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Is Kabbalah OK to teach in public schools?
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Perhaps United Press International was more concise in its headline about a story on the “Spirituality for Kids” program first published last week in the LA Times.
The UPI headline: “Kabbalah for school kids has critics.”
LA Times reporter, Seema Mehta, did a great job outlining the controversy in her story, which goes inside a Sherman Oaks classroom teaching “Spirituality for Kids” as an after-school program and discovers a teacher who appears to be treading a fine line between teaching about morals and pointing to Kabbalah-like principles. The program was created by a leader of the L.A.-based Kabbalah Centre International.
Mehta writes:
The word “kabbalah” was not mentioned in the Kester class, but its presence seemed unmistakable. Zucker and facilitator wore red knotted strings – frequently used by kabbalah practitioners to ward off the evil eye – around the left wrists. They also used terms – such as “light” and “the opponent” – that are found throughout the L.A. Center's website and its IRS filings.
The L.A. Times story states that Spirituality for Kids has been offered at nine local elementary schools and three community sites. Children are taught that their actions cause reactions, and to allow their “inner light” to shine by overcoming an internal “opponent” who urges them to make bad decisions.
Mehta discovered that some parents and educators are upset with the program for its Kabbalah lean.
One parent, who was pitched the program for an expansion into Wonderland Avenue Elementary's magnet program was “incensed.”
“I think they're trying to spread [kabbalah] without using the word,” said the parent of a 5th-grader.
And isn't that often the case when it comes to flying under the church and state radar? While I am all for the teaching of morality and helping children understand that there is a difference between right and wrong, pushing what appears to be a Kabbalah solution is a form of indoctrination.
Many Christians, for example, would object to having their children taught, as the Spirituality for Kids mission statement reads, to “find their voices” as a primary means of making “conscience choices that end the cycle of conflict for themselves and future generations.” I can most assuredly say that the “voices” many Christians would like their children to find would be that of God's through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, not through the “tools” of a man-made religion.
It is interesting that Spirituality for Kids has been flying below the radar in Los Angeles schools since 2006, according to the L.A. Times story. I doubt many more spirituality programs would even get the chance to launch.
No legal action by parents or educators was reported in the story.
Amazing how a Kabbalah-based ministry established in public schools has, for the most part, avoided the whole separation of church and state drama. Stay tuned.
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