HOW TO TEACH RELIGION
IN NORTH CAROLINA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

by Patrick Killough  [08/01/1997]


An earlier column pointed out that public schools are as much authorized to teach about religion as they are to teach about any other aspect of human experience. They simply may neither  attack nor promote religion.

Well, some have said, show us concretely how religion might be taught about in a state owned, state operated school without infringing on the
distinction between church and state.

Is a Textbook Available?

First, we need a textbook. I suggest we consider NORTH CAROLINA CHARTERS AND CONSTITUTIONS 1578-1698.  The edition I borrowed from Warren Wilson College library was edited by Mattie Erma Edwards Parker.  It was issued to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Charter or Letters Patent issued March 24, 1663 by King Charles II to the eight Lords Proprietors of Carolina.

Imagine a class of 11th graders asked to write research papers on any subject personally salient from among those historic texts: both royal grants and constitutions which fleshed out powers granted by the king.

Life after Death and Citizenship

Young Atticus Finch elects to write about belief in life after death as a
requirement of citizenship. He tells us  that none of the royal charters
are explicit on this point. He also records that the original or "John
Locke" text of THE FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONS OF CAROLINA  (Article 86) says only that 

"No man shall be permitted to be a Freeman of Carolina, or to have any Estate or habitation within it, that does not acknowledge a God, and that God is publicly and Solemnly to be worshipped."  
Atticus Finch notes that both the July 21, 1669 revision and the revision of March 1, 1670 left this article untouched.

The version of January 12, 1682 is what really launches his paper.  Article 94 of the Fundamental Constitutions says, 

"No Man shall be permitted to be a Freeman of Carolina, or to have any estate or habitation within it, that does not acknowledge a God, and that God is publicly and solemnly to be worshipped, and that there is a future being after this Life." 
Young Atticus proceeds with his research and takes his chances with his peers in a subsequent oral digest of his findings linking beliefs with 17th Century politics.

The Role of Churches in Colonial Carolina

In her eleventh grade project Miss Juliet Capulet looks into the nature of the "churches" or "associations" to which all versions of the FundamentalConstitutions require residents of Carolina to belong. She notes that each of these religious groups must agree on three basic points: 

  • there is a God, 
  • God is to be publicly worshipped and 
  • God may be invoked in legal processes as witnesses to the truth of what participants are saying, with wide latitude in the choice of outward signs. Juliet first discusses  Article 90of the July 21, 1669 constitutional text on this point: 

    • "whether it be by laying hands on and Kissing the Gospel, as in the Protestant and Papist Churches, or by holding up the hand, or any other Sensible way." 


She also points out that the great Roger Williams had been expelled  from Massachusetts Bay Colony over 50 years earlier for denouncing such  use of oaths in civil and criminal trials. 

Religious Tolerance

Finally, 15 year old Rhett Butler focuses his research on tolerance in the Carolinas.  He notes that the July 21, 1669 text, Article 87, says that you must not blame the native Americans for being "utterly Strangers to Christianity." And these Indians will meet immigrants who themselves have widely differing ideas about religion. All parties will, accordingly, expect and receive constitutional liberty on this point.  

 
"Therefore any Seven or more persons agreeing in any Religion shall constitute a church or profession, to which they shall give Some name to distinguish it from others." 
Rhett points out  that Article 91 says that after age 17 every
person who wants the protection of the law in Carolina must belong to such a church or profession. Both its name and his name are listed in publicly kept records. A member of one church may not disturb another religious assembly (Art. 93) Removing yourself from membership in a church is easy (Art. 96).  "No person shall use any reproachful, Reviling, or abusive language against the Religion of any Church or Profession, that being the certain way of disturbing the public peace (Art. 97).  Slaves, too (Art. 98) may join a church, though this does not exempt them (Art. 101) from the "absolute Authority" of their  master or mistress in non-religious matters.

Young Rhett then pursues the evolution of tolerance through later
constitutions, in actual practice of North and South Carolina, the impact of the later Anglican religious establishment,  the history of the  United States Constitution and on an on.

That is How To Teach Religion in Public Schools

That is but one way to teach North Carolina history in a public school.
This approach is neither sermon nor Sunday school. It is not persuasion for or against. But neither does this approach run in terror from religious facts and trends as from civic poison.  True, this way may make some students realize that man-made laws change and that what was law then as well as what is law now is not necessarily what a good law ought to be.

Would you mind your tax money being spent to fund such instruction?

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for Asheville TRIBUNE