In the world of public education, the debate of whether or not religion can legally be addressed within the walls of a state-funded institution is ongoing. While elementary and secondary school teachers are all but forbidden to address the topic of religion in class, many professors of public universities not only mention it, but endorse their own beliefs.

For Grand Valley State University freshman Caitlin Shannahan, the idea of religion in the classroom was somewhat of a foreign concept.

“I never really had much exposure to religion in high school, so I think subconsciously I just expected it to be the same for college,” Shannahan said. “For the most part in high school, aside from making connections to certain time periods and events in history, religion was not really covered. In some classes, such as my AP English class, we were able to discuss allusions to religious writings and express our points of view, however, the teachers would mainly stay out of the conversation.”

However, Shannahan said college is different.

“I think professors have more freedom in the classroom when it comes to breaching the topic of religion partially because, as adults, students are able to acknowledge the fact that everyone has different points of view, and it’s an inevitable fact of life,” Shannahan said. “The topic of religion is also crucial in understanding several topics taught in college, so I definitely think professors have more liberty when it comes to discussing religion.”

Bart Merkle, GVSU dean of students, said faculty members at GVSU have the freedom to teach their courses the way they want to teach them as long as the material is relevant. If discussing religion, faculty members must have a clear connection to the context of the course, he said.

GVSU administrators said few complaints have been brought to their attention regarding religion in the classroom. However, some misunderstandings have arisen.

“Recently, and in almost eight years here, formal complaints are surprisingly few,” said Frederick Antczak, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Mostly they have traced back to a comment that was intended one way and understood another.”

Shannahan said she has never felt as though a professor has intentionally pushed his or her beliefs upon her in any way. However, other students may not have had the same experience with the topic of religion in the class.

“I suspect most of the cases where people have felt ill at ease get worked out in conversation between student and teacher,” Antczak said. “A student should always feel free to raise the issue with their teacher if she or he feels as if the class is pushing them toward a particular religion or belief. It’s probably one of those miscommunications and is likely to get worked out by more conversation.”

Shannahan said she feels as though the discussion of religion in the college classroom is overall beneficial to a college education.

“In college, I feel as though we’re intentionally educated about other religions and belief systems as to help cut down on ignorance towards others,” Shannahan said. “I find this extremely important because the only way to fight ignorance is with education.”

She said she also believes that religion should never be “left out.” Shannahan added that it is a fact of life that the world has several different religious systems, but she said people will never understand one another or the history of mankind if the topic of religion is ignored.

“No class is about adopting a particular point of view so much as it is about understanding the arguments, forms of evidence, and kinds of proof that bear on the questions important to a given discipline,” Antczak said. “The topic of religion is incredibly rich and spacious, and can be explored in so many ways. I understand how difficult it can be when it feels as if one’s beliefs are being challenged. It may seem exactly like that when a religious point of view is examined from an anthropological perspective, or a historical one. Again, no one is compelled to emerge from any class with a particular set of religious or doctrinal beliefs. But in an increasingly religiously diverse public sphere, we are all better thinkers if we know about many religions from many points of view.”

The university offers religious studies courses which “can open a door for a different kind of conversation on religion than (if a student is taking) a civil war course,” Merkle said.

A religious studies major and minor is currently pending at GVSU, and a final decision will be made by the Board of Trustees this semester.

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