SMU Magazine Originally Posted: Dec. 6, 2019 Professor Jill DeTemple teaches students how to take topics that drive people apart and reframe the conversation around personal experiences to promote understanding. Through curious questioning and thoughtful listening, students learn they don’t have to agree with their political opposites to understand where they’re coming from. Columnist Sharon Grigsby wrote about the class published for The Dallas Morning News on October 16, 2019. READ MORE EXCERPT: Professor Jill DeTemple, in the religious studies department of SMU’s Dedman College, has developed a discussion tool, dubbed reflective structured dialogue, that she is using in her own classrooms and sharing with professors here and across the nation. The idea is to take topics that drive people apart — gun rights, abortion, [...]

CNN Originally Posted: May 7, 2019 Mark Chancey, an SMU professor of religious studies, was quoted in this article. (CNN) -- Legislators across the country have reignited the fight for, and debate over so-called "Bible literacy classes" -- elective courses in public schools about Scriptures' impact. Alabama, Florida, Missouri, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia are among the states that have seen Bible literacy bills so far in 2019. Several of those efforts have fallen along the wayside. While advocates for such classes believe students ought to be able to learn about the Bible's influence on world history, culture and language, opponents tout separation of church and state and their concerns that teachers might possibly stray into proselytizing. READ MORE