What I learned in spite of Sunday school

Having grown up with a rather haphazard and eclectic immersion into religion (yes, I was baptized several times), the question most often on my mind as a child was whether I would burn in a cauldron of fiery brimstone or know that my weekly penitence was the key to the door of eternal bliss. The final product of these liberal doses of Southern Baptist, Pentecostal, Moravian, Lutheran and Catholic dogma was a very spiritual challenged person, but one with a tremendous curiosity how one book, The Bible, could produce so many different and often conflicting interpretations. One thing was for sure though; this Bible was one powerful and compelling piece of literature and was far more interesting than My Weekly Reader. Later in college, struggling to find easy (thus passable with minimum effort) courses I stumbled on something called “World Religions”. Here I not only rediscovered the Bible, but also discovered the Hebrew Bible, The Qur’an and the collection of writings of the Buddha’s teachings, and the powerful influence they had on peoples lives. Much to my surprise, I actually learned some valuable lessons that have served me well in life.

In today’s increasingly polarized and intolerant society maybe it might be worthwhile to consider teaching the world’s great religions, and a reading of the great books and writings these are based on, as a required subject in the primary school system. Think what a tremendous impact this might have on reducing the points of intolerance in our society today. That would of course mean that the teaching would have to be done from a secular pulpit, a condition that I fear would be pretty hard to sell to roughly 49% of our population-those aptly named “red states”, not to mention the obstacles that would need to be overcome in the more totalitarian and monotheistic school boards that exist in parts of the nation, but consider the implications.

The Bible, the Qur'an, Buddha's teachings are all indeed a great works of literature. All of these classics surprisingly share a universal code of morality and ethical guidelines. Stripped of any particular dogma, this sage advice might indeed lead in some small way toward lessening intolerance, bigotry and racism so rampant now wherever we look. At the same time, in a country such as ours where 50% or more of the population thinks Singapore is part of China, the implications for broadening understanding of geography are compelling as well. Even the teaching of science, mathematics, health and business might benefit from this change in curriculum. The only risk is can this be accomplished without the introduction of bias toward a particular dogma or faith, but this is a risk that is worth taking I believe, for the common good.

Perhaps the great American humorist and author Mark Twain sums this up best with these words, “All schools, all colleges, have two great functions: to confer, and to conceal, valuable knowledge. The theological knowledge which they conceal cannot justly be regarded as less valuable than that which they reveal. That is, when a man is buying a basket of strawberries it can profit him to know that the bottom half of it is rotten.” At least by putting that basket on display for all to see, it is easier to find the rotten ones.