It's a great question, Karen, and gets to the heart of why diversity is
an important topic in literacy education! I'm sure others could offer
better answers than I can, but here's some things that come to mind:

Set some ground rules for discussion at the beginning that address being
sensitive to other beliefs and listening to and respecting everyone
regardless of differences. Ask students to suggest the guidelines.

Encourage each student to share things about themselves in general, and
give them plenty of opportunities to discuss things in small and larger
groups. Ideally, they would get used to this kind of discourse with less
personal or emotional topics, so that the environment of safety would
already be established when something more fiery comes up.

Reflective writing can be a place where people can explore things more
personally if they want, such as painful experiences.

Discuss the differences between beliefs and actions, and between
organizations and individuals. Discuss what terms like "stereotyping"
mean.

Other ideas?

Julie

Julie McKinney
Health Literacy List Moderator
World Education
jmckinney at worlded.org

>>> "Karen Wyman" <Karenw at nmcadv.org> 09/04/08 11:43 AM >>>

Hi, Julie and list members, 

Just a question this time, in the kind of environment you are
describing, what steps would you take to ensure that the learning
environment is safe, welcoming, comfortable, and empowering for a
student who is opposed to organized religions or specific religions or
has been harmed through their involvement in religion?

Karen

Karen Wyman
Community Outreach Trainer
New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence  (NMCADV)
201 Coal Avenue SW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
phone 505.246.9240
fax 505.246.9434
www.nmcadv.org
karenw at nmcadv.org

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. 



-----Original Message-----
From: diversity-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:diversity-bounces at nifl.gov] On
Behalf Of Julie McKinney
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 9:23 AM
To: diversity at nifl.gov
Subject: [Diversity 145] Re: religion on this discussion list

I think a discussion like this is a perfect use for the Diversity list! 

What strikes me is that one of the most important things about an adult
learning environment is creating a safe, welcoming, comfortable,
empowering place. This means that each student must feel comfortable
sharing their feelings, ideas and views without fear of any kind of
rejection. How many times have we seen that adults learn better in this
kind of setting? Especially when they are learning to communicate in new
ways, they must be able to feel free to express their own ideas.

Personal and passionate beliefs like the expression of religious  ideas
(and expressing is not the same as prosyletizing) is a powerful
springboard to interactive and meaningful discussion. This, in turn,
helps to improve language, literacy and communication better than
discussing trivial issues. So, as Daphne suggested, this is a good
opportunity to explore the commonalities that arise from what the
Muslims "ponder" during this holiday (such as "injustices, inequality,
wrongs visited upon the poor and vulnerable...etc.) 

This shows how things can be interpreted so differently depending one
one's attitude. What seems at first to be a point of stark difference
can often be seen as common ground instead.

Julie

Julie McKinney
Health Literacy List Moderator
World Education
jmckinney at worlded.org

>>> "Daphne Greenberg" <alcdgg at langate.gsu.edu> 09/03/08 9:31 PM >>>

One of the examples of suitable topics for this discussion list, from
the posted description on the NIFL Web page 
(http://nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/diversity/about_diversity.html), is
"religious differences and adult literacy classrooms". So Ochieng's
original post (especially with the introductory sentence) seems on topic
to me. I see two possible examples of utilizing the rich information
provided by Ochieng. One example would be directed at programs who
wanted to focus this month on understanding the Muslim faith. To do so
would be similar to programs deciding to focus on another month on the
Jewish faith (during their high holiday season), the Christian faith
(during Christmas), women (during Women's month) or African Americans 
(during African American month). This would be especially appropriate
for ESL programs that want to introduce their students to the different
peoples that make up our country. As another example, it seems to me
that her post lists a few of the types of issues that could be
discussed, read about, written about in an ABE class: "injustices,
inequality, wrongs 
 visited upon the poor and vulnerable, unity of the ummah, corruption,
leadership, marginalization, environment, prejudices and stereotypes,
etc. " Both of these examples seem to me to be reasonable and worthwhile
for the Diversity and Literacy discussion list. 

Perhaps some people may take issue to the following phrases and
sentences:

"blessed opportunity" , "mercy and forgiveness from Allah" and
especially "May Allah (SWT) grant all of us us the ibadah(devotion) of
the night of Qadr(blessed night) and make us the best ummah."  Perhaps
for some, these cross the line between description into endorsement  of
a particular religious faith. I don't know if this violates any
government rules, and I do not think we have anything in the NIFL
policies that addresses this, so I believe that this is new territory.

So, Kearney, thanks for your post and raising an interesting question
for all of us to ponder. I would like all list subscribers to think
about Ochieng's post and Kearney's response. What do you as literacy
professionals interested in diversity -- think would be good guidelines
for the discussion lists, and also for the classroom, of what is and is
not appropriate to say about religion or faith. I think it's a
fascinating topic. Perhaps there are articles written about religion,
faith and the public school classroom. I don't know.

I am curious, would people have posted Ochieng's post? What if someone
posted the below message-would your answer be the same or different:

Many of you have Christian students who are celebrating the blessed
holiday on December 25th. I would like to wish them Merry Christmas. It
is a day of deep reflection in celebration of  the birth of Jesus
Christ.

It is a blessed opportunity to reflect upon and grapple with the issues
that afflict the souls of not only the Christian Community but the
greater creation of God.

It is also the time to ponder and generate solutions to such issues as
injustices, inequality, wrongs visited upon the poor and vulnerable,
unity of the Christian Community, corruption, leadership,
marginalization, environment, prejudices and stereotypes, etc.

Christmas is an important holiday of piety, family and community
sharing, selflessness and a time to seek God's mercy.

May God grant all of us the ability to appreciate this holy day  and
make us the best people possible.

Would you have posted a message like this? Why or why not? 

Daphne




>>> Kearney Lykins <kearney_lykins at yahoo.com> 09/03/08 4:50 PM >>>

I am surprised that no one has yet commented on the propriety of using a
government listserve to circulate religious doctrine. 

Has The Diversity and Literacy Discussion List now become a vehicle for
promoting religious holidays and disseminating prayers? 
 
 
 Regards,

Kearney Lykins
 



----- Original Message ----
From: Ochieng kh <ochykheyr at yahoo.com>
To: The Diversity and Literacy Discussion List <diversity at nifl.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, September 2, 2008 10:02:45 AM
Subject: [Diversity 129] Ramadhan Kareem


Dear All, 
Many of you have Muslim students who are celebrating the blessed month
of Ramadhan. I would like to wish them Ramadhan kareem. It is a month of
deep reflection and self-restraint while praying for spiritual purity,
good tidings and endless bounties. 
  
It is a blessed opportunity to reflect upon and grapple with the issues
that afflict the souls of not only the Muslim ummah but the greater
creation of Allah (SWT). 
  
It is also the time to ponder and generate solutions to such issues as
injustices, inequality, wrongs visited upon the poor and vulnerable,
unity of the ummah, corruption, leadership, marginalization,
environment, prejudices and stereotypes, etc.  
  
Ramadhan is an important month of Patience, sharing and selflessness and
a time to seek the mercy and forgiveness from Allah (SWT) 
  
May Allah (SWT) grant all of us us the ibadah(devotion) of the night of
Qadr(blessed night) and make us the best ummah. 
RAMADHAN KAREEM 
Ochieng M.Khairallah 


      
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
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To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
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