Salili, Farideh & Hoosain, Rumjahn. (Eds.) (2006). Religion in Multicultural Education. Reviewed by Zoë Burkholder, New York University

Salili, Farideh & Hoosain, Rumjahn. (Eds.) (2006). Religion in Multicultural Education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing Inc. Pp. vii + 282         ISBN 1-59311-489-3 Reviewed by Zoë Burkholder New York University June 20, 2007 Religion in Multicultural Education, an edited volume by Farideh Salili and Rumhahn Hoosain, argues that we should substantially alter existing programs of multicultural education to include a critical analysis of the role of religion in constructing individual identity, group solidarity, and power relations in a global, capitalist context. Citing the escalation of violence by religious extremists such as 9/11, Salili and Hoosain make a compelling argument that young students must be taught to understand and respect religious diversity well beyond the boundaries of their everyday experience. Especially in the United States with its uneasy relationship between the separation of church and state in public education, the editors point out that even the best programs of multicultural education typically shy away from meaningful discussions concerning the role of religion in everyday life and structural inequalities. Therefore, this book is designed to introduce readers to a variety of perspectives on the value of teaching about religion as well as teaching to students of various religious backgrounds. Drawing from multiple disciplinary perspectives and a rich variety of American and international case studies, this book considers how schools could implement programs designed to promote religious tolerance while also checking the power of religious majority groups, what one contributor describes as “Christian privilege.” Reflecting the editors’ belief that “discussion of religion in multicultural education should be multifaceted and at multiple levels ” (p. 7), this book offers a broad and at times conflicting collection of essays promoting a more inclusive form of multicultural education for the twenty-first century. Overall, this text is an incredibly important contribution to the field of multicultural education, in part because the diversity of articles here offers readers multiple ways to think about how religious multiculturalism looks in practice, why this is a worthwhile project, and what such programs might ultimately hope to accomplish. Because many of the essays are written by educators working directly with religious communities, they provide valuable insight into the specific challenges that arise when teachers begin to talk about religion in schools. We learn that some parents, for example, fear that a discussion of religion in public schools might undermine their children’s own religious faith. In contrast, most of the authors here present examples where learning about a variety of religious practices, histories, and communities only strengthens students’ “multicultural literacy” and deepens their appreciation of cultural diversity (p. 4). Despite the fact that the authors agree on the inherent value of including religion as a key aspect of multicultural education, the authors diverge in interesting ways when they begin to discuss how this should be accomplished. H. S. Wilson, a presbyter of the Church of South India and a professor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, promotes a curriculum of “religious pluralism” that investigates how all major world religions—in this case Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Sikhism—practice some version of the “golden rule.” Wilson contends that inter-religious dialogs demonstrate “that the attitude of well-being toward the other as a fellow human being regardless of that person’s ethnicity, race, color, caste, gender, and even religion is enshrined in all major world religions” (p. 13). This chapter includes brief but precise ways that each of these religions promote tolerance for differences, providing readers with enough information to generate their own lesson plans for classroom use. While comparisons of similarities in various religions might arguably serve as a useful introductory exercise for students, it is unclear how this might work in practice or where the discussion should continue from here. At times it seems strained to focus so intently on this idealistic value of the “golden rule,” especially with so much media attention focused on violent acts of terrorism by Muslims, surely an issue American students would be attuned to. In contrast to Wilson’s idealistic vision of religious multiculturalism, Cesar Rossatto and Elaine Hampton argue that what major world religions have in common is not their love and respect for all humanity, but rather a common tendency to “induce fear of the Other to promote their own faith” (p. 121). Moreover, Rossatto and Hampton contend that most religions are patriarchal and perpetuate injustice against women. Drawing on their experience working in communities along the United States-Mexican border, the authors show the various ways white Christians in the United States justify their economic wealth, comfort, and privileges in terms of favoritism from God. Even such simple slogans as “God Bless Our Country,” argue Rossatto and Hampton, set up a dichotomy that implicitly labels the poorer, humble dwellings visible across the border as “unblessed by God” (p. 126). This separatist, exclusionary mentality justifies white supremacy and ignorance of the Other, which quickly degenerates into exclusion, misunderstanding, and eventually sanctioned violence against minority individuals. In this case, the authors draw on critical theorists like Paolo Freire to counter “right-wing conservative rhetoric” with “a new ethical philosophy of solidarity that fosters critical consciousness, social justice, and inclusion” (p. 134). As the authors concede, such a revised philosophy of education must begin with the difficult task of educating teachers, many of whom are themselves untrained in critical theory, feminist theory, and white/Christian privilege. Yet, Rossatto and Hampton cite examples of how and where this pedagogical transformation has worked, such as the grassroots movement of liberation theology in Brazil and the more immediate examples of social studies classrooms in the border communities of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas. Other valuable essays in this collection include Michael Merry’s analysis of Muslim schools in Western nations, where he examines tensions between the Muslim philosophy of education and the conflicting needs of parents, teachers, and administrators to socialize young Muslim students for functional and successful roles in Western societies. Kimberly Franklin and Harro Van Brummelen study religious diversity in Western Canada, where they contend religious pluralism is a less contentious issue for teachers than it is in the United States. In another chapter, Gerald Fry’s invokes his personal experience living and studying in Thailand to argue that educational contact with people from diverse religious backgrounds helps break down stereotypes and promote understanding between people. The five remaining chapters consider various tensions and problems that exist for American educators trying to institute religious tolerance and/or undermine Christian privilege. The final chapter by Barbara K. Curry and Neil O. Houser serves as a kind of conclusion to the volume, and argues that we must revive “moderate secularism” as a language of possibility for addressing religion in public education in the United States. Curry and Houser call for “substantive religious inquiry” as a defining feature of American education, augmented by what they delineate as “plurality, equality, inquiry, and authenticity” (p. 271). Religion in Multicultural Education offers an excellent introduction for teachers and students of education who want to expand their understanding of multicultural and antiracist education by including the incredibly complicated, yet essential, subject of religious difference. Because of the breadth of topics covered in this edited collection, readers may have trouble identifying overarching themes that tie the book together as a whole. It is perhaps best read and understood as a collection of distinct essays that speak to the same subject, but that draw on vastly different subject matter and methodologies to make their case for including religious studies as a serious mode of inquiry in American schools. The only major shortcoming to this book is that it is missing a critical historical perspective on the role of religion in American education. While a few authors reference the legacy of religious debates in American schools, and one even offers a brief history of this subject, none of the authors seem to recognize that far from being an institution where religion has always been strictly separated from public schools, American schools are the product of decades of battles and compromises between feuding citizens of very different religious backgrounds. James Fraser (1999), for example, views the history of public education in America as a series of wars between majority and minority religious groups struggling to assert their power and authority. Similarly, Jonathan Zimmerman (2002) shows that the current “culture war” that pits conservative Christians against a mainstream majority is not new to American society, but can be located in a long history of battles over contentious issues like school prayer, bible reading, and teaching evolution that stretch back into the early nineteenth century. This historical perspective challenges what the authors here claim is the new and special urgency of the need to teach about religion in public schools. Therefore, these authors also seem unaware of the many attempts by both religious and secular groups to insert a more comprehensive study of religion into public education in America. World War II and the Holocaust provided an especially important context for teaching religious tolerance in the United States, and the National Council of Christians and Jews even sponsored traveling public lectures for schools where a Jewish rabbi, a Protestant minister, and a Catholic priest spoke to students on the importance of the golden rule and respecting the religious differences and freedoms inherent in democratic societies. As a final note, I think we should be wary of contextualizing religious multicultural education as primarily a response to modern terrorism, or more specifically to 9/11. While this rhetorical move no doubt attracts interest for the study of religion as a necessary component of multicultural education, it also has the potential to blind teachers and students to the larger picture of the value of studying religion as a potent and meaningful form of diversity. Furthermore, as happened in the aftermath of World War II, posing tolerance education as a direct response to a specific wartime need creates the illusion that once that specific problem has passed, so too has the need for education for religious tolerance. It is clear that Americans must be taught more about the power of organized religion as a personal, moral, political, and social power. Religion in Multicultural Education not only makes this point explicit, but offers a rich collection of perspectives on the subject for interested scholars of education. References Fraser, J. W. (1999). Between Church and State: Religion and Education in a Multicultural America. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Zimmerman, J. (2002). WhoseAmerica? Culture Wars in the Public Schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. About the Reviewer Zoë Burkholder is a historian of education at New York University and a Spencer Dissertation Fellow for Research Relating to Education. She is currently completing her dissertation “With Science as His Shield”: Teaching Race and Culture in American Public Schools, 1900-1954, a critical history of antiracist education and the cultural construction of difference in American public schools. She can be contacted at zoeburk@hotmail.com.