For years, ICJS has worked with middle and high school teachers from public, independent, and religious schools navigating one of the most complicated realities of American education: Religion is present in the classroom, even when no one names it.
Students bring religious identities, assumptions, histories, holidays, and inherited narratives with them every day. Teachers do too. So do curricula, calendars, and school cultures. The question is not whether religion is present, but whether we are prepared to engage it thoughtfully.
Few people at ICJS have helped shape that work more than Christine Gallagher, ICJS head of program and program director for teachers & schools. A member of ICJS’ inaugural Fellowship for Teachers cohort in 2018–2019, Christine went on to lead the seven cohorts that followed, helping educators think more deeply about religion, identity, and belonging in the classroom.
At ICJS, we describe this work through an “Interreligious Framework,” a concept conceived by Christine: how religion is present in the subject curriculum, students’ identities, the school’s institutional context and culture, and the teacher’s own perspective and biases. It is not devotional theology, nor simply the detached study of “world religions.” It is religion as lived reality—shaping civic life, identity, relationships, and belonging.
Upon reflecting on this year’s cohort and their learning centered in the Interreligious Framework, Christine noted that four themes emerged.
1. There is no such thing as a neutral classroom.
One of the most important shifts teachers encounter during the Fellowship is recognizing what many describe as “The Myth of Objectivity.” Every classroom already reflects choices about whose histories matter, which holidays structure the calendar, what literature counts as canonical, and which perspectives are treated as “normal.”
Often, defaults rooted in Western or Christian traditions go unnamed, making other identities feel supplemental or invisible. Teachers in our Fellowships frequently discover that simply naming those defaults can open more honest and inclusive conversations about culture, history, and belonging.
2. Embrace students’ identities beyond heritage months and holidays.
Teachers consistently tell us that students know when parts of themselves are welcome only occasionally. An interreligious approach asks educators to move beyond isolated celebrations or symbolic recognition.
Instead, teachers work to honor what is sacred to students throughout the year: building on what students already know, recognizing the experiences they carry, and creating classrooms where they do not have to leave part of themselves at the door in order to participate fully.
3. Interreligious learning begins with curiosity and respect.
One idea that resonates deeply with teachers is the concept of “holy envy,” the ability to appreciate what is beautiful or sacred in another person’s tradition without needing to claim it as one’s own.
That posture shifts interreligious engagement away from competition or debate and toward curiosity, respect, and community. Teachers often find that this approach also changes relationships with families and caregivers, inviting parents to become partners and allies rather than outsiders to classroom conversations about identity and difference.
4. Teachers’ own perspectives and biases are part of the framework.
An Interreligious Framework does not treat teachers as neutral observers standing outside the classroom dynamic. Teachers bring their own identities, assumptions, blind spots, and experiences into the room every day.
One reflection we hear often is that “mirrors are easier than windows.” It is easier to teach stories that reflect our own experiences than stories that challenge our assumptions or stretch our understanding. The work, then, includes examining our own identity “fences” and asking difficult questions: Which stories am I centering? Which voices are missing? What realities have I never had to notice before?
The teachers we work with remind us that interreligious education is not ultimately about mastering information. It is about learning how to live together honestly and humanely in a religiously diverse society.
And that work begins not somewhere else, but in the everyday life of the classroom.
May 2026
If you are an educator or know an educator in the Baltimore area who might be interested in learning with us next year, click here.