By Martin Surridge Liberty Magazine – July / August 2012 The climax of The Merchant of Venice, one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies, is a court scene in which Shylock, the […]
As their final assignment for the play, I had students respond to the question, “How would you feel if your religious freedom was taken away?” The responses varied, in both length and reaction. Nearly all of the teenagers in the class are self-described Christians, but their approach toward religion varies from conservative evangelical to tolerant progressives to near-agnostic. Their reactions to a potential scenario in which they were not allowed to practice religion freely ranged from the pragmatic to conformist to vigilant resistance.