Are Waldorf schools religious?

Is Anthroposophy taught in Waldorf schools?
by John W. Morehead The Watchman Expositor Vol. 14, No. 5, 1997

Proponents of the Waldorf system may acknowledge that it requires teacher acceptance of certain Anthroposophical principles, but argue that does not mean the teacher will necessarily inculcate those beliefs in students any more than a Christian teacher would necessarily teach students to be Christians. This is an unfair and deceptive comparison. Considering the role of the Waldorf teacher in instructing children with the Waldorf curriculum, Anthroposophical writer Gilbert Childs notes:
"Waldorf teachers must be Anthroposophists first and teachers second… it must never be forgotten - and one must be emphatic about this - that the whole of teaching matter and method in Steiner schools is aimed at developing within each child the [occult] consciousness that spirit permeates everything in the world" (Steiner Education in Theory and Practice, 1991, p. 166; emphasis mine).

The whole purpose of all teaching in the Steiner/Waldorf schools is thus stated to be explicitly spiritual, i.e. religious. Contrary to the claims of Waldorf supporters, the role of the Waldorf teacher does promote Anthroposophy. Even if not taught or named explicitly, Anthroposophy undergirds and shapes all other teaching, even the manner of teaching, in the Waldorf program. If it did not, it simply would not be a Waldorf school: "The aim at the Waldorf School is to teach and educate according to the findings of the science of spirit" (Steiner, Education… p. 21; emphasis mine), i.e., Steiner's occult Anthroposophy. No one can ignore the clear statements of the program's founder, quoted above, and claim to have made a thorough and unbiased examination of the Waldorf system, the Waldorf teachers' role in integrating Anthroposophical teaching into the life of the child through the teaching experience.

According to Steiner, Anthroposophy is an essential foundation of the Waldorf educational philosophy, in which the teacher fosters a particular teacher-student relationship considered essential to the learning process. "The science of spirit teaches me how I stimulate a particular part of the soul that brings about a certain relationship between the educator and the child, which allows something to flow from the teacher directly to the innermost feeling-life of the child's soul" (Steiner, Education As an Art, 1970, p. 28). The understanding and development of this relationship is thus based in Anthroposophical "science of spirit" teaching.

It should be obvious, then, that application of the Waldorf program requires teachers who believe in the Anthroposophical philosophy upon which it is based. Steiner understood this well: "The Waldorf teacher holds the conviction that what he meets in the child from week to week, from year to year is the expression of a divine spiritual being that descends from purely spirit-soul existence [reincarnation] and evolves here in the physical-bodily existence between birth and death, uniting the line of heredity which gives it its physical-etheric nature from parents and ancestors" (Ibid., p. 23).

The Anthroposophical foundation and teacher orientation of the Waldorf program led former Waldorf teacher M. C. Richards to state: "One could say that Waldorf education has a hidden agenda. Its curriculum is described in terms common to public schools in general: arithmetic, writing, reading...But in Steiner schools the dimensions of these subjects are threefold: they are artistic, cognitive and religious. Religion is not an affair for Sunday alone or for theologians and priests. It is a dimension applicable to all our experience" (Toward Wholeness: Rudolf Steiner Education in America, 1980, p. 164).
Many advocates of Waldorf education and schools claim that Anthroposophy is not taught in Waldorf schools or in Waldorf-based curriculum. Technically this is correct, but only with qualification. Anthroposophy is not taught explicitly as a total system of religion, but it does serve as a foundation for Waldorf educational theory and practice, and its teachings are implicit within Waldorf curriculum.

According to Steiner, Anthroposophy is an essential foundation of the Waldorf educational philosophy, in which the teacher fosters a particular teacher-student relationship considered essential to the learning process. "The science of spirit teaches me how I stimulate a particular part of the soul that brings about a certain relationship between the educator and the child, which allows something to flow from the teacher directly to the innermost feeling-life of the child's soul" (Steiner, Education As an Art, 1970, p. 28). The understanding and development of this relationship is thus based in Anthroposophical "science of spirit" teaching.

It should be obvious, then, that application of the Waldorf program requires teachers who believe in the Anthroposophical philosophy upon which it is based. Steiner understood this well: "The Waldorf teacher holds the conviction that what he meets in the child from week to week, from year to year is the expression of a divine spiritual being that descends from purely spirit-soul existence [reincarnation] and evolves here in the physical-bodily existence between birth and death, uniting the line of heredity which gives it its physical-etheric nature from parents and ancestors" (Ibid., p. 23).