made the remarks at a major academic conference in Toronto, in a paper titled, Dare Public Schools Develop Religion-Conscious Students?
The controversial talk was part of an event that brings together thousands of academics from across Canada and elsewhere for a week of delivering papers and sharing research. The annual event, formerly called The Learneds, is now known as the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities.
Dr. Magsino said it is lamentable that 90% of Canadian students attend public schools without being required to study religion.
"What's happened is we don't want the public-school system to be messed up with all the rumblings of different churches, so we set religion aside," he said.
He also said Canadian schools have misinterpreted court rulings that suggest the Charter of Rights and Freedoms prohibits schools from teaching religion because it violates freedom and equality rights.
Both responses are an overreaction, he argued, and show a basic misunderstanding of the purpose of religious instruction, which he said is not to indoctrinate children, but to instruct them in the values, attitudes and beliefs of others.
Learning about religion can help children develop such virtues as tolerance, an ability to engage in public discourse and a disposition to respect the rights of others, he said.
"[Religion] remains one vital force that, in the development of civilization, has exerted a humanizing influence through its vision of human beings as creatures who are deserving of respect and infused with dignity," Dr. Magsino writes.
Since religion has been an important institution in Canada, he argues, educators need to seriously consider his proposal that public schools include religion in their curricula.
Dr. Magsino's views have been echoed by other public educators across the country who support teaching religion in the name of respect and tolerance. "We believe that little Catholic kids should rub shoulders with little Protestant kids, who should rub shoulders with little Muslim kids, who should rub shoulders with little Jewish kids within a public system that is inclusive," Dave King, a former Alberta minister of education, told an interviewer in 2001.
Many parents have also expressed support for religious education. A September, 2001, National Post/Global poll showed 86% of respondents, regardless of their faith, felt public schools should offer courses encouraging respect among different religious groups. A strong majority also wanted history classes on the evolution of religions, and half wanted public schools to offer courses on the Bible and on the basic principles of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism.
But as Dr. Magsino suggests, the debate is often cut short by fears that religious education means religious indoctrination.
Unless public schools address religious intolerance, including attacks on Muslims in Canadian cities in the wake of Sept. 11, they will fail in their mandate "to develop informed and tolerant citizens who can dispassionately analyze human events and relate to religious people in a fair and understanding manner."