The study of Religion, Philosophy, & Ethics at Trinity assists students in developing literacy in cultural, philosophical, and religious worldviews and in aiding students in formulating, in community, their own personal ethical positions and existential identities.

We offer courses that introduce the academic and scholarly disciplines of Religion, Philosophy, & Ethics as well as help students with skills necessary to become mature, responsible leaders of a global community. Students are taught to thoughtfully consider sacred literature and ethical problems in thinking with sophistication about the variety of different ways that people around the world imagine what is of ultimate value in human life. Students learn how different worldviews impact upon political and public policy decisions as well as at points of personal crisis and human development.

The Middle School Program at Trinity revolves around two large categories of ideas: 1) How adults form ideals in life, that is, our goals and visions and 2) How adults solve problems – as individuals and as groups. Human societies respond to these questions by what people do and by what people think about. Each Trinity Middle School student must successfully complete two courses in the study of the ideas and practice of religion and philosophy: Religion 5: Introduction to World Religions and Religion 6: Introduction to Ethics.

The first reason for the Middle School Program is to help Middle School students, who are beginning to think abstractly about philosophical questions and yet don’t have either the experience or the language to express what they are trying to say. They are trying to figure out what they think about the ideas and practices of their families and communities and decide what their own opinions about these issues are. People are beginning to ask them, for example, “What do you think about racism, war, or torture?” “Do you believe in God?” and “How do you know that is true?” And in many cases, for the first time, others are really listening to the developing positions of these young people – almost as if they were adults. But, of course, they are not. They are still 10 or 11 or 12 years old – struggling both with understanding these ideas and with formulating their own responses. One reason, then, for our courses in the Middle School is to help our students figure out what kind of adults they want to be, i.e., what kind of ideas and practices they want to adopt as their own. It is important for our students to realize that they are not the first generation in history to struggle with these questions; they do not need to start from scratch in trying to determine their stance to these age-old questions. We, their teachers and parents, are there to help them.

The second reason for the Middle School Program is to prepare students at Trinity to become leaders in society around the world. They are not only going to be managers and professionals here in New York, LA, or London, but also in China, India, Turkey, Nigeria and Brazil – everywhere! Regardless of their own personal opinions about religion, our students need to understand the religious and philosophical sensibilities of people around the world. Our children, in order to take their roles as leaders in the world, need to understand both what makes us the same and what makes us different in cultures spread across the globe.