Toolkit for "A Matter of Life and Death"

Introduction

In the feature story “A Matter of Life and Death,” religion experts Benjamin Marcus and Murali Balaji discuss some of the key questions surrounding the issue of religious liberty and how to teach about it.

This toolkit offers resources that can help educators dive deeper into this topic and suggestions for how to bring discussions about religion into their classrooms safely and legally.

Essential Questions

• Why is understanding religious liberty important in a democracy?
• What role should schools play in helping students explore religious diversity?

Resources

A Teacher's Guide to Religion in the Public Schools

This short guide, published by The First Amendment Center, offers answers to educators’ most commonly asked questions about: teaching about religion; communicating their personal beliefs; and students’ religious expression.

The First Amendment in Schools

This book, also published by The First Amendment Center, takes a close look at the First Amendment rights of educators and students and applies a constitutional lens to topics such as: prayer in schools; teaching about religion; observance of holidays; and accommodating the needs of observant students in public school settings, among others.

Religious Diversity in the Classroom

Created through a partnership between Teaching Tolerance and the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, this five-part series and accompanying resources examine how awareness of religious diversity affects global citizenship and how teaching about religion across grade levels and subject areas can help meet academic standards.

“In Good Faith”

This feature story from Teaching Tolerance magazine offers a compelling argument for why teaching world religion is good for students, schools and society.

“Religion versus Equality?”

This feature story from Teaching Tolerance magazine explains how the tension between religious refusal laws and LGBT rights poses a classic social studies dilemma.

Teaching Tolerance lessons on religion and religious diversity

Whether you teach early grades or high schoolers, our topical lesson bank has something for everyone.