Can We Teach "Religion"?

Morgan Spurlock (of Super Size Me fame) has (maybe had, I'm not sure) a show on FX! called 30 Days, in which he would put people in situations that seems contrasting to their own beliefs/ideals in hopes of fostering understanding, if not 'tolerance'. In the pilot, Spurlock and his wife attempt to live on minimum wage for a month, in other episodes: a border state minuteman lives with a family of illegal immigrants in East LA, a 'tough guy' football player living with two gay guys in the Castro District in San Francisco, and there was a Christian living as a Muslim in an Islamic community in Dearborn, Michigan. It's this last one that I found most interesting. He came out of it claiming to "understand" Islam and what it's like to be a Muslim. I was left to wonder if a 'true' Muslim would be willing to undergo a similar experience in a Christian community.

The cover story of last week's issue of Time Magazine was "The Case For Teaching The Bible" (at least it was the cover story in the US edition, the international edition had a cover story called "The Truth About Talibanistan"...standard discrepancy). The article, borrowing heavily from Stephen Prothero and his newest book, Religious Literacy, argues for teaching about world religions in public schools from an objective, non-promotive viewpoint, with the goal being to foster "understanding", if not "tolerance", of all peoples and their various religions.

A few questions:
1) Is it possible to teach 'religion' from an objective viewpoint as an objective field of inquiry? (Assuming 'objectivity' as a concept itself is possible)?
2) Is it possible to fundamentally 'understand' a religion different from your own (or to 'understand' any religion if you claim atheism)?
3) If the 'American Experiment' in democracy has thrived under (at least nominal) areligiosity, is that a necessary condition for the functionality of democracy? Atheism has been the stated preference of communism which has a poor track record, so is religion necessary for that system to succeed? Or is it fundamentally flawed (and democracy fundamentally prone to success), regardless of religious affiliation?


I don't have any answers today, just questions (using being on 'sabbatical' as an excuse). If you have more questions, tack 'em on.