ABSTRACT
Within a secular education system in a society deluged with technology, is there a place for spirituality? The constitutional firewall in the United States between religion and state has almost universally been interpreted to mean there can be no explicit religious content in the public classroom. The exceptions might be a course examining world religions, although this is rare, or time for silence during the school day. At the same time there has been a recognized need for the development of that which we might label ‘spiritual’—that is, capacities or understanding that balance our concerns for preparing students for the marketplace with attention to growing their humanity. Recent initiatives in North America toward this larger end have taken the form of character and values education, social and emotional learning, service learning, anti-bullying campaigns, ecological awareness, self-reflection and creativity.
