| Teaching about the Catholic Church?
This is a question for my Catholic friends out there (I imagine the question might bring out the ignorant Catholic haters too...which I am not)
I am a junior high history teacher. For the last 15 years, I have taught about The Catholic Church during The Middle Ages. The Church, of course, was a powerful influence in all areas of society back then.
If you were teaching my class, how would you teach this information in a way that did not encouragage students to conclude only negative things about the Church?
13-year-olds often see things in black and white terms, and when I cover The Reconquista, Crusades, and Inquisition (and later the Galileo and Martin Luther trials), some students begin to judge the church TODAY in negative ways (or feel weird about their own Catholic faith).
I have a deep respect for the Church, and I think this respect is obvious to the students. Again, how could you teach the truth and yet remain fair and positive? Peace.
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