The Georgia 3Rs Project

Rights • Responsibility • Respect

 

A First Amendment framework for Promoting religious literacy & religious liberty in Georgia public schools

The Georgia 3Rs Project — Rights, Responsibility and Respect — was created to help schools and communities come together across differences and engender civic participation in a diverse democracy. In recent decades, many communities have experienced a dramatic increase in diversity, which has also corresponded with an increase in violence and hate speech across all levels of society. There has been little in the way of resources and training to address these new challenges, despite educators navigating religious freedom and religious literacy issues every day, whether in their curricula or in the interactions they have with students, parents and community members.

The Georgia 3Rs Project team has created high-quality and unique professional development opportunities for educators, administrators and district officials on religion and public schools. Professional development is targeted to help educators and administrators understand the First Amendment’s protection of religious liberty for people of all religious traditions and none, investigate First Amendment approaches to religion and education to ensure students’ religious liberty in public schools and to recognize the difference between a devotional approach to teaching religion and the non-sectarian, academic study of religion through a social and historical lens.

The Georgia 3Rs Project has created more than 50 professional development opportunities and trained more than 250 educators, administrators and support staff during 750 hours of in-person and online workshops. Now is the time to help your community and school district produce religiously literate and civically engaged students who understand the challenges of a diverse democracy. If you would like to work with the Georgia Rights, Responsibility and Respect Project, please visit contact [email protected] to get started.

To access the free modules and for more information, please visit www.constitution2.classroom.org.

Advisory Council

The Georgia 3Rs Project’s advisory council represents a broad range of perspectives but are united by the shared vision of religious freedom as an inalienable right for all people. The following advisers provide candid guidance and feedback as we work to promote First Amendment approaches to religious literacy and liberty in Georgia public schools. Affiliations are included for identification purposes only.

The Rev. Dr. Joanna Adams, M.Div., D.D. Pastor Emeritus Morningside Presbyterian Church Rabbi Peter Berg Senior Rabbi The Temple Lynne Bruschetti, M.A. High School ELA Educator and Department Chair McIntosh High School – Fayette County Schools Brad Bryant Vice President REACH Georgia Ed Buckner Former President American Atheists Kevin Burke, M.Ed., M.A., Ph.D. Associate Professor UGA College of Education The Rev. Sam Candler, D.D. Dean Cathedral of St. Philip The Rev. Bill Clarkson, M.Div., D.Min. Emeritus Head The Westminster Schools Ethel Ware Carter Director of Programs Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta The Rev. Dr. Gerald (Jerry) Durley, M.A., Ph.D., M.Div. Pastor Emeritus Providence Missionary Baptist Church Joseph Feinberg, M.A., Ed. S., Ph.D. NCSS Board of Directors Officer and Associate Professor National Council for the Social Studies GSU College of Education & Human Development The Rev. Dr. Robert M. Franklin, Jr., Ph.D., M.Div. Senior Advisor to the President Emory University Mark Goldfeder J.D., LL.M., S.J.D. Senior Fellow and Project Director Center for the Study of Law and Religion

Mrs. Erin Hames, J.D. President of ReformED The Rev. Dr. James Neil (Dock) Hollingsworth, M.Div., Ph.D. Senior Pastor Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church Soumaya Khalifa, M.A. Founder and Executive Director Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta John Kutsko, M.A., Ph.D. Executive Director Society of Biblical Literature Judy Marx Executive Director Interfaith Community Initiatives Dale McGowan Humanist Author, Educator, and Philanthropist McGowan Writing & Research Allison Padilla-Goodman Regional Director Anti-Defamation League Rev. Natosha Reid Rice, M. Div. Associate Pastor Ebenezer Baptist Church Khalid Siddiq, M.D. Director of PR Al-Farooq Masjid Steve J. Smith, M.B.A., Ed.S. Superintendent, Bleckley County Public Schools Rabbi Alvin Sugarman, Ph.D. Emeritus Rabbi The Temple Mandisa Thomas Founder and President Black Nonbelievers, Inc. Alvin Wilbanks, M.A., Ed.S. Superintendent Gwinnett County Public Schools Woody White, M.B.A. President Cecil B. Day Foundation Rev. Dr. George Wirth, D.Min., D.D. Consultant C.F. Foundation Gareth Young, M.A. Interfaith Leader and Co-founder Red Clay Sangha

For question regarding the Georgia 3Rs Project, please contact David Callaway.