FFRFMCC Lecture Series: World Religions

The FFRFMCC will be hosting its fourth lecture on “World Religions,” presented by Mr. John Camardella.

John is a Chicago-area high school teacher who teaches classes on the various religions of the world to Senior-level students as part of a public high school curriculum. He is in his 15th year of teaching at Prospect High School. For the past eight years, he has taught two stand-alone World Religion elective courses, and has worked to advance the curriculum at the national level. Currently, he is an Education Fellow working to pilot curriculum alongside Dr. Diane Moore at the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School . Last year, John was one of two high school teachers in the country who helped develop a framework for how to teach about religion in public schools. John also teaches religion courses to adults and a graduate level course for teachers and administrators, making him a most qualified person to ensure that any public school education regarding world religions is comparative and informative, and not designed to promote any one specific religion.

During his previous lecture on May 22nd, John delivered a fascinating presentation on the spread of Christianity, beginning with the Apostle Paul and continuing through the settlers in the new World and the founding of America. He also provided great historical insight into the role of Constantine, and how he had “weaponized” Christianity to attain power.

The next lecture will focus on how the different faith traditions are handling the worldwide issue of climate change in diverse ways. Case Studies published at Harvard Divinity School will be provided as John explores Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu perspectives on the topic.

As with our previous lectures, this will conclude with an extensive Q&A session.

Admission is free!