I’m shocked that this hasn’t happened sooner, or that it’s considered a novelty rather than the norm:  USA Today brings us to a school district in California in which ninth grades are required to take a course on religious diversity and religions of the world.

More interesting is the suggestion that school districts around the country avoid this subject in order to avoid law suits. Slowly we are creating socialistic values instead the freedoms granted by our rights. It is a fact that the more freedom of religion and expression people are allowed, the more tolerant they become as a society and the more willing they are to embrace their religious freedoms.

Americans have never been in greater need of understanding religious differences and cultivating respect for religious freedom. The events of 9/11 transformed America’s relationship with Muslims at home and abroad, a surge in immigration from Asia and Africa has increased the nation’s religious diversity, and cultural conflicts between secularists and religious conservatives occur like clockwork.

So you might think the last thing school districts would want is to bring religion into the classroom. Better to play it safe, and avoid lawsuits and angry parents by limiting any mention of faith to the private sphere. But school officials in Modesto, in Northern California, decided not to play it safe. In 2000, the religiously diverse community took a risk and, in an almost unheard-of undertaking for a public school district, offered a required course on world religions and religious liberty for ninth-graders.

INDEX:Focus on faith

As college professors and social scientists studying religious freedom in the USA, we wanted to know more. Could greater discussion of religious differences actually deepen cultural divides? From October 2003 to January ‘05, we surveyed more than 400 Modesto students and conducted in-depth interviews with students, teachers, administrators and community leaders. We granted anonymity to students so they could speak freely, but we recorded the interviews. No prior study on American teens’ views on religious liberty has scientifically surveyed such a large number of students.

To our surprise, students’ respect for rights and liberties increased measurably after taking the course. Perhaps more important, the community has embraced the course as a vehicle for fostering understanding, not indoctrination.

Limiting deeply held beliefs to the private sphere breeds suspicion and tension. True religious liberty prevails not only when people feel comfortable expressing their beliefs, but also when they learn to discuss religious differences with civility and respect.