Religion Conversation

Talking about religion in a disrespectful way has been a problem in this class for at least the last year--4th and 5th grade. Some students think it started in 3rd grade. We had a wonderful conversation today connected to the Bill of Rights. This is what we decided:

• We have many different religions and beliefs in this class, and there are many more religions in the world. We must learn now to respect other religions.
• Many people prefer to keep their beliefs private. We MUST respect this.
• Although we probably believe that our religion is correct, we MUST respect other's beliefs and not put them down--not even with our expressions or body language.
• Our religion or our beliefs or our knowledge about our religion does not make us superior or inferior.
• We need to be very careful how we discuss these things. Comments like, "He doesn't celebrate anything!" or "You don't know anything about this!" are incorrect. We even need to approach the whole subject of religion and beliefs VERY carefully. A respectful person would never walk up to another and just say, "What is your religion?" We need to be delicate in our dealings.

Anyway, it was great. Thanks!