By Ken Camp
Many Christian public school teachers see their vocation as more than a job. They view it as a divine calling. But some wrestle with how to follow Christ without stepping out of bounds.
Teachers should start by keeping in mind, and in balance, the two key clauses about religion in the First Amendment-“establishment” and “free exercise,” said Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C.
The establishment clause forbids government-sponsored speech endorsing religion, but the free-exercise clause protects private speech endorsing religion, he explained.
As they talk with students in tax-supported schools who are required to be in their classrooms, schoolteachers cannot use their position to promote their faith. But outside the classroom, they don't give up their individual free-exercise rights, he noted.
Walker pointed to a guide recently produced by his agency that states: “As representatives of the government, teachers and administrators must remain neutral toward religion while carrying out their duties. For example, teachers do not have the right to pray with or in front of their students during the school day. They do, however, maintain their free-exercise rights outside the school setting and in situations where it is obvious they are acting in their individual capacities, such as praying and participating in Bible study in the teachers' lounge or at the lunch table.”
The Baptist Joint Committee-along with organizations including the National Education Association, the American Jewish Congress, the Christian Legal Society and the National Association of Evangelicals- endorsed two booklets produced by the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University-The Bible & Public Schools and A Teacher's Guide to Religion in the Public Schools.
Among other answers, the booklets offer a consensus approach to dealing with religion in public schools. That approach is expressed more fully in Finding Common Ground, a comprehensive guidebook about religion and public education, produced by the First Amendment Center.
In summary, a school may:
• Approach religion in an academic, but not a devotional, manner.
• Strive for student awareness of religions, but it should not press for student acceptance of any particular religion.
• Sponsor study about religion, but it may not sponsor the practice of religion.
• Expose students to a diversity of religious views, but it may not impose, discourage or encourage any particular view.
• Educate about all religions, but it may not promote or denigrate any religion.
• Inform students about various beliefs, but it should not seek to conform students to any particular religious belief.
The responsibility of serving as a role model figures prominently in the thinking of many Christian students preparing for careers in public education, said Perry Glanzer, assistant professor at Baylor University's School of Education.
Glanzer surveyed 60 future teachers regarding how they expected to live out their Christian commitment in public schools.
“Many of them anticipated fulfilling their calling by having a positive influence on the moral character of students,” he said.
One student wrote, “I hope my students will learn honesty and integrity from my actions and mannerisms.” Another future teacher responded: “My faith will influence the way I act in the classroom-how I present information and my behavior towards my students. … I want the joy of my spiritual life to flow into the everyday activities in my classroom.”
Glanzer believes Christian teachers can be positive influences through their moral example, teaching methods and interactions with students, but he wants education students to move beyond that in their thinking.
“While these are certainly important and legal ways to integrate one's Christianity into the classroom, I also think Christian teachers should also have a passion for learning and for truth,” he said. “They should care about ideas and the consequences true or false, good or bad ideas have upon children and adults. They should also help older students understand the worldviews behind different perspectives.”
Christian teachers can teach commonly-agreed-upon moral virtues and values such as forgiveness, compassion, honesty and responsibility, he said.
“I also challenge future Christian teachers to be known for their fairness and justice in dealing with the whole range of students in the classroom,” he said. “One of the ways that they can do this is to make sure and accurately portray all religions and showing justice or fairness to all sides in various controversial arguments.”
Christian teachers have a responsibility to make sure religion is not excluded from academic discussions when it should be appropriately included, he added.
“Christians teachers can help provide balance in the curriculum,” he said. “They should allow and even encourage assignments or discussions that incorporate the religious dimension of life. Their curricular choices should also make sure to include the religious dimension.”
The balancing act may be tricky, but stakes are too high for teachers to take their jobs lightly, he noted.
“Being a Christian public school teacher is a unique calling with a high level of responsibility,” he said.
“It is different than other vocations because you're working with children made in God's image. You can enhance and develop that image to make children more like Christ, or you can tarnish it and wound it. You also have the chance to learn from the children, who have so much to teach us.”
Associated Baptist Press
Ken Camp is managing editor of the Baptist Standard of Texas.