Matt, the Jewish father in an interfaith family with two young girls, shared with me this story:
His mother, the girls’ Jewish grandmother, asked if he would raise the girls Jewish. “Yes,” he said, “but it won’t look like the Jewish I was raised with, or the Jewish you, Mom, were raised with. It will look like the Jewish they will be raised with.”
Now more than ever we need models for teaching religion to today’s youth in ways that lay the foundation for a new form of religious identity in a safe, loving, and just world. And I mean World. Education is no longer a singular ethnic communal concern. Today we must consider how we fit with others on our shared planet. How are we —the grown ups in the room— supposed to do that?
Religious and secular educators need good examples of lessons that work. Continue reading How to Teach Religion Today – Example: Purim
The joys and challenges of interfaith life are amplified in December —the most interfaith time of the year.
Fury
A BBC 2016 poll found that more people identify as “global” rather than “national” citizens. I believe this phenomena is evolutionarily appropriate for our times.
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