The Religious Literacy and Cultural bus tour was absolutely amazing! Prior to the start of this course if I had to give myself a score from 1-10 on my religious literacy, I would probably have given myself a 6. By the end of Day 1 though I would have probably changed my pretest score to a 2. Wow! You don't know what you don't know until you know it, right?
What I had hoped to gain by taking this course is that I would become more knowledgeable about various religions, their history, traditions, etc. so that when people engage in hate or discriminate because someone has a different religion, I can use that knowledge to stop it. I think people often fear what they don't know which results in hatred and discrimination. In my opinion, knowledge is the key to stopping that. I feel like I have a much better understanding of Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Islam than I did prior to taking this course. Of course, I could spend years learning about each and still not know it all but I certainly have a better idea than I did. The opportunities to listen to students of the various faiths, going to the various places of worship and of course meeting with those of different faiths were probably the most powerful and helpful to me.
One of my favorite phrases taken from Brene Brown is to "dare greatly". While I can only speak for myself, I think all of this on this bus tour probably had multiple opportunities to "dare greatly". I know I had to allow myself to be vulnerable in order to ask some of the questions of those of other faiths. At the mosque, I was particularly worried that my question asking for an explanation on "why the women and men are separated during prayer service?" would be misunderstood. I also dared greatly by trying many different foods, accepting the flame in one of the Hindu temples, accepting that I along with the other women were asked to sit in the back while the men were invited to the front, at one of the Hindu temples, attempting to meditate at the Buddhist meditation center, going barefoot in many of these places of worship...what can I say, I'm a germaphobe, lol. There were times that it may have been easier to just allow myself to be fearful and decline these experiences. But declining these experiences would have allowed me to stay in the fear rather than to be vulnerable and to learn. Fear often leads to ignorance, intolerance, hatred, etc. I'm pretty proud of myself for "daring greatly" throughout this week so that I could let go of the fear.
So did I answer my essential question? Yes and no. I think now that when negative comments are made about people of different cultures or religions, I will be much more likely to know how to respond in order to educate them about their ignorance. The next time I overhear someone making fun of a Sikh wearing a turban, a Muslim woman wearing a hi jab, someone making false claims about Islam or Jewish beliefs, etc. I will have more knowledge to correct their false statements. As I've said, I firmly believe that many of our differences shouldn't be feared but rather understood. If I want to stop hate and the discrimination, I will need to continue to "dare greatly". But... I am only one. While one is certainly better than none, we need more people to stand up to hatred and discrimination. In order to do that more people need to be educated on various religions. If fear is what breeds hate and discrimination than learning about other religions should be a requirement of all of our citizens.
It's exciting to hear that more high schools are offering comparative religions courses as electives but I'm hopeful that some day this will be a requirement. In the meantime, I will continue on this religious literacy journey. I will accept invitations from others to attend their churches, not necessarily to practice a new religion but to continue to understand others and their beliefs, behaviors, and their community. If the Religious Literacy Bus Tour 2.0 is offered next year, I will certainly take that as well.
As an educator, I now have a much better understanding of the various religious holidays and will certainly be more understanding when my students miss or come to school tired. I can support students in finding a space to pray or "just be" during their lunch period when fasting. I will certainly look for more literature that involves characters of different faiths as an avenue to educate students about various religions and their customs. One additional thought I've had is to find ways to integrate religious and cultural literacy into our SEL curriculum as this could be easily integrated into understanding others differences, empathy, respect, etc.
Thank you Seth Brady for offering such an amazing opportunity to us! While I'm pretty sure my family and friends may want me to stop talking about it, I just can't. This experience changed me in a wonderful way. Thank you!
Becky
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