Islamophobia and antisemitism are big problems in this country. There’s discrimination against certain religions completely based off ignorance. Its social and systematic effects continue to oppress these religious people making them more prone to hate-crimes.

If school were to teach children about other religions and their practices and how to respect them, it would solve these problems and many more these communities face. According to extension.psu.edu, children notice cultural differences around age 2-3, age 4-5 is when they become fearful of these differences. If schools were to teach children before they hit that stage then kids would understand that there is nothing to be fearful of. Thus, putting an end to minacious stereotypes. To keep the separation of religion and state education, kids would just learn basic knowledge of such religions and refute false narratives and stereotypes rather than practicing the customs.

It would help future generations learn to respect other religions. If people grew up learning about different religions and debunking stereotypes, the likelihood of communities receiving hate would gradually decrease throughout the years.

Stereotypes are the fuel for discrimination and hate crimes.  If we were to learn the faults of those stereotypes and the true impact it takes on these communities, morals would solve the rest.

In 2019, there was 953 anti-Jewish hate crimes and 176 anti-Islamic hate crimes; comprising 74% of all anti-religion crimes reported that year, according to www.static.com.  With such high anti-religion crimes and little to no news coverage on them, the effects on these communities are severe. Teaching people at an early age about other religions would solve multiple problems in Muslim and Jewish communities.

Some parents might not want to expose their children to other religions at such a young age because they don’t want their kids to resent their own personal ideologies, but that type of logic is why there are so many false narratives about different religions and it overall fuels these nasty stereotypes.

I, personally, find this mindset terribly selfish. Not wanting your child to be educated about cultural differences because of your own superstitions and prejudice is what enables these crimes.