In this article, the author describes how throughout her academic career she has tried to answer the question "What should the appropriate place be for religion in the public schools of a liberal, pluralistic, democratic state?" The view the author embraces is that taking religion seriously in schools also means taking the purpose(s) of public schools in a liberal, pluralist, democracy seriously. It means giving religion a prominent place in the curriculum, but in such a way that religion fits in with and is not excluded from important public conversations about the good. In short, the author thinks the study of religion ought to be accorded systematic inclusion in public school curricula. To explain how she has arrived at such conclusions, the author recalls two formative events in her own academic history that have profoundly shaped the positions and views that she holds today.