The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. This founding document – created on Sept. 17, 1787 – lays out the rules, organization and operations of our government. This is part 2 in Sutherland’s new series highlighting primary sources from American history in the hopes of enriching civics education.

A better way is both possible and doable. We just have to be willing to be the kind of people who can accomplish it.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a significant religious freedom decision this morning, with all the justices concluding that the city of Philadelphia violated the constitutional rights of a religious foster care agency, Catholic Social Services, when it “stopped referring children to CSS upon discovering that the agency would not certify same-sex couples to be foster parents due to its religious beliefs about marriage.”

New education survey data released by Sutherland Institute show that while parents may not always have a high opinion about curriculum, Utah parents have a high opinion of their kids’ teachers. Even better, parents and teacher share many opinions when it comes to civics education and how to improve it.

Those who argue for robust legal protections for religious exercise sometimes struggle to answer an objection: What about when religious groups or their members do something clearly wrong?

In-depth discussion with Utah teachers and parents (over a five-day period) revealed how K-12 educators, as well as parents of K-12 students, feel about the state of social studies and civics education today.

High-profile divorces can invite introspection about what makes marriage last. Those who seem to have everything going for them but still split can make others feel that marriage success is random or out of reach. There are factors, however, that are associated with faithful, lasting marriages. One of these is religious commitment.

It is time to restore civics education – both the current coursework and the broader mission of our schools. The successful navigation of the next controversial or perplexing moment depends upon it.

Both the State Board of Education and the Utah Legislature recently took initial steps to address public concerns over the possibility of the ideas of critical race theory (CRT) showing up in K-12 classrooms. But is the debate actually focusing on solutions to the problem, or symptoms of it?

This is part 1 in Sutherland’s new series highlighting primary sources from American history in the hopes of enriching civics education.