At Darlington, we believe that education is profoundly spiritual. Connecting us with truths far greater than ourselves and with wisdom far superior to our own, education at its best should fill intellectual and spiritual gaps and should challenge our students in safe and developmentally appropriate ways into an awareness not only of what they lack and need, but also of what they can become. We seek to be a school that will serve the whole child — intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. We strive to enhance the spiritual journey of every student at Darlington regardless of his or her faith background.
The training our young men and women receive while they are here will have an impact not only on their character, but also on the choices they make in life beyond our walls. As a school, we care deeply about that character and those choices, and we take very seriously the charge to create programs that will shape and mold our students into leaders of a better tomorrow. To support this effort, all Upper Students and faculty attend chapel on Thursday of each week. Darlington also provides transportation to area places of worship each Sunday morning for boarding students who would like to attend a local church service.
With these important beliefs as a foundation, the Board of Trustees adopted the following policy:
Religious Life Policy
• Recognizing that all human beings have spiritual needs, Darlington School commits to fostering the spiritual growth and development of its students.
• In keeping with Darlington’s heritage, our religious life orientation, while non-denominational, is Judeo-Christian based.
• People of all religions are welcomed and respected at Darlington. We desire to be a nurturing community where love and understanding permeate all relationships
• Darlington will admit qualified students regardless of their creed and religion. Students, however, must know in advance and be willing to abide by and support the Darlington School Religious Policy.
• Darlington will hire qualified faculty regardless of their creed and religion. Faculty, however, must know in advance and be willing to abide by and support the Darlington School Religious Policy.
• Darlington expects its students and faculty to respect all religions and people of all religions. The school will not practice or tolerate either the maligning of any person’s religion, or the attempting to convince any person that his or her religious beliefs are not valid.
• Since Darlington views the primary role of the classroom setting as educational, faculty will refrain from using the classroom as a forum for religious conversion and will refrain from expressing their personal religious beliefs in any manner demeaning to any other system of belief.
• Believing that well-educated people in a global community must understand the world in which they live, Darlington will provide opportunities for students to learn the basic tenets of the world’s major religions.
• Darlington will attempt to provide meaningful worship opportunities with regularly scheduled services in both the Christian tradition and traditions of other world religions.
• Darlington will strive to enhance the religious understanding and spiritual journey of every student.
