Spiritual and Religious Diversity

What is Spirituality and Religion in Higher Education?

Spirituality and religion are complex and expansive topics that warrant careful consideration in North American college campuses. College and university students attend classes not just with Catholics, Jews, and Protestants (and many kinds of secular individuals), but with Muslims, Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Wiccans, Sikhs, and members of other religious communities and sub-communities (Jacobsen, 2012, p. 7). Moreover, an increasing number of people are putting together their own unique combinations of religious ideas, practices, experiences, and core values from religious and nonreligious sources (Jacobsen, 2012, p. 7).

Recognizing spiritual, secular and religious diversity in Higher Education facilitates positive, meaningful relationships with people from different backgrounds and increases appreciative knowledge of other traditions (IFYC, 2020). It is not a matter of imposing faith or morality on anyone. It is, rather, a matter of responding intelligently to the questions of life that students and faculty find themselves necessarily asking as they try to make sense of themselves and the world in an era of ever-increasing social, intellectual, and religious complexity (Jacobson, 2021, p. 30).

Definitions

• 

  Spirituality

  the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things

  (adapted from Oxford Learner’s Dictionary)

• 

  Secularism

  the principle of separation of the state from religious institutions

  (adapted from Oxford Learner’s Dictionary)

• 

  Religion

  one of the systems of faith that are based on the belief in the existence of a particular god or gods, or in the teachings of a spiritual leader 

  (adapted from Oxford Learner’s Dictionary)

• 

  Religious Literacy

  the knowledge of, and ability to understand, religion. The importance of being religiously literate is increasing as globalization has created greater links and migration between societies of different faiths and cultures (Moore, 2007).

• 

  Interfaith Etiquette

  the appropriate ways to interact with members of different religions. Proper religious etiquette is necessary for both interpersonal relations and institutional structures; it requires comprehension of differences and then making appropriate adjustments in behavior (Jacobsen, 2012, p. 75)

Classroom Practices

• 

  Understanding that there is a difference between teaching about religion and actively considering the spiritual, secular, and religious identities that our students bring into the classroom.

• 

  Framing questions in such a way that students begin to think about

  • An increasingly multifaith world (religious literacy and interfaith etiquette),
  • Truth and values in the public domain (framing knowledge and civic engagement),
  • Personal identity and purpose - convictions, character, and vocation (Jacobsen, 2012, p. 156).
• 

  Whether religious, secular, spiritual (or something else), teaching to the whole person means framing material in such a way that it—at times—gets at “things that really matter” and how these deeper concerns of life relate to the more practical skills and knowledge that colleges and universities also convey to students (Jacobsen, 2012, p. 156).

• 

  Challenging student assumptions while also being open and honest about yours, so that “students cultivate the kind of intellectual empathy they need to take seriously the views of ‘others’”(Lelwica, 2018, p. 1).

• 

  Highlighting diversity across religious traditions, but also within and among traditions, including making mindful and informed scheduling decisions in consultation with an interfaith calendar. 

• 

  Cultivating respect of and accommodation for diverse religious identities (Patel, Bringman & Silverman, 2015, pp. 1-9)

• 

  Inviting interfaith texts into your curriculum, texts that present a variety of religious viewpoints.

• 

  Taking great care in calling on a student (or even allowing a student to volunteer) to "represent" their religion in a class session or project; just because the student identifies with a religion does not mean that the student is comfortable or adept in speaking for an entire group. Turning to students of specifically minority religions to update the class on specific traditions can also send a tacit message that the religion is too "novel or misunderstood" for the professor to know about or present on. 

Websites

• Tanenbaum Combating Religious Prejudice
• Interfaith Youth Core
• Anti-Defamation League
• NASPA Spirituality and Religion in Higher Education
• Harvard Religious Literacy Project

• References

  Castelli, M. (2012). Faith dialogue as a pedagogy for a post secular religious education. Journal of Beliefs & Values, 33(2), 207-216.

  Court, D., & Seymour, J. L. (2015). What Might Meaningful Interfaith Education Look Like? Exploring Politics, Principles, and Pedagogy. Religious Education, 110(5), 517-533.

  IFYC, Best practices for interfaith learning and development in the first year of college. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.ifyc.org/resources/best-practices-interfaith-learning-and-development-first-year-college

  Jacobsen, R. H., Jacobsen, D. (2012). No Longer Invisible: Religion in University Education. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  Lelwica, M. (2008). Religious diversity: Challenges and opportunities in the college classroom. Diversity & Democracy, 11(1), 1-5.

  Moore, D. (2007). Overcoming Religious Illiteracy: A Cultural Studies Approach to the Study of Religion in Secondary Education. Springer.

  Patel, E., Baxter, K. B., & Silverman, N. (2015). Leadership Practices for Interfaith Excellence in Higher Education. Liberal Education, 101, n1-9.

  Whittaker, C. R., Salend, S., & Elhoweris, H. (2009). Religious diversity in schools: Addressing the issues. Intervention in school and clinic, 44(5), 314-319.