Growing up in the United States of America, I have long had an understanding of the concept of the separation of church and state. I can vaguely remember being taught the concept in history class in elementary school, probably around the age of 8 or 9, but I can better remember the moment I realised that the separation of church and state was a lie. I was around 14 and not only had realised that whilst saying the Pledge of Allegiance at school every morning I was using the phrase “one nation, under God”, but I was also watching politicians use the Bible as the basis of an argument against same sex marriage in the news and not be questioned. At this point I was old enough to recognise that even if the United States was not technically a Christian country, it sure was culturally Christian.
Whilst watching Kwame Anthony Appiah’s TED talk “Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question)” (2014), I was reminded of this realisation by his assertion that religion has less to do with gods or “believing” and more to do with culture. This idea has made me think more deeply about how ingrained Christianity is in most Western cultures, and how through a lense of colonialism and imperialism, Christianity has always been the assumed baseline – “what have they got instead of Christianity?” (Appiah, K.A., 2014).
This is even more evident when looking at religion in education, as the residual effects of religious culture are evidenced in the “languages, practices, and routines of schooling”, more specifically that the structure of the school year is based around major Christian holidays (Burke, K.J. and Segall, A., 2011). Every year I wonder what our educational schedule would look like if our holidays weren’t based around Christian holidays, but perhaps Muslim, or Jewish ones. Now living in the United Kingdom where there is a very large population of Muslims, every year I am impressed during Eid at the ability of Muslims to fast for most of the day and continue to go to work and school, but concerned about whether or not they are getting the support they need to comfortably observe their religious practices without penalty.
In recent years, increased guidance has been published for the educational sector regarding how to support students during Ramadan and their fasting. They detail ways in which fasting can affect the ability to learn and how universities should allow accommodations and adjustments during both teaching and assessments (Maskeen, 2025). Interestingly, guidance also points out how important it is for educators – both individual and as an establishment – to simply recognise Ramadan (Taylor, 2025). This aspect of guidance undoubtably has more impact on my teaching context as I don’t teach or assess formally and speaks to me on an individual level about promoting inclusion in a visible manner. I always want to be as outwardly inclusive as I possibly can, but in retrospect I think due to me not feeling knowledgeable enough, I have not been that visible in my support for religious inclusion. After reading these guides its clear to me that to truly be inclusive, I need to be visible about it, and I certainly plan to going forward.
Appiah, K. A. (2014). Is Religion good or bad? (This is a trick question). [Online video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2et2KO8gcY [Accessed 18th January 2026]
Burke, K.J. and Segall, A. (2011). Christianity and its legacy in education. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 43(5), pp.631-658.
Maskeen, S. (2025). Fasting, faith and flexibility: supporting Muslim students and staff during Ramadan in higher education.
Singh, S (2016). Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in Classroom, Trinity University. [Online video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk [Accessed 18th January 2026]
Taylor, L. (2025). Ramadan should matter to higher education. [online] Wonkhe. Available at: https://wonkhe.com/blogs/ramadan-should-matter-to-higher-education/ [Accessed 18th January 2026]