Is Social and Emotional Learning Biblically Based

In a word, no. Social and Emotional Learning is not based on God’s Word. To be clear it is a humanistic approach of self discovery and social tolerance, absolute truth be told. Like most philosophies, dare I say religions (secular humanism), there are shiny, attractive aspects that distract and draw us Christians away from its Godless core. Aspects like, “emotional intelligence”,  “character education” and “becoming a better version of yourself”. Honestly I know a few Christians, myself included, that could use a little more emotional intelligence. These shiny objects taken away from the core outline of SEL have positive benefits and even encourage the development of parents and educators favorite fruit of the Spirit; self-control. But before we start adding Bible verses to SEL we must consider its faulty foundation. 

CASEL.org, one of the premier developers and promoters of SEL includes on their website the “Interactive CASEL Wheel” that highlights the commonly accepted 5 “areas of competence”. They are: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making. The most important observation we can make of this broad outline of SEL is that God is not present! This means that self-awareness will be taught apart from any knowledge of God. We as Christians know we cannot awaken to a true understanding of our identity apart from God. Apart from God we could end up with endless genders, animals and even inanimate objects to identify as. Apart from God all social behaviors and lifestyles come into play and those who do not accept them may be considered intolerant.

As Christian we need to fine tune our discernment because sometimes things that sound good are not necessarily Biblical.The SEL competency “responsible decision-making" sounds like something every parent and educator wants to teach and promote. However, the Bible encourages wise decision making and the difference between responsible and wise could be the difference between safe sex and abstinence. I’m not suggesting that we abandon encouraging responsibility or teaching our kids to identify and process their emotions but I’m saying apart from God, it’s not enough! God and God only can transform our sinful hearts, something no amount of emotional intelligence can remedy. The SEL Wheel, in my opinion, is one wheel that Truthfully needs to be recreated.