Initially a collaboration between the Wabash Center and the AAR gathered more that 1800 syllabi in a wide variety of courses in religious and theological studies.
Religion & Education Collaborative: An interdisciplinary network of educators, students, and scholars who examine issues involving religion and education in the United States, Canada, and around the globe.
The Freedom Forum is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) foundation dedicated to fostering First Amendment freedoms for all. Freedom Forum offers resources and "a civic framework for teaching about religion".
In 2019, the AAR published guidelines outlining what every undergraduate student should know about religion. The guidelines were adopted by the AAR Board of Directors after three years of discussion and edits by a committee and advisory board. Diane L. Moore, Director of the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School, and Eugene V. Gallagher, Rosemary Park Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Connecticut College, led the effort, which was funded by a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.
The guidelines argue that some critical understanding about the ways in which religion shapes and is shaped by human behavior should be part of the general education of every person who receives an undergraduate degree. Designed to aid both faculty and administrators, the guidelines include suggested outcomes, frequently asked questions, and an outline of common approaches to teaching and learning about religion on college campuses, along with examples.
Teaching About Religion in K–12 Public Schools
The AAR has developed Guidelines for Teaching about Religions in K–12 Public Schools. The document discusses why teaching about religion is important, the distinction between a devotional approach and a non-devotional religious studies approach appropriate for public schools, how to teach about religion with a variety of approaches and pedagogical strategies, and the content and skill competencies required for teachers to teach about religion in intellectually sound ways.
Also see the recently revised guidelines from the Freedom Forum on Religion and Public Schools: First Amendment Guide.
Teaching Against Islamophobia
Given the cultural and political climate in 2017, the AAR partnered with the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning to provide a three-year workshop on Teaching against Islamophobia. The workshop provided participants the opportunity to:
- Explore the differences between teaching about Islam and teaching about Islamophobia.
- Deepen their knowledge of how Islamophobia functions as a form of racism and why this matters for how to create effective strategies for addressing Islamophobia in the classroom.
- Develop appropriate pedagogical strategies tailored to their specific teaching contexts (liberal arts college, state university, seminary, divinity school).
- Consider ways to develop courses on Islamophobia, to frame/reframe courses on Islam by creating awareness of Islamophobia’s impact on the study of Islam, and to enhance existing course modules with greater attention to Islamophobia.
- Cultivate awareness of the pedagogical challenges and opportunities for combating Islamophobia as engaged scholars outside of the classroom.
- Develop teaching projects that address these issues in their institutional contexts, and informally report back on progress and challenges during the pre-conference sessions at the AAR Annual Meetings in 2018 and 2019.
