Abstract
vious and most improbable topic for study in American education. By decreeing freedom of (and from) religion a fundamental right, the First Amendment marks religion as an exceptional component of American life and establishes religious pluralism as a concomitant of American society. At the same time, the removal of religion from governmental constraint except in cases of gross conflict with civil law relegates religion to the realm of the personal. Our society deems religion a matter of subjective belief and individual preference. The American conception of religion as privileged but private acknowledges religion to be culturally significant but also stanches informed public discourse about it. The issue of religion institutionally polarizes American education, and the study of religion is skewed at all levels of learning. On the one hand, concern about violating the Establishment Clause and offending local constituencies keeps religion out of the curricula of most public elementary and high schools. On the other hand, more than 90 percent of private schools are religious. This pattern of institutional separation, though somewhat modified, also characterizes American higher education. At the undergraduate level, the study of religion is predominantly a province of private institutions, many of which have religious origins or affiliations. The public university systems that offer undergraduate study of religion and many do not tend to limit it to small departments or programs on selected campuses only. At the graduate level, only seven public universities