If you meet a religious leader on the road… and they tell you their congregation is shrinking… and youth enrollment is down… and you suggest they include an interfaith perspective in their religious school program, that leader will probably dismiss your suggestion without another thought. At least, this has been my experience. Why do so many clergy resist teaching interfaith perspectives to youth at a time when church/synagogue attendance is at an all-time low with nearly one in three Americans under age 35 identifying as spiritual but not religious? The clergy I have encountered typically give one or all of the following reasons:

1. If I teach other faiths to my students, it will weaken their faith in our religion.

2. If I teach other faiths to my students, they might not identify with our tribe’s religion.

3. If I teach other faiths to my students, there won’t be any time to teach what they need to know about their own tradition.

In my experience, these are not reasons based on facts, but imagined scenarios based on fear. Let’s take a closer look at what they are really saying and what we can do to help.

SCENARIO 1.

The argument that interfaith education will weaken a child’s faith in his/her own tradition assumes that this traditional faith is already in place. But that which can be weakened, must already be strong. And if it is strong, why worry? Let me back this up with a story. I once attended a Jewish service where a stranger was present. In the middle of the service, he was introduced: an Arab Muslim from Israel at a Jewish worship service in America. He shared that his ability to attend and enjoy the service was because he felt secure in his own faith. He was there to share about a successful program in Israel where  Muslim and Jewish children learned Arabic and Hebrew side by side.

So what is really being said here is not that interfaith perspectives will weaken existing faith, but that such faith is weak to begin with and thus needs to be strengthened or taught or inculcated before any “other” ideas are introduced. That sounds like… fear.

Where is this fear coming from?

It comes from a worldview that no longer serves us, one in which we must all be raised with loyalty to our tribes for the sake of group survival. While that worldview worked well with our respective histories, I don’t think it reflects the culture on evolution’s cusp that is emerging now. Today’s youth need a religious education that primes them for a world (even kosmo) -centric view that is more than tolerant, even inclusive of others.

Keeping interfaith instruction out of the religious school classroom does all of us a disservice. It impairs the ability of future generations to solve global problems in a multi-faith world. In the current climate in which politicians in the U.S., a beacon of freedom throughout the world, speak openly of excluding Muslims at our boundaries, one has to question what, if any, progress has been made since the era of excluding Jews from universities and country clubs. When there is open discussion of discriminating against people because they belong to a particular religious group, we have to conclude that a lack of interfaith awareness could be the real threat.

SCENARIO 2.

To the idea that teaching other religions alongside your own tradition will result in a child possibly converting to or liking and identifying with another religion, I have these three responses:

1. It’s highly unlikely. Unless a child finds a family they like better than their own and that family practices another religion, stop worrying. If they simply like another religion, that’s great. It shows they are interested in learning from religious teachings. As a youth leader, I found many ways to enrich my students’ understanding of Judaism through teaching and appreciating the beliefs and practices of other religions. Interfaith religious education is a great opportunity for learning what religions have in common and how each one has something unique and special to offer.
   
2. So what? If a child is attracted to another religion and wants to explore it, assist rather than desist. As a child I was personally attracted to Native American traditions and as an adolescent to Eastern philosophy. And I regret that I had no guidance to encourage further exposure with those traditions. I look back feeling that part of my global spiritual inheritance was cut off. Furthermore, I once attended an interfaith educators conference where we were asked to put our fears on the table. A young rabbi in training and father of a one year old admitted his biggest fear of interfaith was that his daughter would follow a different religion and he would not have his to share with her. I understand that fear. But to hold back from sharing the teachings of other faith traditions because of it, is not justified in a post-postmodern society. As a teacher, you can use these attractions to guide a student in his/her personal spiritual growth. And as a parent you can find new windows in developing your relationship with your child if you approach their interest with respect and curiosity. Isn’t that what faith development is about?
   
3. That may be exactly what we need right now. Again, this “traditional” worldview once served religious tribes well, but may no longer be evolutionarily appropriate. The purpose that religious identification provides, namely, protection, survival, continuity, need no longer be the driver of affiliation. It can and should be part of it, but may no longer need to be the primary motivation. Indeed, focusing strictly on religious identification could actually hold this generation of children back from participating in the emergence of a greater purpose, one that requires a larger and necessary global identification for our collective culture.

SCENARIO 3.

This scenario raises a practical concern. As a youth, I attended a synagogue’s Hebrew school every Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, plus services and youth group twice on Saturdays. Today, competing extra-curricular activities impinge on such programs. Even weekends are no longer sacred. Institutions that educate youth in a particular religion are indeed limited in time for instruction. But that does not mean an interfaith education is out of the question.

The truth is, when we don’t want to do something, we say we have no time. Not to include interfaith instruction in religious education for this reason is really just a polite way to excuse our lack of interest. If there was interest, teachers and religious school administrators would demonstrate ingenuity in creating time. I’m aware that the Conservative movement of Judaism already cut back on the number of instructional hours per week in its congregational schools. Yet, when I led an independent religious school, I was able to include interfaith perspectives alongside Jewish education in less than 1/3 of the time most synagogues schools devote to teaching youth. 

There will always be too much to learn. With the overload of information in every discipline, and instant access to all of it via the Internet, students will be better served if they learn how to learn. This way, material which cannot be taught in the allotted time and that does not require face to face experience such as interfaith often does, can be learned in other ways, at other times. It’s a question of priorities and creative design. The key is deciding what’s important to teach, and how, within the constraints of each religion’s school program. Instead of considering what’s important to learn in religious school and what can be learned later or independently when students express interest, I see the opposite trend. In Judaism, at least, the trend is towards immersion. More of the same. More quantity of time in Jewish environments to instill Jewish identity for the sake of Jewish continuity. But I don’t think that’s what’s needed now. The call now is for religious educators who can model curiosity, openness, and critical thinking through exploration of diverse religious traditions.

Integrating interfaith education in mono-faith institutions will be seen as necessary for achieving the goals of religious education in a post-postmodern age. How, then, can religious leaders overcome these three fears that get in the way?

1. Inhabit an open mind. Take the time to learn what interfaith education could look like when integrated within a religion’s traditional curriculum.
   
2. Adopt a long view. Realize that what was true yesterday may not be true tomorrow. Anticipate how the purpose of religious education may be changing as our world changes and design lessons accordingly. 
   
3. Pilot an interfaith program. Consider integrating interfaith lessons into the curriculum of one class for one year and see what happens. My guess is that students (and their parents) will love it and will want more. 

And so, the next time you meet a religious leader on the road,…  have compassion for their fears and engage them on the topic of teaching interfaith perspectives to youth anyway. Maybe, just maybe, you can be part of helping them leave their fears on the side of the road, behind them.

Check out my Programs page for ideas on integrating interfaith and religion in an interspiritual age, or contact me for personal coaching, at laurenzinn@zinnhouse.com.