For Educators Public schools may not teach religion, although teaching about religion in a secular context is permitted.1 The Bible may be taught in a school, but only for its historical, cultural or literary value and never in a devotional, celebratory or doctrinal manner, or in such a way that encourages acceptance of the Bible as a religious document.2
SPECIFIC ISSUES & QUESTIONS
What distinguishes "teaching religion" from "teaching about religion"?
Religion may be presented…
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For Educators | For Parents, Families, and Caregivers Most people love a celebration! Adults flutter around busily preparing for the festivities. Children are abuzz with excitement. Special foods are eaten, special heirlooms brought down from the shelf. Traditions are passed down from generation to generation. While children should have an opportunity to learn about and share information about the important holidays and celebrations in their lives, celebrating specific holidays in a school or…
GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School, Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Language, Speaking and Listening Commemorating National Hispanic Heritage Month
In commemoration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we present this resource to help teachers engage students in thinking broadly and critically about the Hispanic American experience in all of its complexity. In highlighting the significant events as well as people that have made a substantial contribution…
Jerusalem, July 27, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned passage in the Knesset of the “mikvah law,” which bars the ritual immersion of converts by non-Orthodox rabbis in public mikvahs (ritual baths), saying that it is using a state-funded facilities to discriminate. Immersion in the mikvah is the final step in the process of converting to Judaism. The law, initiated by MK Moshe Gafni, strives to override the Israeli Supreme Court…
New York, NY, July 14, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned the decision by Israel’s Supreme Rabbinical court to reject the authority of prominent New York Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein by invalidating his conversion of an American woman to Judaism. ADL called the court’s decision a “slap in the face” to American Jewry, including those who have chosen to join the Jewish people, and said it highlights just how extreme the Israeli…
New York, NY, July 5, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today joined a friend-of-the court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court defending a Missouri constitutional provision that provides broader separation of church and state than the U.S. Constitution.
In the case titled, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Parker, the State denied direct grants to houses of worship under this provision.
“The petitioner is seeking an unprecedented ruling from the Court that…
New York, NY, June 27, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today hailed the Supreme Court’s historic 5-3 decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which struck down a Texas anti-abortion law. The law, HB2, would have effectively barred many women, particularly women in poverty and women of color, from exercising their constitutional right to an abortion. “The court’s decision appropriately recognizes the real-life impact of HB2 on access to…
Urges Quick Resolution by Lower Courts Washington, D.C., May 16, 2015 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed disappointment with the U.S. Supreme Court’s sidestepping on the legality of the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate opt-out provision for religiously affiliated groups.
This provision both accommodates religiously affiliated employers and ensures their female employees have access to no-cost prescription contraception insurance coverage…
Says Town’s Rejection of Mosque Construction “Troubling” and “Simply Unacceptable” New York, NY, May 11, 2016 … The Interfaith Coalition on Mosques (ICOM) today joined a friend-of-the court brief filed on behalf of a coalition of civil rights and interfaith organizations in support of The Islamic Society of Basking Ridge (ISBR). Filed with a federal court in New Jersey, the brief asserts that the Township of Bernards discriminatorily denied the congregation…
Jerusalem, March 28, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, for stating that “non-Jews shouldn’t live in the land of Israel.” In a recording of Yosef’s weekly Saturday night lecture, the rabbi can be heard saying, “If our hand were firm, if we had the power to rule, then non-Jews must not live in Israel. But, our hand is not firm.” He added that the only reason non…
New York, NY, January 27, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a 103-year-old civil rights organization and world leader in the fight against anti-Semitism, and the European Jewish Congress (EJC), founded in 1986 to unite the various efforts of European Jewish communities, today announced a partnership to cooperate on advocacy work within European Union institutions.
The new partnership, announced yesterday at a meeting of the EJC’s General Assembly in Brussels, will…
New York, NY, January 12, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today strongly condemned the desecration of graves in a Catholic cemetery near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. Over the weekend, the Latin Patriarchate announced that dozens of crosses had been destroyed in the cemetery at the Beit Jamal Monastery."We join the Latin Patriarchate in calling for a thorough investigation into this incident, leading to the bringing to justice of the perpetrators," said Rabbi David…
New York, NY, January 7, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has joined with the National Women’s Law Center and 47 other organizations on an amicus brief in Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, highlighting the negative impact that Texas’s abortion restrictions have on women’s economic security and equal participation in social and economic life.
This case before the U.S. Supreme Court challenges parts of Texas’s H.B. 2, a law which imposes medically…
GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening Racial Discrimination and Safeguarding the Right to Vote In August 2015, we commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act which was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. The Voting Rights Act is landmark federal legislation that was enacted during the Civil Rights Movement and was intended to prevent racial discrimination in voting. Prior to that, even though Black…
Early Childhood Question Corner
Common themes appear in holidays and celebrations across many cultures. By connecting themes, as suggested in the Question Corner installment "How can I plan inclusive holiday celebrations?" you can show children that holidays and celebrations are an expression of cultural and religious pride, and help them understand the commonality of certain human feelings, celebrations and their meaning. For example, by trying the following activity, Looking…
Engage students in activities that get them to think broadly and critically about the Black experience in all of its complexity.
GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School, Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, History/Social Studies In commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, this curriculum for grades 3–12 provides grade-specific lessons, resources and extension activities to provide your students opportunities to examine civil rights in the United States past and present. The lessons provide an opportunity for students to delve deeper into Martin Luther King Jr…
For Educators | For Parents, Families, and Caregivers Winter is a festive time of year because so many holidays are celebrated by people from different religions, cultures and races. We spend time with family and friends, connect with our faith or culture, give and receive gifts and enjoy special foods and treats. However, this time of year—especially in schools and whether it's in-person, online or hybrid—can be a time where some children can feel uncomfortable, excluded, insulted…
Teach students about the history of discrimination and racism in the U.S., the struggle for civil rights and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Speaking and Listening, Language “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” These are the words of the landmark Supreme Court decision on May 17, 1954 that declared segregated schools unconstitutional. More than seventy years later, even though much progress has been made, there are…