Rethinking religious education

Today, as I focus on the nonsecularism in our country, it is clear to me that a fundamental cause of it is our education system which polarises rather than unites

A teenager’s worldview... In writing this article, I’ve been cautioned against using the word “secular” too much, and while that seemed shocking to me, it seems to be reflective of Sri Lanka’s - and even the world’s - general ineptitude at word association, and how in increasingly dynamic and constantly changing societies, this has caused more problems than one would think. Secularism is, simply, the separation of ‘church’ and state, and yet, if one were to mention it in casual conversation or say, in an article in a national newspaper, there would be at least some outcry to the effect of “that’s stripping away our culture!” or “Sri Lanka is a religious country!” or “these Western ideas have no place in Asia!” - outcry which only reflects peoples’ limited understanding of secularism.

Today, as I focus on the non-secularism in our country, it is clear to me that a fundamental cause of it is our education system which polarises rather than unites. A relic of the missionary era, our system imposes religious education upon children while failing utterly to foster inter-religious understanding. It serves only to widen communal differences, and more cogently, also violates the right of freedom of religion granted to citizens by the Constitution.

I therefore posit that:

1. It is problematic that education is segregated both within and between schools.

2. Religion does not fit into a national education system’s mandates.

While proponents of the current system may argue that religion is THE means to teach values and morals to children, this just isn’t so. it is equally easy to simply teach them values and morals as a subject sans any enforced connection with religious belief. I wish to emphatically clarify that it is NOT religion that I question, but I do challenge the premise that many have taken for granted - that religion is the sole purveyor of moral development.

It‘s my earnest hope that this article may serve in some small measure at least, to undo the idea that religious categorisation is inherently superior to secular outlook - a commonly held misconception especially prevalent in Sri Lanka. Religious education is fundamentally different from any other subject, as religious texts are taught as incontrovertible truths, and cannot be held to any criteria of proof such as is de rigueur in other subjects as say, science or mathematics.

Even such subjects as economics allow for and thrive on methods of inquiry that lead one to a general understanding of the ‘Way Stuff Works’, while subjective matter like literature is centred around perception, and encourages, and therefore, requires students to interpret it through individual perspective. There are however no parallels within religion: no experiment to determine whether Deity is love, or if heaven truly exists. The teaching of religions in schools therefore is nothing but a mis-allocation of taxpayer funds for religious indoctrination, as children could just as easily get this education from their respective places of faith if they - or as is always the case, their parents - so choose.

HOW IS THE CURRENT SYSTEM DETRIMENTAL TO SOCIETY?

Firstly, it is compulsory for a child to learn their parents’ religion - and in the case of mixed faith families, the dominant parent’s religion - from the moment he/she enters school. Religion is not a genetic conveyance and should not be treated as such; and at 4 or 5 years old - which is when religious education begins - a child is far too young to make such a profoundly spiritual and impactful decision. While, the ‘inheritance’ of religious belief is a deeply entrenched societal issue that’s unlikely to change anytime soon, I’m convinced that the enforced teaching of segregated religion in schools is harmful for a multitude of reasons:

1. Religion is taught as facts to regurgitate at examinations, rather than with the objective of having it understood and identified with.

2. It is often a cause of conflict within mixed faith families.

3. Distinction between peoples in terms of caste, religion and race is drilled into young and impressionable minds, whereas commonalities are barely addressed.

4. Segregation results in an echo chamber of ideas which lead to a lack of understanding or empathy for people of other beliefs

The purpose of teaching religion - ostensibly to suffuse moral values and life lessons - is lost as a result of the first two reasons above while points 2 and 3 foster religious intolerance and misunderstanding. Secondly, enforced religious indoctrination violates our rights as granted to us in the Constitution. Freedom of religion should and must include freedom from religion as well, yet there’s no accommodation for nonbelievers, as religion is compulsory. Children are fed religious dogma and given no room to question or explore these ideas - and are more often than not shamed and harassed by teachers for even seeking to do so. They’re penalised for “not being religious enough”, thus perpetuating the wrong and harmful notion that religiosity equals automatic goodness, and the lack thereof somehow makes one a lesser being. Buddhism, for example, is dogmatised, taught as a religion - with all the cultural trappings attached to it - and not as a way of life it actually is. This is painfully ironic as the very premise of Buddhism (ehipassiko - simply, “come see for yourself”) is not blind belief, but rather the encouragement to question everything, and accept only through conviction. Since I can only speak of the way Buddhism is taught, I asked some of my peers for their thoughts on the way their religions are taught to them in school. Some said that students were shamed for not attending Sunday school, while others mentioned that sections of their holy books were being reinterpreted and even contorted, to suit teachers’ needs. Though such issues do indeed have more to do with individual teachers and institutions than the education system as a whole, they are also reflective of the harms that come about when it is indoctrination that occurs and not education. The solution to the issue of divisive and harmful religious education is to replace it with teaching all religions, ethics and morals through a new subject named ‘Religions and Worldviews’. The teaching of it would most definitely :

a) Help students understand, and thereby be better prepared to navigate, assimilate, and benefit from the increasingly multicultural world in which they live,

b) Prevent harmful stereotyping and misinformation about other’s religions, and ...

c) Engender greater intercultural understanding.

Wider empathetic understanding of (and not mere faith in) religions may become as powerful a driving force for many nations’, peoples’, and organisations’ actions as politics and money. The subject ‘Religions and Worldviews’ should not be exambased, and within it must be taught human rights, equality, humanism, and nondiscrimination. I’m completely convinced that the introduction of this subject would create a new generation capable of interacting with the world in a responsible, informed, and educated way. My proposed reformation of the education system is not a new one, and many Sri Lankans do support such a change as it makes so much social and practical sense. Yet it is disappointing that such calls for reformation will not come to fruition anytime soon.

Myopic and selfish motivations of those in charge of such reform, as well as the voter base they pander to, hinders such so-called “radical” yet progressive and necessary reform. I do hope though that these, the thoughts of a 17-yearold, may change the minds of a few, and one day, bring about meaningful change. Come that day, we will have a country united in its diversity and understanding of one another, rather than divided by it, and I am committed to seeing this growth through. This WILL be possible, as my generation is far more open and receptive to change and breaking from constructs created and imposed by generations past. Far fewer of us continue to subscribe to the notion that people need be categorised and labelled - a notion that has held humanity back for millennia.

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