KHEC Curriculum Framework 7.0

First Freedom First. Established in the First Amendment to the US Constitution, religious liberty -- the right of individuals to worship or not -- is a defining American value. Often referred to as the "first freedom," this constitutionally guaranteed right is the foundation for the separation of church and state, the separation that protects us from undue religious influence in government and undue government intervention in religion and private decision making. First Freedom First is a partnership of two organizations: The Interfaith Alliance Foundation and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. For additional information: www.firstfreedomfirst.org/about

The Interfaith Alliance. The Alliance is a nonpartisan advocacy organization founded in 1994 to challenge the radical religious right. It promotes the positive role of religion in public life by encouraging civic participation, facilitating community activism, and challenging religious political extremism. The grassroots base includes 75 local groups across the country as well as an extensive online action network. Its members work to ensure that America is a nation where religious belief and practice are free and voluntary and that the government does not favor or discriminate against citizens based on their religious belief or non-belief. For additional information: www.interfaithalliance.org

American's United for the Separation of Church and State. There are likely few adults in this country who have not heard of American's United which for over 60 years has sought to preserve the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans. Americans United does not take positions on theological questions and does not oppose any group because of its religious beliefs. It works to defend the free exercise of all religions as protected by the Constitution and opposes any effort to use government power to force anyone to support, take part in or fund religion. AU opposes efforts by the Religious Right to impose its theological views on the public by governmental action. The Religious Right's attempt to force all Americans to accept its religious doctrines as law is one of the greatest threats to religious freedom today. For additional information: www.au.org

Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Check the Internet for the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” combined with “teaching resources”, “teaching materials”, or “lesson plans” and you will find a wide array of information that can be used in a variety of teaching situations for all age levels. For a copy of the Declaration: www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

Below are four resources from the “Online Human Rights Internet Guide” www.uwm.edu/Dept/CIS/humanrights/hred.html

Human Rights Resource Center -- www.hrusa.org The Center is a clearinghouse for resources. Users can search a database of human rights documents, order resources, and connect with other human rights educators via a global human rights e-mail listserv. The resources include more than 50 curricula, guides, videos, documents, and other educational aids. The Center also publishes innovative materials through its own Human Rights Education Series.

Human Rights in Action (UN CyberSchoolBus) --
www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/humanrights/index.html This site provides an interactive version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Each article of the UDHR is introduced with both the official text and a plain language version, an exploration of key issues, definitions, suggestions for activities and discussion questions. The site also provides human rights stories of teachers and students from around the world. It also will link you to a Factsheet with a variety of data, e.g., some 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are currently working, according to the International Labor Office (ILO). Of this total, approximately 120 million children are working full-time. Some 61% of child workers (153 million) are found in Asia; 32% in Africa and 7% in Latin America.

People's Decade of Human Rights Education [Also called the “People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning”]  www.pdhre.org/ This site provides information about various programs related to human rights education worldwide. It will link you with resources on “Sharing Methodology & Learning Materials” that includes education training manuals and a video series.

Human Rights Education Associates -- www.hrea.org/ HREA is a clearinghouse of resources that features an Electronic Resource Centre for Human Rights Education which serves as an on-line repository of resources.