Between Church and State

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In a book that works better as history than as commentary (but attempts both), Fraser, a professor of history and education at Northeastern University, addresses the thorny relationship between religion and education in America. From Puritan times until recently, he demonstrates, Americans invited God into the classroom. But the terms of that invitation were never clear. Each colony organized its public schools around its own predominant faith, so nationhood brought a dilemma: Whose religion should be taught? The prominent Massachusetts educator Horace Mann offered a solution: use the Bible to inculcate a generic Unitarian faith. But this alienated other Protestants, not to mention freethinkers and Catholics. Later in the 19th century, the influx of Jews, Eastern European Catholics, African-Americans and Native Americans into public education made Mann's faith in a one-size-fits-all religiosity hopelessly na ve. Fraser goes to great lengths to show that even the simplest religious exercise, such as a start-of-the-schoolday prayer, could be unavoidably problematic for many faiths represented in America's classrooms. But while he acknowledges the "potential for cultural tyranny" by groups such as the Christian Coalition, he argues against the current style of purely secular public education and in favor of a "multicultural" approach in which all faiths would have a "place at the table." Fraser offers no specifics about the substance of such an approach, however. Nor does he explain how to avoid the divisiveness that nearly derailed religion-based public education in a less culturally diverse time, two centuries ago. (Aug.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Ordained minister and professor Fraser (history, Northeastern Univ.) has penned a vibrant account of the historic tension between American public schools and established religion. The root of the problem, he argues, is society's inability to define precise and predictable boundaries for allowing religious expressions in schools. To demonstrate this, Fraser traces education history from the 17th through the 20th centuries, pausing occasionally to examine some key turning points, including the arrival of Catholic and Jewish immigrants and the introduction of the theory of evolution to school curriculum. Instead of resolving this conflict, Fraser contends, over time we've forged an uneasy truce whereby public education is, for the most part, devoid of any religion at all. The result, he suggests, is intellectual and spiritual impoverishment. Fraser's work is best read for historical perspective; he proposes few concrete policy suggestions. Still, it is a lively and timely history. Recommended for most public libraries.--Steven Anderson, Gordon Feinblatt Rothman Hoffberger & Hollander, Towson, MD Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Fraser (history and education, Northeastern U.) examines the historical context of today's battles over religious versus secular education in the public schools, offering the framework of democratic multiculturalism as a means of accepting different beliefs and practices in the public school environment, and providing practical steps for educators and citizens. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)