Imaginative engagement with religious diversity in public school classrooms

Helping students learn how to engage thoughtfully with religious diversity is a vital component of democratic citizenship. This article argues for the importance of such a curriculum and considers the challenges and potential inherent in fosterling "imaginative engagement" with religion in public school classrooms. It first explores conceptual issues such as our capacity for empathic understanding and whether it is appropriate to use students as sources of "insider under-standing" of religious perspectives. It then evaluates three common curricular choices for stirring the ethical imagination in students: role plays, field experiences, and the use of art and literature.