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ISREV 2006 – COLLEGIAL PAPER ABSTRACTS – Final List

INDEX OF PRESENTERS, in surname order.   Click on a name to go to their abstract.  Or click on ABSTRACTS to go to the first abstract.

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COLLEGIAL ABSTRACTS, in Presenter's surname order.   Click on Top after any abstract to go back to the INDEX OF PRESENTERS.

Geir Afdal - Practice as theoretical resource

In sociocultural theory (Lave, Wenger and others) a central thought is that learning is situated, relational and distributed in social practices. On this account a practice is not a place for implementation of general knowledge formulated in principles. It is an activity-system (Engeström) characterized by expansion of knowledge and learning. From a different theoretical tradition MacIntyre understands practice as a social activity with internal goods. This means that the standards of the social practice are found within, not in external political or economical values or languages.

This paper raises the question whether this conception of practice is a valuable perspective of religious education. A central theme for discussion is the conception of the relationship between 1) religious education as theorized in the practice of research and 2) religious education as practiced and theorized in educational practices like schools. On one hand religious education as an educational practice is developing activity and understanding which is a theoretical resource for research. On the other hand this activity and understanding has to be given a theoretical language that can communicate between the practices of research and education. Such a language is seen as a key to valid theoretical expansion of religious education. Top

Elisabeth Arweck - One Programme, Diverse Applications: A Values Programme in the School Context

The proposed paper will be concerned with recent research in the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit (WRERU) at the University of Warwick. The values education programme developed by the Sathya Sai Service Organisation, Sathya Sai Education in Human Values (SSEHV), is promoted for use in common (state) schools and has indeed found application in some schools. WRERU’s research suggests that the way in which the programme is used in the classroom is diverse and it is this diversity which this paper will explore. It will address questions such as how values are included in the curriculum subjects and how schools (head teachers, classroom teachers, others who ‘teach’ the programme) approach the programme - whether they see it as a ready-made, off-the-shelf resource or as a flexible, adaptable framework for transmitting curriculum content, whether they use it in the classroom or other school contexts, e.g. assembly. The diversity in the application of the programme will be set against the background of religious and educational diversity in the UK. Top

Hans-Georg Babke - The Problem Of How To Be Fair To Religious Minorities In School

A political conflict about how to organize religious and moral education in the East German Bundeslaender (counties) arose after the German unification of 1990. The churches pleaded for a plurality of denominational RE whereas the county governments of some East German Bundeslaender established a general, non-denominational compulsory subject in ethics. Both parties were assisted by religious educationalists with respective pedagogical arguments. The arguments of both sides seem to be ideological because the differences between a denominational and a non-denominational subject in Germany are not as great as the conflicting parties pretend them to be.

One of the more crucial problems in any kind of RE or citizenship education is the question of how to be fair to a strange religion. From a philosophical point of view religion is a distinctive way of life which can be compared to a game. Like any other game a distinctive religion depends on rules (doctrines, hierarchy, rites etc.), which only participants are fully - although more unconsciously and undoubtedly - acquainted with. When dealing with a strange religion teachers and pupils necessarily perceive this phenomenon from an external point of view of non-participants. It can only be understood in analogy to their own categories of understanding. The danger is that strange beliefs, rites and behaviour happen to appear inferior to the own point of view. If we, however, want the pupils to learn tolerance of and respect for a strange religion we have to find didactic solutions to these difficult hermeneutic problems. Top

Cok Bakker - School ethos in 490 short stories

During in-service courses in religiously affiliated primary schools in the Netherlands we have asked teachers to reflect on their daily practice and to describe an incident that has been highly meaningful to them. In a period of 4 years we collected 490 of these 'short stories' out of teachers' practices. (As we might have expected) most of the stories neither refer explicitly to religious notions nor is a religious vocabulary used.

This raises the question how a school ethos told in a variety of meaningful stories could be linked to the school ethos that is written down in the formal documents. In the paper we present an analysis of the stories told and we explore how a linkage between the two interpretations of school ethos eventually could be made up. Top

L. Philip Barnes - The Misrepresentations of Religion in Modern British Religious Education

The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the ideological use to which religion has been put by post-confessional British religious education in its attempt to foster harmonious relations between the disparate religious and non-religious groupings that make up modern British society. After a short review of the liberal Protestant confessionalism that dominated religious education throughout the nineteen-seventies and eighties, attention is given to more recent attempts to further social harmony by interpreting religion as either an aspect of culture or as a personal construction of the religious believer. In both cases the issue of religious truth and the epistemic claims of religion are overlooked in the belief that such claims are inherently divisive. The paper concludes with an outline of the form of religious education that is best suited to the realization in schools of legitimate and progressive educational values such as the cultivation of tolerance, moral integrity and civic virtue. Top

Vivienne Baumfield - Becoming a teacher of RE in a world of religious diversity

The paper draws upon an empirical study of 2 cohorts (n:35) of Post Graduate Certificate of Education Secondary Religious Education (RE) students. It charts their development during the 1 year Initial Teacher Education course as they work towards achieving Qualified Teacher Status and a sub-sample of 1 cohort are also tracked into their induction year as classroom practitioners. The paper explores the professional learning of novice teachers in terms of the following issues:
· Beliefs and values regarding the role of RE in the state school curriculum
· The role, and relative weighting, of practice evidence, research evidence and theory in finding an approach to teaching RE
· The identification of critical incidents and the impact on professional learning of RE teachers

The study aims to provide insight into issues currently debated in the UK context as to the merits of particular philosophical stances on the role of RE in the curriculum (Wright 2004) or the appropriate pedagogy for RE (Grimmitt 2000; Baumfield 2003) in the light of increased diversity (Jackson 2004) through the grounding of the debate in research evidence on the knowledge, skills and understanding of novice teachers. In so doing, the paper makes a contribution to the wider debate regarding the professional development of teachers and the role of the university in teacher education and invites comparison across different social and cultural contexts. Top

Jerome Berryman - What Are We Teaching For? The Goal of Religious Education

What is the goal of religious education? One goal is to inform young people about the variety of religions. Another answer is that religious education should bring about world peace and cooperation. A third alternative is that children should grow up to be ethical people. The approach here presents the goal as spiritual maturity. Five models of spiritual maturity from the Christian Tradition will be presented and critiqued. A proposal then will be made about how this goal can be accomplished (whatever one’s religion might be) by teaching for playful orthodoxy, which does not exclude any of the other goals mentioned above. Top

Deba Mitra Bhikkhu - Religious Education: A Buddhist Perspective

Religious education in the state-funded public and Catholic schools in Canada has not been fair to the minority religious communities. Minority religious communities felt that both educational systems are not conducive in raising their children within their own religious values and identity. In response, some economically influential religious minorities in Toronto like Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh have created independent religious schools. Similarly, Buddhist communities in Toronto also have felt the need for a form of religious education to transmit their religious values and identity to the younger generation. However, the heterogeneity of Buddhism that derives from ethnocentrism has weakened the Buddhist effort in transmission of Buddhist knowledge.

Contextualizing on Buddhism in resettlement this paper will address the concept of Buddhist religious education and entertain the question whether the multi-ethnic Buddhist communities can conceptualize a form of religious education free from particular ethnic characteristics. This paper will argue that ethnicity is not an inherent characteristic of Buddhism, therefore Buddhist religious education can be free from ethnic affiliation. There are enough common Buddhist tools across Buddhist traditions and ethnic communities that can construct a Buddhist religious education that would impart Buddhist values and identity to the Buddhists. Top

In 2004 the Church of Norway initiated a reform of church education. The aim is to establish a church education for children and youngsters (0-to-18-year-olds) outside the public school. One of the great challenges is to get all the baptized children (about 75% of the new-born every year) involved in church education activities.

This paper discusses the local church and its involvement with small children and their parents. The aim is to find what characteristics a local church must have such that the parents feel confident, and believe that it makes sense to have their children there. Diversity between parents in their experience and expectations of church education will be examined.

This is an empirical project, using qualitative methodology. The informants are concentrated in two congregations in a fairly urban part of Norway, near Oslo. A service-theoretical perspective is used in the discussion of the empirical material.

Following the analysis of the characteristics of the church which are attractive to parents, the characteristics of the parents themselves will be reviewed. Finally, the implications for church education will be discussed, focusing upon the current Church of Norway reforms. The research challenges the church in providing service appropriate for the needs of various families, with their varying relationships to the church. Top

Reinhold Boschki - How Children Approach Sacred Places – Religious Learning in a Situation of Religious Diversity

When children are asked about churches or religions they don’t think of religious systems, but of concrete buildings. Most children in today’s western cities are not used to visiting sacred places such as churches, monasteries, synagogues or mosques. By chance they pass by and therefore they know that there are different places where people go to pray, sing or have liturgy together. They also know about classmates who belong to other religions than themselves and – perhaps – who go to special places of worship.

The research questions of this paper and of our empirical study at the University of Bonn are: How do children perceive sacred places? What do they know and think about it? How do they approach such places and how do they behave there? How can teachers and religious educators work with children at sacred places so that religious learning can occur? What do children think about sacred places after having visited various sacred buildings of different religions?

Working with groups of children in the primary school, we use several methods to answer the questions raised above: small group interviews with children before and after the visit; participating observation during the visit; interviews with teachers; finally we put the results in relation to other empirical studies published recently.

The research project is intended to make a new contribution to the recent and vast discussion on “Kirchenpaedagogik” (“religious education in church buildings”) in German speaking Religious Education, focusing on the possibilities and chances of interreligious learning. Top

Catherine M. Bowness - A changing world; Teenage Morality revisited.

In the 1960s and early 70s H. Loukes’s research into the moral beliefs and values of teenagers encouraged much debate in educational circles and beyond. Some forty years on, with the original teenagers approaching senior citizenship, a team at The College Of St. Mark and St. John, Plymouth, UK (Marjon) have revisited some of the key issues raised by Loukes’s original discussions with young people. In the 21st century our world is much changed. Old regimes have disappeared. Developments in technology have brought us both positive and negative aspects of globalization. There are new hopes and new fears and consequently different moral dilemmas. How does the modern teenager work out an acceptable values system? Do young people today still worry about the issues which concerned human beings on the threshold of adulthood in the 1960s? How have moral attitudes changed? Why have they changed? If secularization theory is accurate and institutional religion is in decline, how are beliefs, attitudes and values transmitted today?

This paper will outline the initial stages of Marjon’s ongoing research into modern teenage morality. Loukes’s original questionnaires, our starting point, will be revisited, together with the twenty-first century adjustments we found necessary in order to conduct meaningful conversations with teenagers. Gender, Ethnic and Cultural issues will be raised. The need for inclusive language, will be highlighted together with changing views on and awareness of the roles, rights and responsibilities of groups and individuals within society. The paper will claim that in a world of Religious Diversity, a detailed study of the new teenage morality is of vital importance. In addition to outlining the progress of our work to date, it will invite interested members of the seminar to forge links with the Marjon research team. Top

Theodore Brelsford - ”Clues for Understanding and Promoting Open and Committed Christian Faith: Interviews With Selected Open and Committed Christian Believers”

This paper reports on qualitative interviews research with a small sample of adults (13) deeply committed to their own particular Christian beliefs while also demonstrating active and open acceptance of other religions and other ways of believing. Interview questions focus on religious background and identity, core beliefs and changes in beliefs, educational experiences, attitudes regarding the relationship of personal beliefs to objective reality, attitudes toward divergent religious beliefs, and attitudes toward perceived conflicts between scientific understanding and religious understanding. Interviewees also completed a “Life Tapestry” inventory of geographic location and socio-economic circumstances, key relationships, uses and directions of the self, life marker events, events and conditions in society, images of God, centers of value and power, and centers of authority across their life span. In conversation with theories of cognitive development (Robert Kegan), faith development (James Fowler), and epistemic pluralism (Lorraine Code), this paper seeks to discern patterns in the lives, experiences, and attitudes of this sample group to provide increased understanding of open and committed Christian faith, and provide clues for approaches to religious education that may nurture this kind of faith. Top

Mette Buchardt - Identity Politics in the Classroom. Construction of School-Subject and Identity in RE

The paper will seek to introduce my Ph.D. project, a study of the micro-political strategies concerning religion and identity among teachers and students/pupils at classroom level (State schools; Folkeskolen), a classroom study concerning the practice of Religious Education in Danish State Schools.

The main focus of the project is how on the one hand subject and content and on the other hand identity of the agents is constructed in the Classroom in teacher-pupil interaction. The objective is to analyze the discursive space for students/pupils to construct and conceptualize identity (students/pupils with an “ethnic,” cultural and religious minority as well as a majority background). One of the main purposes of the project is to study classroom interaction as a process of Culturalization. The Study seeks to clarify how the battles and negotiations on macro level concerning religion, culture and nation, e.g. in the public debate on Religious Education (RE), are recontextualized (Bernstein) on a micro-level.

The theoretical frame of the project is a combination of Bourdieus practice-theory and Discourse Analysis (Foucault and Fairclough). That means that the project investigates the discoursive practice in connection with other forms of social practice in the class room. The project is using Bourdieus concept of Field and Habitus/Capital as a theoretical frame in connection with Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA e.g. Fairclough 1992). CDA is used for analysing how meaning is constituted and constructed in classroom dialogues and interviews with teachers and students/pupils. The paper will focus on the theoretical frame, research-design and examples of preliminary findings. Top

Trevor Cooling - The Challenge of Passionate Religious Commitment for Education in a World of Religious Diversity

Passionate religious commitment is often perceived to present a threat to the vision for a common approach to religious education for all in religiously plural societies. There are particular concerns when such passion is linked to forms of religious belief that preach ”absolute” truth. Is it possible for such passionate religious believers to work with others of a different persuasion in the pursuit of harmony and mutual understanding? Or will they inevitably pursue the interests of their own religious beliefs in the name of truth?

This paper will consider this question by reference to exemplary writings from believers who have a passionate commitment to truth. Particular attention will be paid to the humanist and Christian traditions. It will be suggested that such believers can make a positive contribution to religious education in a world of religious diversity as long as they can make an epistemological distinction between a controversial truth and an established truth.

The issue at stake is an ethical one. Passionate believers often interpret failure to ”stand for truth” as disloyalty to their religious beliefs. However this does not take account of the ethical demands laid on them by their religious beliefs. It is therefore one-sided in its perspective. It will be argued that believers who are as passionate about the ethical demands of their faith as they are about its doctrines can actually contribute more positively to education in a world of religious diversity than those who adopt more relativistic understandings of truth. Top

Terence Copley - Secular Indoctrination versus Religious Education – the western dilemma?

Western society is culturally programmed to be wary of religious indoctrination. But it is much less aware of secular indoctrination tendencies in education and the media. In a society which is intellectually hostile to institutional Christianity, more favourable to ’other religions’, uncritical of alternative spiritualities and in which the secularisation hypothesis is severely challenged, a secularisation tendency is detectably at work, even within some religious education. Using Terence Copley’s recent book, Indoctrination, Education & God: the Struggle for the Mind (London, SPCK, 2005, 0 281 05682) as a starting point, this paper explores the implication of this and more recent research on this issue at the University of Exeter. Top

Marian de Souza - Religious education leadership in a time of religious diversity: The role of spiritual intelligence

In the contemporary social, cultural and educational climate in Australia, Religious Education is perceived by many as a challenging subject to teach. In fact, there would be some who would perceive their role as religious educators to be a counter cultural exercise in the everyday life of many western societies. In particular, the topic - young people and religion - continues to receive varying degrees of attention from parents and professionals who work with young people within different sectors in society, most often with the recognition that the distance between young people and traditional religious institutions is ever widening.

Other elements that have significance are also influenced by the social and political context, that is, the pluralist nature and terrorist-aware situation of Australian society, and indeed, of many parts of the world. Any leader today is faced with the impact brought about by the levels of diversity which permeate society at the wider and broader level, and which sometimes may enter into the community groups that they are trying to lead. Leadership in such situations needs to be aware, interested and responsive requiring a considerate, flexible and inclusive world view which encourages all members of the community to feel a sense of belonging; where they may take pride in their particular contributions to the mix of Catholic thinking and behaviour and which, perhaps, may help to transform their existing communities into thinking and inclusive people. These are characteristics of spiritual intelligence and this paper will examine its role in religious education leadership for existing times. Top

Astrid Dinter - RE in an Age of Genetic Engineering

Not all visions in the field of genetic engineering are realized yet, but some of them are already. So genetic testing, pre-implantation diagnostics, DNA-Chips and genetic therapy are part of the public debates about human genetic engineering and some of these new techniques do have significant implications for our everyday life already.

But this development within genetic engineering is not a neutral one. It can be shown that model-building in genetics is already connected with implicit axioms which are partially connected with metaphysical implications. This is especially true for human genetic engineering. Here questions have to be focused that reach towards the basic ground of the human condition: What is a human being and what will it be in the future?

The metaphysical implications, the crucial anthropological questions as well as the impact on everyday-life make the questions raised by genetic engineering an important issue for RE. Adolescents have to be prepared to cope with the described situation deriving from the development within genetic engineering, that in some cases can already have implications for their everyday-life at this point (e.g. when applying for a job). For discussing these issues empirical analysis about the way ethical decision making happens during adolescence is necessary. And the possible impact of religion for teaching these issues has to be discussed. The goal of this presentation is to develop a first step of a concept of RE within the age of genetic engineering. Top

Petro du Preez - Dialoguing human rights values as a means to understand religious diversity: a conceptual clarification

“This is part of what I consider dialogue – for people to realise what is on each other’s minds without coming to any conclusions or judgments. In a dialogue we have to sort of weigh the question a little, ponder it a little, feel it out.” David Bohm

Dialogue as a means of facilitation in a religiously and culturally diverse environment such as South Africa may assist learners and teachers to construct shared meaning. When universal and communal values such as human rights values are being facilitated, the value of dialogue becomes even more prominent, specifically towards creating meaning beyond religious and cultural boundaries. It seems therefore appropriate to ask whether dialogue can contribute to the construction of shared meaning regarding human rights values in a religiously and culturally diverse environment. Dialogue requires individuals to identify and suspend their judgments and assumptions, that they should listen, inquire, and engage reflectively to contribute to the construction of meaning. Whether such requirements are indeed possible is another question, since one might assume that religious and cultural differences will have a vast influence on the type of dialogue one will eventually engage in.

This paper presents the philosophical and theoretical underpinning of a three year research project in collaboration with four South African universities entitled: Understanding human rights through different belief systems: intercultural and interreligious dialogue. This presentation will attempt to clarify the concepts human rights values and dialogue with regard to the diverse environments in which these concepts manifest themselves. This will be done in the fashion Bohm suggests namely to weigh the question a little, ponder it a little, feel it out. Top

Gloria Durka - Cultivating The Religious Imagination: The Educational Challenge For A Post-Modern World

This paper will consider the unique challenges presented to educators today in their efforts to cultivate and release the religious imagination. From the prism of the arts a crtitique of post-modern educational assumptions will be offered. Special emphasis will be given to the aesthetic dimension of the religious educational process in an effort to surface criteria for judging the adequacy and appropriateness of educational models. The contributions of Maria Harris to “teaching and the religious imagination” will be highlighted as especially congenial to promoting conversation within and among religious bodies.

The possibilities and limitations of teaching will undergird the paper and specific recommendations for teachers will be proposed. Top

Kath Engebretson - God’s got your back: teenage boys talk about God.

This paper reports on ongoing research that has gathered data from 1254 boys between 15 and 18 years, on the ways in which they experience and express spirituality. The focus of this paper is on the boys’ articulated experiences of the transcendent. The paper reports on these, claiming that transcendent experiences occurred for the boys in times that involved risk, fear, challenge, need, and loss. Their sense of God was personal, one who was always there, who understood, who listened, who cared and protected. The paper then critically analyses why quite a small percentage of boys who were given the opportunity to respond to questions about their experiences of God did so, in comparison with the much higher percentage who answered the other questions on the questionnaire that was used in the research study. Finally, questions are posed that will guide the research as it continues. Top

Trond Enger - Earthquakes, experience of God and RE: Hjalmar Sundén revisited

In all religious traditions God’s main responsibility is to distribute the right fate for the individual person and for society, which presupposes that the whole of reality is in God’s power. Over the last couple of centuries something unique has happened in the history of religion: In the established Christianity God has been dismissed as ruler and distributor of human fate. As a striking example we shall compare the reactions - among the Christians - on two of the catastrophes in modern times which have claimed most attention: the earthquake and following tsunami in Lisbon on All Saints’ Day 1755 and the tsunami in South East Asia on Boxing Day 2004.

We will look into what has caused this change: theologically a concept of God has developed that does not allow to connect God with any evil; psychologically the modern mature Christian has lost “mythical consciousness”. To mature religiously in modern concept of RE means to wipe out the child’s “mythical consciousness”.

Problem to be discussed: Do we in modern RE by our concept of God and by wiping out the child’s ”mythical consciousness” reduce its possibilities to experience God’s presence in all that happens? We will look into Hjalmar Sundén’s role theory and his understanding of Jesus’ parables in order to bring us nearer a sort of answer to this decisive question for all RE. Top

Leona M. English - Silence, Exile and Cunning: Postcolonial Conversations of Religious Diversity

An implicit assumption in the conference theme - Religious Education in a World of Religious Diversity - is that (a) something is wrong, i.e., diversity, and (b) we ought to do something to prepare or “cope” with it. The attendant hope is that a certain kind of praxis might be developed to fix that which is broken or to fortify oneself for its onslaught. This paper addresses the modernistic assumptions that are embedded in the theme and then bring in the insights of postcolonial theory as a way to reposition and re-imagine the issue of “religious diversity” which is a form of othering, or re-creating exotic and neocolonial categories such as diverse, foreign, eastern and uncivilized.

Building on the work of Bhabha (e.g. 1990, 1994), this paper stretches the conceptual toolbox of religious education to embrace questions of identity, politics and practice. A postcolonial perspective is used to move religious education beyond the binaries of us/them and religious/non-religious, and to imagine the in-between hybrid or third spaces in which we can work to create practices that are inclusive, ethical and democratic. Third space encourages us to be shape-shifters, resistance fighters, and boundary crossers, people who understand the intermingling and lack of certainty in our own identity and in our own religious allegiances, as well as in others. Using the postcolonial concepts of hybridity and third space the paper “troubles” the category of difference and suggests questions that might be asked of the field of religious education and those who practice in it. Top

Judith Everington - Learning to teach about and from religion: the challenge for trainee RE teachers and their trainers.

This paper explores the process of, and issues raised by learning to teach a religious education based upon the principles of ‘learning about’ and ‘learning from religion’. In order to create an effective relationship between these principles, teachers must create opportunities for pupils to make connections between their own worlds and those of religions so that the one illuminates and stimulates reflection on the other. To do this teachers cannot simply rely on knowledge gained from a study of religions; they must be able to enter, empathetically, in to the world of the pupil and the world of the religious tradition/community/person. Given the diversity of pupils’ backgrounds and the diversity of and within religious traditions this is challenging for experienced teachers, but it is especially so for beginners.

Data drawn from an ongoing study of English trainee RE teachers is used to suggest that initially, beginners draw heavily on their own life experiences and beliefs when attempting to enter the worlds of pupils and religions and create connections between them. For some trainees this results in misrepresentations of the religious material and/or a failure to recognise and refer to the life worlds of pupils from backgrounds that differ from their own. The paper presents an account and evaluation of training methods aimed at enabling trainees to enter their own life worlds, those of their pupils and of the people that they teach about, and to create an RE that can be true to all. Top

Marike Faber - A World of Religious Diversity within a Christian School

Dutch society can be typified by a double trend: on the one hand secularization is rising while on the other hand religious diversity increases as well. This creates a paradoxical situation for the Dutch education system for the structures of pillarization (‘verzuiling’) are still alive. Religious schools may formally lay a claim to a Christian identity though in fact most of them have a religious heterogeneous teacher and pupil population. Hence we could speak of a world of religious diversity within these schools. Certainly this situation is not unique to the Netherlands; various European countries can be identified by similar processes.

In my contribution I will look at the reasons of legitimacy a religiously affiliated school proposes for still adhering to and even claiming a specific religious identity given its secularized and religious multifarious population. It will do so from the perspective of institutional theory and more specifically its sociological version. Sociological institutionalism originates from organizational literature and seeks explanations for why organizations (in this case schools) take on specific sets of institutional forms, procedures or symbols and emphasizes how such practices are spread through organizational fields (here religiously affiliated schools). In order to support and elaborate on this theoretical stance illustrations will be made by means of a case study: a private but publicly funded Christian school in one of the larger cities of The Netherlands that can be characterized as encompassing a world of religious diversity. Top

Rene Ferguson - Student perceptions of human rights and their understanding of interreligious and intercultural dialogue

Student perceptions of human rights and their understanding of the concepts interreligious and intercultural may influence how they contribute to creating a culture of human rights values and open dialogue. This notion seems to be complicated by the students' own cultures and religions in relation to the diverse environments in which they find themselves. Students' backgrounds may also influence the way intrinsic knowledge on issues such as dialogue and human rights values have been constructed.

This paper is a presentation of the first part of a qualitative research project undertaken in collaboration with four South African universities entitled Understanding human rights through different belief systems: intercultural and interreligious dialogue. Student teachers from three of the universities were included to ensure that diverse responses were accumulated. Students completed semi-structured questionnaires designed to determine their perceptions of human rights, the link between human rights and values and their understanding of the concepts interreligious and intercultural. The questions were organised into categories relating to understanding human rights in their personal capacity, their occupational capacity and their training programmes. The aim of the analysis of the questionnaires was to determine whether there were any semantic relationships (discourse analysis) between the various responses in order to create clusters (domain analysis) to elucidate similarities and differences in the three university settings. This presentation attempts to provide a perspective on student perceptions of human rights and their understanding of the concepts interreligious and intercultural to inform the establishment of a classroom culture conducive to human rights values and open dialogue. Top

Gary Finlay - Christian Anthropology and Religious Education

This paper examines, from a Catholic perspective, the significance of Christian Anthropology for the teaching of religious education. After exploring the assumptions behind a Christian view of the human person it considers the relationship between this anthropology and the approaches and methodology of religious education, particularly at school level.

The paper draws on the writings of Jaques Maritain, Christopher Dawson, Andrew Wright, Richard Eckersley and others to consider the proposition that religious education based in a Christian Anthropology has a key role to play in performing a vital task of any culture, that is, to provide a ’web of meaning’. Top

Leslie Francis - God images and moral values among Protestant and Catholic adolescents in Northern Ireland

From the empirical scientific perspective religiosity is recognised as a complex multi-faceted construct. An emerging strand of research concerned with the role of religion in adolescent development has drawn attention to the importance of God images in predicting such areas as self-esteem and empathy. The present study extends the theoretical basis of this strand of research to examine the role of God images in predicting moral values among a sample of 1,099 sixth form pupils in Northern Ireland. After controlling for individual differences in personality, denominational affiliation and church attendance, God images emerge as a significant predictor of moral values. Top

Carsten Gennerich - Cooperation of Roman Catholic and Protestant teachers in the classroom – Differential Experiences in a German Study

In a questionnaire-study Roman Catholic and Protestant teachers (ca. N = 100) were asked to evaluate their experiences with an institutionalized project of cooperative religious education. The study focuses on teachers’ goals and values, subjects taught, received support, method used, types of cooperation, problems encountered, and percieved outcome on students side. The paper presents the results from a differential perspective to answer the question, how teachers attitutes influence their way of teaching and experiencing RE in a cooperative setting (e.g., Catholic and Protestant students in one classroom, teaching together with a colleague from the other confession). It inquires whether the teachers show different preferences for subject matters and teaching methods, depending on their values. It also shows, how the teachers approach the task of managing the cooperation between Catholic and Protestant students, and how this determines their assessment of learning experiences on the students side. Problems and perspectives of cooperative religious education will be critically evaluated. Is there a most effective type of cooperation between Roman Catholic and Protestant teachers and students? Top

Critical Religious Literacy offers one way of responding to the pluralism of the contemporary world. Literacy is not only a matter of acquiring and decoding, comprehending and producing but includes the ability to access, analyse, evaluate and communicate information in a variety of modes. Literacy has been reconceived as a plurality of literacies or multi-literacies. An expanded concept of text operates to include texts of all types and cultural contexts.

In this paper I argue that while many religious education texts provide basic information, they rarely provide opportunities for critical investigation of religious matters. If we continue to reduce learning about religion to the process of listing, labelling and categorizing then religious understanding will remain at the level of factual knowledge. Religious education should incorporate elements of critical pedagogy so that students develop informed critical insight. To be able to critique a text presupposes that students have been engaged as critical readers in relationship to texts and the world.

If elements of critical literacy and critical pedagogy are applied to the teaching of religion, students may learn to make connections between what is new and what is familiar and to transform learning into active knowledge. If through this process levels of religious literacy are lifted from recognition to reflective engagement and ultimately to critical literacy students might be more adequately prepared to engage in today's religiously diverse world. Top

Bruce Grelle - Learning to Live with Our Deepest Differences: Teaching about Religions in U.S. Public Schools

This paper will explain how learning about the world’s religions in public elementary and secondary schools contributes to education for citizenship in religiously pluralistic societies. More specifically, this paper will discuss how the California 3 R's Project (Rights, Responsibility, Respect) has sought to help schools and local communities deal with the opportunities and challenges associated with expanding ethnic and religious diversity. Launched in 1993, the 3 R's Project is a non-profit, non-partisan teacher and community education initiative with a statewide organization and well-developed agenda for working with public school teachers, administrators, and community members. Through discussion and case studies, participants learn how to use First Amendment principles to negotiate conflicts and to work toward consensus on issues of diversity. The paper will address the constitutional separation of church and state in the U.S.; the range of ethical, legal, and educational issues that arise in connection with religion and public education in the U.S.; and the potential applicability of this approach to other national and cultural settings. Top

Gunnar J. Gunnarsson - Life interpretation and values among Icelandic teenagers

The aim of the paper is to examine and explain some important aspects of the life interpretation and central values of Icelandic teenagers and to explore how they express themselves about their views and values, and evaluating their ability to do so.

The methodology chosen was a qualitative one, where interviews were taken with 24 teenagers in the ninth grade in elementary school in Iceland. One year later 2/3 of the group were interviewed again. The interviews centred on six themes: Religion and life interpretation; values and value judgements; joy and happiness; difficulties, sadness and death; school and free time; self-identity and the future.

In the paper the aim is to focus specifically on the major trends found within the data, on the basis of the themes dealt with in the interviews, and then examine how three or four individuals express themselves about the influence of religion on their lives, the image of God, religious practice, the value of religion, etc. The interviews show that for many of the young people interviewed religion is an inherent part of their life interpretation and self-identity, which is perhaps understandable since faith and religion constitute a real and active part of their environment. But the interviews also show some distinguishing features of the perceptions of the teenagers.

The concepts central to the analysis and classification of the data collected are life interpretation, existential questions, self-identity and values. Top

Mary Hayward - 'Not a dead religion' Teachers' aspirations in teaching Christianity to students in the 11-14 age range

This paper is one outcome of an ongoing project in the University of Warwick, UK, under the title 'An investigation into the place and future of Christianity in Religious Education with particular reference to KS3 in maintained community schools and schools with a religious character in England.' In the autumn term of 2004 the project conducted a survey among teachers throughout England relating to the teaching of Christianity at Key Stage 3 (that is for young people in the 11-14 age range). The paper will report on some of the findings of the survey paying particular attention to the aspirations teachers had for their students in approaching the Christian tradition in religious education. Top

Elina Hella - Relational Approach to Religious Education - Research Perspective of Phenomenography and Variation Theory of Learning

Opportunities for learning about religion in religious education are analysed using an empirical research methodology perspective called 'phenomenography' (Marton, 1981). Phenomenographic research started in the 1970's when a group of Swedish educational researchers began to study qualitative differences in students' learning of the subject matter. Phenomenographic research investigates how differences in individuals' experience of a particular phenomenon are linked to their ability to discern the critical aspects of that phenomenon. The culmination of this methodology with a need for a theoretical explanation of the empirical findings has led to development of 'Variation Theory of learning'. The theory emphasises that for learning to take place variation must be experienced. According to the theory, in order to discern a certain religion, for example, one must be aware of different religions. In other words, variation in the dimension of religion must be experienced. Variation can be used as a tool for expanding students' awareness of religion and spirituality, offering a relational approach to religious education. It does this by providing a specific didactic tool to help students to engage with a subject matter of religious education as an object of learning. Suggestions for using variation in religious education classroom are outlined by using examples from a phenomenographic study carried out in an upper secondary religious education in Finland. Implications for further research are also discussed. Top

Mark K. Hillis - Clash and Confluence: Roles of Narrative and Worlds of Meaning in Religious Education.

Research into the roles of narrative in religious education suggests that encounters with religious story may enhance and confirm existing worlds of meaning. However, such encounters may also lead into disruptive and transformative engagements with alternative worlds. How may an understanding of roles of narrative in religious education enable discourse in the midst of religious diversity? There is always potential for clash or confluence in acts of religious storytelling.

This paper engages questions concerning the 'otherness' of religious narratives and the positive and negative potential for engagement with diversity in the act of narration. What is needed for religious educators to work creatively with such potential? Top

John Hull - Diverse Bodies: Religious Education and Disability

In Trafalgar Square, the heart of London, there is now a statue of Alison Lapper, born without arms and depicted now naked and pregnant in stone next to the statues of the heroes of British military splendour. In the controversy, some have said that Alison's achievements are not comparable; others that the statue is not beautiful enough. Cultural images of the body profoundly affect social attitudes toward the world's 650 million disabled people. The educational problem has two facets: to educate disabled people and to educate disabling societies. The significance of religion in both these tasks is increasingly clear. Religions, on the whole, portray models of divine and human perfection, deviations from which are ascribed as demonic or as the ravages of sin. Even the healing stories found in so many religious traditions suggest attitudes of compassion and a desire for the restoration of a beautiful normality, which can further depress the low self-esteem which is often the experience of disabled people. On the other hand, the modern human rights agenda demands full citizenship and personhood for everyone. What steps can religious education take in order to both endorse disabled humanity and to reform cultural assumptions? What steps are necessary for able-bodied teachers if they also are to be involved in these tasks? Top

Dzintra Iliško - Pedagogical Challenges Of Educating For Authentic Religious Identity And Responsible Pluralism

The author discusses that educating for authentic religious identity and for responsible pluralisms are intrinsically related and not mutually exclusive concerns.

In contemporary Latvia, a variety of old and new religions and worldviews have taken their place in the map of fundamental life options side by side with so called world religions. The author highlights that neither fundamentalism nor relativism is theologically and ethically correct as a way of educating for responsible pluralism and sensitivity towards the other. Even within the traditional religions there is evidence of a variety of distinct ways of experiencing core values. The author prompts how to educate responsible citizens who will embrace pluralism as a value in order to find ways to be distinctly oneself and yet in relationships to one another. In our postmodern age one begins to expect difference rather than a shared worldview even when approaching a neighbor or a family member. Consequently, education has to place greater emphasis on navigating difference and re-evaluating one's patterns of relatedness towards oneself, others, and the world.

The author discusses the challenge of the educator in teaching students to live in a postmodern world through an active engagement with difference and through seeking genuine understanding and embracing plurality and ambiguity. The complexity of our times should be perceived as a virtue to be celebrated not as a failure to make sense of one' s life and world, nor as a mere tolerance towards the other. Top

Rachael Jackson-Royal - Thinking Skills in Religious Education.

Since the year 2000 schools within England and Wales are required to use thinking skills, where applicable, when teaching children aged 11-13. This was implemented as thinking skills are believed to enhance the development of a child's cognitive abilities. Despite such an initiative, very little research has been undertaken to ascertain how these techniques could be used to develop the different cognitive abilities demanded by each subject discipline.

This paper is concerned with how thinking skills could be used to teach children aged 11-13 about religion by concentrating on two main areas. Firstly on the debate surrounding the use of thinking skills as a pedagogy; including various definitions of thinking skills and how they relate to theories of thinking and learning. Secondly how thinking skills could be used to develop the religious judgment of the child, as defined by Oser and Gmunder (1991). Religious Judgment refers to the area of cognition concerned with the creation and development of mental constructs that enable a person to comprehend and give meaning to issues of ultimate concern. Such constructions are particularly evident during significant life moments and are dealt with by the majority of the world religions. Oser and Gmunder (1991) argue that they undergo qualitative changes throughout ones' life passing through distinct and identifiable stages which can be researched. This paper will look at initial investigations concerning whether this type of cognition could be enhanced through the teaching of thinking skills. Top

Arto Kallioniemi - New Curricula for Minority Groups' Religious Education in Finland - An Example of RE in our world of Religious Diversity

In Finland we have a long history of minority groups' religious education. In Finnish tradition religious education is taught according to pupils' own religion in comprehensive schools. The concept "confessional" was replaced by a new concept "according to one's own religion" in the process of renewing the law freedom from religion in 2003. Most of the population of Finland is evangelical-Lutheran. Evangelical-Lutheran religious education is the form of the majority religious education in all the schools. In addition to evangelical-Lutheran RE in Finland there are many other forms of RE: e.g. Orthodox, Muslim, Adventist, Buddhism, Mormon, Catholic, Krishna and Anthroposophy Society religious education. The new curriculum for majority religious education was accepted in 2004.

After its acceptance beginnings were made to repair the new curricula for minority groups' religious education. All forms of religious education in Finland have the same general aims. Religious education should look at religion and the ethical dimension from the viewpoint of pupils' own development as well as a broader phenomenon in society.

In my paper the focus is to investigate how an individual's religion is interpreted in minority groups' religious education curricula. The study also looks at what kinds of elements are emphasized in each curriculum. The research method is content analysis. The new curricula are investigated inductively: from specific to general units.

The content of research material describes the investigated phenomenon and the basic idea of the analysis is to build up a clear description of the phenomenon. After analyzing it was found that each curriculum has its own specific features. The minority groups' religious education curricula are good examples of religious education curricula in a world of religious diversity. Top

Religious diversity characterizing the contemporary world could have positive and negative implications for harmony and social order necessary for human survival, well-being and progress. Religious education has a mandate and the capability of harnessing the good benefits of religious diversity and controlling negative impacts, to promote positive human values for human benefit.

Using illustrations from the Kenyan case this paper addresses the role of religious education in fostering unity and peace and controlling conflict. Kenya has for the last five years been undergoing constitutional review. One of five contentious issues is that of Kadhi courts. Christians feel that these courts should not be in the constitution because Kenya is a secular state. Muslims on the other hand would wish them retained.

To deal with this contention, the Referendum draft introduced religious courts providing for any recognized religion in Kenya to come up with its own courts. Contrary to the expectations this has caused even more controversy. Muslims, Christians and other religions are now expressing dissatisfaction and the possibility of religious conflict is real. The specific question that this paper addresses is: What is the role of religious education in defusing conflict among the diverse religious groups in Kenya in the face of constitutional review? In the process of answering this central question, lessons that other situations of religious diversity may learn from the Kenyan case will emerge. Top

Yaacov Katz - Jewish Education in the Israeli State Secular Education System

The Israeli state educational system comprises two major Jewish sectors; state religious and state secular. In the state religious sector, religious education is based on the premise that students should be educated to believe in the orthodox form of Judaism and to perform precepts which characterize this particular stream. Therefore religious education in this sector is based on traditional sources and texts that are oriented to the accepted philosophies prevalent in orthodox Judaism.

On the other hand, religious education in the state secular educational sector is designed to provide a wide spectrum of pluralistic Jewish philosophies to the students without expressing a preference for any particular stream. Orthodox, conservative, reform and cultural religious Jewish philosophies are included in the state secular religious education curriculum and emphasis is placed on providing students with the necessary basic knowledge inherent in the philosophy of each stream so that students will be able to make educated decisions regarding their personal preferences regarding religious belief, observance and knowledge.

Thus bible, oral law and Jewish philosophy is taught in state secular schools, not so much in the form of religious sources and texts, but rather as content dealing with Jewish heritage, Jewish culture, Jewish identity and Jewish peoplehood. Students are encouraged to develop an ability to critically analyze texts in the belief that they will be able to make evidence based decisions that will guide their ability to affiliate with the Jewish people through any of the streams that exist within Judaism. Top

Recep Kaymakcan - Confessional Or Pluralistic Religious Learning In Turkey? An empirical research on Turkish adolescents' attitudes to pluralism

Turkey is a majority Muslim populated secular country. Religious education is a compulsory regular school subject in primary and secondary schools. The influence of the traditional confessional religious education can be observed in the teaching of Islam and other religions up to recent times. Primary RE curriculum changed in 2000 and the new secondary RE curriculum is also re-introduced in 2005. During this process the content and pedagogy of RE have been discussed. Although the shortcomings of traditional teaching of Islam and other religions were generally recognised what kind of RE should be implemented is a matter of debate. In other words, RE in schools is in a transitional period.

In this paper, after brief reference to recent changes in RE in schools, the empirical findings of the 2005 research on multi-religiousness in Turkey (the scale was developed by Ziebertz) will be presented. The data was collected from 5 different cities in Turkey in 2005 among secondary school students. Total sample size is 901. The following issues will be explained in the paper:
1. How does Ziebertz's "Multi-religiousness scale", which aims to indicate dimensions of models of RE, work in the Turkish context?
2. Turkish data on multi-religiousness analysed in terms of variables such as gender, school type and religiousness.

Critical evaluation of the findings of the study in connection with the present RE implementation and religiosity of wider Turkish society, and to make suggestions for further policy development in RE. Top

The notion of "Christian mission" has changed considerably since the times of the heyday of the missionary movement between 1850-1960 when it was mostly represented by its "Crusader model" (Dorr 2000, 222). The "Alternative model" came in the recent four decades to substitute the former one but still churches urgently seek clarification about what the Christian mission is or should be in the modern world. Imaginative approaches to describing mission appeared, such as the "sending out image", the "gathering in image" and the "solidarity image" (Dorr 2000, 189, 190, 191). Each of them now struggle to explain and define the role and goal of the Christian mission in the 21st century.

In generalising the role of Christianity in the world, and in describing the historical types of Christianity - namely, the Jewish type of Christianity, the Hellenistic (or Greek) type and the Universal type of Christianity (Bowen 1996, 3) -  researchers at the same time seek for similar juxtapositions with the Christian religious education. If Christian mission is not optional (Brown 1997, 24) and if it should be re-evaluated, concerning its modern representation in the different parts of the world (Dowsett 2001, 190), then the significance of the modern RE takes on new dimensions. The fact of the considerable changes in the cultural and religious environment which took place in Europe and in other parts of the world in the last decade or so, now require new re-evaluation and new interpretation of the RE as found in the state educational structures. Now RE researchers argue for the necessity of international standards for RE (Schweitzer), and new national frameworks for RE are being now proposed by the educational authorities in some countries which pose on RE the role of the moral and social guardian in the lives of the young people as they are educated on how to better enter the new environment which changes in the matter of not decades but years and months.

What are then the connections between the modern developments in the Christian mission and the emerging international standards of RE? These will be considered in the article under the premise of God-human beings and religion-society relations in the modern world. Top

Fedor Kozyrev - A Step Toward a New Level of Interchurch and Interdisciplinary Partnership between RE Educators in Eastern and Central Europe

For religious educators from the post-communist countries it seems more and more obvious that they have been developing in counter-phase with their colleagues from the West. This leads to a growing misunderstanding and produces situations where persons and social groups that share very similar values become opponents in political, ethical and pedagogical issues. This lack of coordination makes a significant contribution to the reactionary movement towards sectarianism and confessionalism in RE in Europe.

These three factors give a powerful impulse to interconfessional, international and interdisciplinary integration in RE; now the post-atheistic countries of Eastern Europe are entering this movement. A remarkable event took place in St. Petersburg on 6 October 2005. Educators from different countries and denominations founded the Association of Religion and Theology Educators in Eastern and Central Europe (ARTE) and adopted a Declaration indicating the main strategic lines and the main obstacles for the development of RE in their various countries. Top

Manfred Kwiran - "The necessity of a radical reform of Religious Education"

In the last few years the challenge of the primary task of education has been calling for a greater awareness of pupils for religious and cultural values present within a pluralistic society. The pupils should become able to reflect critically on their relationships to other people in their neighbourhood who might belong to a different religious tradition and cultural background. They should become more sensitive to others while at the same time being able to reflect their own religious faith commitment and action. They should realize how important it was for their relationships with others to be guided by goals of justice, solidarity and tolerance. The dream and idea of a common future within one's own society should include the perspective of one Europe and one world of diversity.

In Religious Education, however diverse it might be from one region to another, these goals for an interreligious and intercultural perspective need to be realized in the classroom and in the school culture itself. This requires a radical change of teachers training, continued education, new textbooks and especially a new didactic in the entire curriculum and especially in religious and value education. A few schools have already started to change their curriculum, but a basic consciousness of the necessity of such a change across the country, among the educators and religious educators or even the churches is on the whole still missing. Top

Johannes Laehnemann - Interreligious Textbook Research and Development. Importance, Experiences, Tasks - A Series of Propositions

The importance of textbook research - even in the age of audio-visual media - lies in the fact that school textbooks pass on fundamental knowledge to the younger generation: selected, methodologically prepared texts (historical and religious sources, stimulus texts, material for committing to memory), key themes, pictures and suggestions. In a situation of limited specialist training for teachers, textbooks often "teach the teachers" and play a substantial role in lesson planning.

Interreligious textbook research is of particular relevance in the face of the sweeping generalizations, prejudice and stereotypes regarding other religions and cultures ("Islam is like this" - "The West is like that") that were, and still are, to be found in school textbooks. They are not infrequently reinforced by the media and can easily be misused for political ends. In the tension between a "Clash of Civilisations" and the "Dialogue among Civilisations" that is needed, school textbooks have an important task.

In the interreligious field the Cologne school textbook project "Islam in German school textbooks" (directed by A. Falaturi; U. Tworuschka) has led to a considerable improvement in the way Islam is represented in the school textbooks.

The Nuremberg/Rostock research project "The representation of Christianity in textbooks of countries with an Islamic tradition" (directors: J. Lähnemann; K. Hock; collaborators: P. Bartsch; W. Reiss) has demonstrated that school textbooks can provide a key to international educational and interreligious dialogue, in that:
1) they clarify the state of current awareness;
2) they reflect the theological and pedagogical scholarship in the respective country;
3) they facilitate dialogue through a clearly defined example.

Experiences of the research project will be demonstrated, a series of propositions will be explained. Top

David Lankshear - Commitment and Diversity amongst Teachers in Anglican Primary Schools

It is possible to argue that preparing pupils for a world of diversity is facilitated if the teachers whom they meet in their school represent or embody that diversity. One of the possible criticisms of the existence within the English and Welsh system of education of a significant number of Anglican primary schools is that such schools are unlikely to embody such diversity amongst their teaching staff.

In the Church of England report The Way Ahead (Dearing, 2001) the importance of the Christian vocation to teach was presented strongly. An expectation of Anglican primary school therefore will be that the teachers within them have a strong sense of their Christian vocation to teach.

As part of a study of the Christian vocation to teach a questionnaire was completed by a sample of teachers working in Anglican primary schools. This paper will use the results of the analysis of these questionnaires to discuss the following questions.
1. To what extent do the teachers working in Anglican primary schools represent a homogeneous or diverse group of professionals?
2. How far do teachers in Anglican primary schools share a commitment to their profession derived from their religious beliefs?

The conclusions will be presented in the context of strategies that have been identified elsewhere for teaching for diversity in Anglican primary schools. Top

Rune Larsson - Christian learning and teaching in diversity

One of the most fundamental tasks for a Church is learning and teaching. From the very beginning this was made in a plurality, deeply related to the culture. Just as the Christian creeds tell us: God was incarnated, took a human being in his own creation; the teaching of the Church was not be an abstraction but a person, Jesus Christ, living the faith in a very special place and time. Therefore a faithful Church that wants to teach in faithfulness has to let the Christian faith be reborn and take new form in every new place and time. The Church is never the owner of the faith. She always must listen and learn in two directions - to the culture of every special time and place as well as to her own history and presence with their interpreters and transformers of the faith in the community of faith.

My interest for my research is double: firstly I want to find out if and (if yes) how a group of Churches describe the learning and teaching task as one of the fundamental obligations for the Churches; secondly I want to see how they describe this educational task in terms of authority, authenticity, teachers and learners, contents and a few other elements.

For my research I try to keep very strictly to Church documents on some kind of official level, such as constitution texts and other policy documents or, if necessary, writings of people who can be seen as representative for the Church in question. Top

Heid Leganger-Krogstad - Competences and Basic Skills in the Syllabus for RE

The Curriculum for KRL (Christian Knowledge and Religious and Ethical Education) was revised in 2005 towards competence-based objectives and five basic skills were included. KRL is the first syllabus to be made compulsory as part of the primary and lower secondary school reform called "Kunnskapsløftet" (Knowledge Promotion) in Norway. As a member of the national syllabus planning group for RE, I experienced many conflicting demands and expectations from the government and educational authorities during the process. KRL is a common, compulsory subject with the possibility of only partial exemption. The syllabus could not demand competence that required participation in religious activities that pupils "on [the] basis of their own religion or philosophy of life, perceive as being the practice of another religion or adherence to another philosophy of life." (Educational Act 2-3a). Numerous questions are then raised: How does one give relevant insight into religions and combine the need for learning through experience without involving religious practice? Is the solution a cognitive-biased subject? How can one avoid letting the basic skills become the ultimate objectives? How does one incorporate the five basic skills: speaking, reading, writing, mathematics and information technologies without losing the subject-specific elements? Which subject-specific skills or competences ought to have been included? Top

Terence Lovat - Interfaith Religious Education: Concept and Method for an Age of Diversity

The paper derives from the author's long-term research in inter-religious dialogue, especially between Jews and Christians on the one hand and Hindus and Muslims on the other hand, and the ramifications of these research findings for religious education. The paper will explore the potential for those engaged in interfaith dialogue to come to enriched understanding not only about other religious traditions but about their own tradition and, indeed, themselves. The thesis behind the paper is that an age which is experiencing some of the worst features of diversity, rendered by historical and cultural misunderstanding and ignorance, requires a religious education response which is maximally informed by research which illustrates the potential for dialogue and encounter to make a difference to one's disposition and stance in the context of diversity.

The paper will summarize earlier research which provided evidence of the fairly common experience of Christians discovering the essence of their own religious heritage through exploration of, and in some cases conversion to, Hinduism and its derivatives and later research concerned with Jews who have trodden the same path. Furthermore, it will re-capture earlier theoretical research which explored the issues which both challenge but have potential to fortify the relationship between Muslims and those of Jewish or Christian faith Finally, the paper will provide some hard evidence of issues around interfaith dialogue and encounter for the Muslim minority community in Australia through the findings of a major research project in which the author is currently engaged. Top

Patricia Malone - An educational approach to Religious Formation in a time of changing paradigms.

The changing context of 21st century Australia has impacted on all institutions including Religious Congregations. This paper explores some of the changing paradigms of religious life and how these are reflected in one Australian congregation, the Sisters of St Joseph. A recent thesis of Barnett (2005) describes this period for the religious as being 'between two towns' where the nature and identity of the new destination is not clear. This paper explores some issues of transition and the challenge to articulate the group's identity in a way that is comprehensible within a multicultural diverse society.

This paper considers the changing paradigms of learning and their application to religious formation. It comments on the contribution to adult religious education of the 'four pillars of education for the 21st century', as set out in the UNESCO Report (Delors 1996). It analyses the way the documents of the Sisters of St Joseph have used these concepts to provide the framework for an adult education process for its new and continuing members. It concludes with some general points of application for ongoing religious formation within any group of believers. Top

Roseanne McDougall - "Like Treasure Buried in a Field…" A Review of Selected Literature on Religious Imagination

Religious Imagination in the literature of the Christian Tradition runs as a current from Christian antiquity up through the present day. A chronological approach to the literature enables the development of an interface with selected cultural aspects of the authors' milieux. Such contextual elements include religion, spirituality, philosophy, history, science, education and social history.

The chronological approach also provides a framework for comparative analysis between some historical periods and others. "Revelation," "grace" and "model" are among the key concepts which emerge. The roles of symbol, metaphor and paradigm are also highlighted. The thought of Christian authors, both Protestant and Catholic, is included in the review. Citations, from non-Christian or formerly-Christian authors, which are pertinent to Christian ideas and beliefs, are incorporated.

Analysis of the flow and ebb of the current of Religious Imagination as found in selected pieces of Christian religious literature and religiously related literature allows for critique from which implications may be drawn for Christian religious education and spirituality.

The scope of the review is limited to religious literature in Western Christianity. Some literature drawn from Non-Christian religious traditions, Eastern Christianity, philosophy, science, literary fiction, music and/or the arts is included in the review to the extent that it is judged to have direct bearing upon the focus of the review. Top

Stephen John McKinney, James C Conroy - Are Catholic Schools in Scotland Divisive?

Faith-based schools in Britain have been the object of close academic scrutiny and debate over the last five years. A number of recent studies have identified and examined some of the emergent themes: eg 'faith-based schools and social cohesion' and 'faith based schools and indoctrination' (Gardner et al, 2005, Parker-Jenkins et al, 2005, O'Hagen, 2006). The discussion concerning faith-based schooling and social cohesion incorprates a number of related themes that includes the divisiveness of faith-based schooling, though this discussion is focussed primarily on England and Wales (Pring, 2005, McLaughlin and Halstead, 2005, Parker- Jenkins et al, 2005).

This paper proposes to examine the question of the divisiveness of faith-based schooling within the Scottish context - a discussion dominated by Catholic schooling, ultimately the only major form of faith-based schooling in Scotland. The paper reports on a significant strand of a wider research project that examined the continued existence of Catholic schools in Scotland. The research methodology consisted of Review of Literature, newspaper analysis and Expert Interviews with Key Informants from educational, philosophical, sociological and ecclesiastical backgrounds. The paper, drawing on a conceptual framework constructed from wider and more localised concepts and understandings of divisiveness, examines the issue of divisiveness within the historical, contemporary and future existence of Catholic schools in Scotland. This paper concludes by reflecting on the deeper and more nuanced understanding of the nature of this issue, within the Scottish context, that emerged from the research. Top

Paul McQuillan - "From Original Vision to World Vision: The challenge for religious educators in western societies"

Robinson's (1977) study of the religious experience of childhood he titled "The Original vision", by which children had a natural capacity for insight that had no need to develop to a higher form. Children were capable of profound religious experience. The reality of this natural human capacity for religious experience has been confirmed in fields as diverse as sociology (Hardy, Hay, Tacey) and Brain Science (Newberg et. al., Ramachandran). Yet Hay believes that the underlying capacity in young people to recognise these experiences, the capacity for "relational consciousness" has been increasingly muted in western society.

Berger (1999) acknowledges the secularization of western culture and its likely invasion of the third world yet sees religion itself as resurgent in today's world. A better description than secularization might be a shift from institutionalisation. People long for a means of expression, many reject traditional ones.

Futurist Sohail Inayatullah (2002) sees youth as key to a future world yet searching in different dimensions: In the Third world it is the global teenager and huge numbers all moving to the city in the hope of escaping the tyranny of community and poverty in the village (while in the West, there is movement away from the tyranny of individuality in the city and a desperate search for community). Religious educators in the west are challenged to respond by helping young people recognize their capacity for relational consciousness, renewing the means of expression and building understanding of different experiences and expressions among their peers around the globe. Top

C.F. Melchert - How can religious education be moral?

In our world of religious and political diversity, where religious and ideological traditions claim exclusive and competing visions of what is true or false, what is just or unjust, what is moral or immoral, indeed, what is reasonable or unreasonable; how can religious education be moral? Using the insights and analyses of David T. Hansen, philosopher of education, these issues and questions will be addressed. Top

Karlo Meyer - Tolerance to the other religions? The Bible and RE - Biblical foundations for teaching world religions in a world of religious diversity

This lecture starts with the treatment of other religions reported in the Bible followed by dogmatical arguments; taking these arguments we finally come to suggestions for how to teach world religions in RE in a way which follows the biblical testimony and the need for a dialogue in respect of the other.

In the Bible, we find many different ways to deal with other religions. 1500 years bring a huge variety of experience with religions. On the first sight you can find patterns of a rude neglect: In the first testament there is the story of Phineas killing an Israelite because he meets a girl from another religion. In the second testament, there are excluding statements e.g. that only Jesus Christ is the door to God. In the historical situation of these texts the other religions threaten the Jewish tribes and the small Christian community so that they built a clear barrier for all the others.

But there is more in the Bible than that: there are stories of community with other religions, there are the Biblical authors taking up poems, hymns and tales from the surrounding culture. There is the commandment of love and this is explicitly connected with the strangers who were during these times religious strangers. Trying to put this variety in an order we find seven categories dealing with other religions on different levels. In the commandment of love, the lecture finds measurement to deal with the diversity in a responsible way. Finally we draw first outlines for teaching world religions in a world of religious diversity and in a way grounded in the Biblical testimony. Top

Reinhold Mokrosch - The ethic of Dietrich Bonhoeffer - suitable for coping with today's ethical challenges? Considerations on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Bonhoeffer's death and the 100th anniversary of his birthday

During the period of his resistance against the Nazi-Regime from 1939 until the day when he was arrested on 5th April 1943 D. Bonhoeffer drew up his theological ethic on leaflets and loose sheets. This ethic does not contain any principles (in opposition to Kant) and does not separate between secular and Christian values (in opposition to the new Lutheranism). As a member of the Resistance he justified statements that still today make people sit up and take notice such as "You have to break the 5th commandment (the prohibition to kill) in order to fulfill it". Oh! Or: "He who wants to act in a responsible manner must be prepared to become guilty!" Is Bonhoeffer's ethic still relevant today, on the 100th anniversary of his birthday (4th February 2006) and the 60th anniversary of his death (9th of April 1945)? Can it still be the basis for moral education? This is what I would like to discuss. Top

Sheldon Mwesigwa - 'A Single Faith Syllabus With A Multi-Faith Element': The Way Forward For A Religiously Sensitive Ugandan Nation.

I intend to present a paper that proposes the promotion of 'a single faith syllabus with a multi-faith element' as a remedy to the current dilemma of promoting a single faith RE curriculum in Uganda's religiously founded but public primary and secondary schools. The paper contends that the historical religious conflicts in Uganda set the scene for evangelization and subsequent introduction of a denominational and divisive educational system. They psyche of Ugandans has greatly been affected by these developments and this has resulted in the failure to fully appreciate any study about religion, other than one's own.

The recent government attempt to substitute Religious Education with Moral Education is an indicator of its dissatisfaction with the current confessional RE curriculum. The government's position on RE as reflected in the 1992 Government White Paper on Education, relegates RE to an optional subject instead of a key subject of the curriculum.

Since Uganda's first national goal of education is 'promotion of national unity and harmony', it is pertinent that a multi-faith element is introduced to enable students develop understanding of other religious traditions, and, to develop respect and tolerance towards members of those religious traditions. Notwithstanding the national need for students to engage with other religious traditions, the main component of the syllabus would be the promotion of a single faith syllabus that promotes spiritual growth within student's respective religious traditions. Provision for a confessional RE curriculum would address the legitimate need for a religiously sensitive public to expose students to their respective religious traditions. Top

Hideko Omori - Liberal Religious Education in Japan: From Jinzo Naruse's Perspective

This paper is an attempt to look at what pluralistic religious insights originated from Japanese soil and how we can estimate the extent to which liberal religious education is based on pluralism. This study considers the educational thought of Jinzo Naruse(1858-1919), who was both the founder of Japan Women's University established in 1901 and the promoter of the Concordia Movement developed during 1912-1941. Naruse was the embodiment of Christianity grafted upon Bushido, whose ancient roots were Buddhism, Shintoism, and Confucianism. After his conversion, he was ordained and engaged in education through Christian schools with evangelical faith. However, his orthodox views evolved into more liberal ones.

When he started the nonsectarian Japan Women's University, one of three principles he raised was 'True Conviction.' This is similar to John Dewey's idea of 'the religious.' Naruse considered true conviction as essential to all religions, irrespective of creeds or practices. He expected that a woman would possess her own belief as the foundation of who she is as a person. He suggested nine methods for religious education, some of which might be counted among those used by public schools. His pluralistic religious stance is also acknowledged in the Concordia Movement. Through the Association Concordia, he tried to promote mutual understanding and alliance between religions of the world. Naruse's thoughts regarding religious education contributed outwardly to the pursuit of common ends among religious diversity, while they are inclined to cause the decisive conversion to be lost inwardly. Top

Evelina Orteza y Miranda - Religious Diversity and Religious Education

John Hick provides evidence to support his view that a pluralist hypothesis regarding religion is superior to claims of exclusivistic traditions. Does the reality of religious diversity then obligate one to subject to examination one's religious beliefs and take the risk of losing confidence in them and giving them up? Or, should one remain a "contented religious exclusivist"? The question is necessitated by the fact that colleagues and friends who are rational, sincere and honest in their manners of acquiring religious beliefs, do come to hold diverse religious beliefs. But who is right or wrong and how do we arrive at such a conclusion? What could be an arguable philosophical status of a religious exclusivist? How should religious education deal with religious diversity?

A religious exclusivist is obligated to develop a critical stance toward her religious beliefs. The other question is whether religious beliefs can remain religious beliefs if they are held tentatively while undergoing scrutiny. The critical stance hinges on our duty to "maximize truth and minimize error," crucial to religious beliefs because of their influence on one's actions toward others and the world.

Religious diversity encourages the teaching and promotion of tolerance, in its weak and strong senses. I argue that a more moral consideration is to go beyond strong tolerance to acceptance of religious diversity.

Neutrality is argued to be a commendable teaching manner. It encourages students to develop their own grounds for accepting one religious tradition over others. Religious educators and students must be versed in the intellectual substance of various religious traditions and skilled in handling the tools of philosophy of religious education in assessing them. Top

Uzeyir Ok - Faith Development and Perceptions of Diversity among Muslims: Implications for Religious Education

The study investigates how a sample of Muslims in Turkey perceive the notion of diversity in faith and people of other faiths. Employing the scheme of the theory of faith development, the study, by observing and analyzing the qualitative data which has been gathered from 30 participants via in-depth-interview methods, will check the relationships between the developmental stage of participants and the way they perceive religious diversity or the position of the members of other faiths.

The study will also try to determine the socio-cultural factors and mechanisms such as belonging to a religious group, educational and family background, the place of the traditional belief system etc. as well as their activity system (how these factors interact in an individual's faith) which may play important roles in developing attitudes towards individuals who do not belong to their faith.

Arising from the findings, the study intends to develop a set of suggestions and strategies for both adult religious education and religious education in Turkish primary and secondary schools with regard to attitudes towards "others". The concepts of openness, tolerance, closed mindedness and the possibilities of living together in the same or similar social conditions will be surveyed. Methods to overcome possible obstacles will be proposed. As it prepares to enter the European Union, a psychological approach to the theme of religious pluralism may contribute to the illustration of the readiness of Turkey for a context of "unification in diversity", in a global world. Top

Christina Osbeck - Harassment is ongoing, and is expressed in the form of "Life Understanding"

This paper is built upon a group interview study with 50 pupils, 10 groups, 14 years of age, in a province of Sweden. The starting point for the interviews was the pupils understanding of harassment as a phenomenon at their school.  Almost immediately it was quite clear that harassment can not, according to the pupils, be understood as an abnormal act among other normal acts that goes on at schools. Instead harassment was shown to be an act, among others, that intends to affect the group norms. Harassment is a tool to teach each other which norms are expected to be followed.

One important result from the study is that the knowledge, which the students in that way teach each other, can be described as "Understanding of Life". In the schools as a kind of discursive practice, the young people experience, interpret and negotiate collectively how life is working, what is important and what gives meaning.

By putting important elements of life understanding together it has been possible to identify three different discourses of life understanding among the young people. One of them is looked upon as hegemonic; Life as adapting to the benefit of individual competition. The other two discourses have been given the headlines "Life as adapting to the benefit of collective competition" and "Life as responsibility to the benefit of human uniqueness and universal fellowship". The paper discusses the results more in detail. Top

Heon-Wook Park - The Role and the Meaning of Religious Education today in Japanese Religious Diversity

Before the Western religion, Christianity, was conveyed to Japan by missionaries, the traditional Japanese religions such as Buddhism (divided into several denominations), Confucianism and Shinto had already taken root among the people. Such religions have their own private educational institutions and schools which were authorized by the Government. Though the Christian population is a minority among them in Japan, a large number of Catholic and Protestant schools were established and have contributed, no less than and also along with other religious schools, not only to propagating of their own religion, but also to building up the human personality, protecting of human rights and to making peace in the democratic society after the Second World War. I try to clarify the role and the meaning of religious education today in the multi-religious situation of Japan. Top

Mary Petersen - Religious Education through Local Churches: how does this respond to the world of religious diversity?

An exploration of examples of Religious Education for all ages, children and adults, offered through local churches in New Zealand. An overview will be provided of the broad range of religious education situations and methods in use nationwide and across all Christian denominations, with some comparison with the religious education of other religious groups. Attention will be given to context, content, aims and objectives, motivation, strategies, and personnel involved.

Religious education in one geographical area, the Eastern Coromandel Peninsula, will be examined in detail. Particular emphasis will be given to the way in which churches have combined in this district to provide a variety of religious education opportunities for children and adults. This "religious education" includes a range from formal structured programmes to very informal activities incorporating care for the environment. While the actual programmes in operation will be described, questions will be posed about whether what is currently happening responds appropriately for the 21st century to the world of religious diversity. Connections and comparisons could be made with a variety of contexts internationally. Top

Manfred L. Pirner - Popular Media Religion - Common Ground for Religious Education in a World of Religious Diversity?

Scholars and pop musicians have propagated that popular media culture will accomplish what politicians and religions have failed to achieve, namely intercultural understanding and peace worldwide. And in rare accordance with them, the late media critic Neil Postman in one of his last books pointed out that popular films can convey basic cultural myths without which we would head towards the "end of education". Can popular media culture thus provide us with a basis on which education in general and religious education in particular can build? Can it provide us with common values and a common (religious) language neither of which can be found in other areas of our highly pluralist Western societies?

As for religion, recent research from various disciplines points to striking parallels and similarities between traditional religions and the electronic media. The media have assumed and transformed religion-like functions, structures and contents so that it seems appropriate to speak of a kind of "media religion". In addition, empirical studies support the impression that especially young people's religious attitudes are to a significant extent shaped by media experiences. Thus, from this perspective also popular media culture appears to be highly relevant for religious education in a pluralist world. The paper will explore this relevance, its opportunities and risks leading to the concept of a "media culture-related religious pedagogy" (Medienweltorientierte Religionspädagogik) which I have been developing in several books over the past years. Top

Jack G. Priestley - From "Us" to "Them": The Gains and Losses of Curriculum Change in Religious Education 1945-2005.

Much has been written about the changing nature of Religious Education in England and Wales since the enactment of the 1944 Education Act and the establishing of Agreed Syllabuses. Thirty years on from that period there appeared the 1975 Birmingham Syllabus which, with its introduction of a multi-faith approach, ushered in a whole new era. Another thirty years on, this paper will seek to look, not only at the gains of that approach, but also at what might have been lost and the attempts to restore such losses, apparently outside of religious education altogether, by the introduction of Citizenship. It will be argued that in retrospect a key conceptual change, given little significance at the time, was that of the seemingly subtle change from a reflective, first person assumption to an objective, third person approach which has affected what is commonly called the "host" community more than the new, and religiously more vigorous, immigrant groups. Significant attention will also be given to major theological movements of the 1960s, which, in retrospect, the religious education world would seem to have neglected in favour of social and psychological trends within Educational Studies. Finally, the question of whether the notion of R.E. within Citizenship offers the only realistic way of re-establishing the "we", relevance-making factor will be discussed. Top

Mandy Robbins - God images and empathy among young people in South Africa

The relationship between the development of empathic capabilities during adolescence and religiosity has been shown to be complex and to vary according to the indices of religiosity employed. The present study tests the network of theories that a loving God image is related to a more positive self-concept and that a more positive self-concept is related to higher levels of empathy. The model is supported by data provided by nearly 400 adolescents in South Africa, after controlling for individual differences both in terms of personality as assessed by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and in terms of other aspects of religiosity. Top

Cornelia Roux - Reflective journaling in understanding religious diversity and human rights values

Reflection, which can be described as a process of learning and thinking, may have the potential to instigate emancipation. Emancipation might occur when people from various religious and cultural backgrounds begin to engage critically on their assumptions and judgments regarding religions, belief systems and values other than their own. Clarifying assumptions and judgments through reflective journals might also be viewed as a means to set the scene for constructive dialogue to transpire. This is due to the fact that reflective journaling may assist individuals in positioning themselves towards others, which seem to be necessary for dialogue to follow.

This paper is the third presentation on the first part of a research project in collaboration with South African universities entitled Understanding human rights through different belief systems: intercultural and interreligious dialogue. This presentation will provide a synopsis of theories on reflective journaling as one of the methods of the empirical, qualitative study undertaken. Students involved in pre-service teacher training participated in the research, were required to reflect on their experiences on the facilitation of human rights values in practical school situations. A comparison will be drawn with reflective journals on a compulsory research excursion of students to various places of worship, in order to support the argument for the use of reflective journals as a tool for learning and thinking. This paper will also address the role of emotions in reflections and reflective journaling in understanding diversity. Top

Richard Rymarz - Who is this person Grace? A reflection on content knowledge in religious education

One of the most interesting but relatively under-researched questions in religious education is: Why do adolescents and young adults lack a coherent content knowledge of religion? This is a phenomenon of wide ranging proportions. Davie (1999), writing from a European perspective, puts the problem in these terms: an ignorance of even the basic understandings of Christian teachings is the norm in modern Europe, especially among young people; it is not a reassuring attribute. This finding is supported by research from Australia. Flynn (1993), in an extensive longitudinal study of senior students in Australian Catholic secondary schools, reaches a similar conclusion when investigating the religious knowledge of students. In a telling comment Flynn stopped asking students questions about what he calls knowledge of the Catholic faith because they found them so hard to answer: … it quickly became apparent that Year 12 students were not familiar at all with the theological concepts and language used. One student in a large high school, for example, asked the writer "who is this person Grace?". I would argue that one important reason behind the lack of religious content knowledge is the reluctance of teachers to move beyond the experiential world of students. In addition, the reluctance of teachers to do this can be explained by three factors. Two of these, sociological and philosophical, have general applicability, and the third, theological, is more peculiar to religious education. Top

Thomas Schlag - Communication about "religious identity and ethics"? - Challenges of the new school subject "Religion and Culture" in the Kanton Zurich, Switzerland

In the Kanton Zurich a new obligatory school subject at secondary schools, named "Religion and Culture", has recently been installed by the regional Council of Education. The intention is on one hand, to better reflect the multicultural and multireligious situation in Zurich, on the other hand to replace confessional religious education and its idea of "teaching in" by a form of "teaching about". This, in theory seems to be adequate for dealing with the pupils' plural religious backgrounds. But the question has to be raised, how to aim at "religious competence", "making pupils sensitive to the questions concerning religion" and "respect the values of others" (cit. the relevant paper of the Pädagogische Hochschule Zurich) without integrating questions of individual religious identity, socialization and ethics in the educational process. The further question is, in what sense does the teachers' religious identity play a significant role, either implicit or explicit, in dealing with religious themes and questions.

The paper reflects on these challenges and draws some lines, how, under the given circumstances, communication about religious identity and ethical questions can be initiated among teachers and pupils. In this sense, the paper presents the current debate, reflects on the term "religious and ethical communication" and makes some concrete suggestions on integrating the question of "religious identity and ethics" in the educational process. Top

Günter R. Schmidt - Educating for Peace and the Problem of Violence in the Bible and in the Qur´an

After introductory remarks on the concepts of peace and of violence conditions of educating toward peace are discussed. Are there any resources for education toward peace in the holy books of Christianity and of Islam? In some parts of the Bible God and heroes of faith are portrayed as peace-loving, in others as highly violent. In the Qur´an there are verses advocating peaceful behaviour, others violence. Correspondingly Mohammed sometimes represents a model of peaceful behaviour, sometimes of violence. Do the basic assumptions of these two religions offer arguments for eliminating the violent passages in their holy books and for using the peaceful ones to instil peaceful attitudes into their your adherents? The authority of the respective holy book not being the same in Christianity and in Islam, this operation seems to be easier under Christian than under Islamic auspices. Just ignoring the violent potentials would contradict the sincerity on the part of educators to which young people are rightfully entitled. Top

Peter Schreiner - The contribution of Religious Education to democratic Citizenship - theoretical and conceptual approaches to a European perspective

Initiatives for the development of democratic citizenship are no longer confined to the nation state. We value regional and cultural difference also on a European level. The Maastricht Treaty introduced the concept of citizenship of the European Union. This citizenship flows from national citizenship - one holds the nationality of an EU member state and as a result becomes a "citizen of the Union" in addition. All nationals or citizens of EU member states are automatically also citizens of the European Union. This may but need not involve the citizen more directly in the process of European integration. It also gives him/her additional rights and responsibilities.

More commitment and participation is demanded especially from the political institutions but also for the sake of a vivid democratic society. Therefore democratic citizenship is a main concern of European institutions. The Council of Europe has called 2005 The European Year of Citizenship through education. Questions of political participation, especially of young citizens, are raised also on national and local levels and educational initiatives are launched.

It should be asked how Religious Education can contribute to democratic citizenship. The paper presents some theorectical perspectives and conceptual approaches that could support a European comparative view taking into consideration advantages and constraints of Religious Education. Concepts of citizenship and civil society will be introduced and discussed as well as methods of RE that can contribute - also in a critical way - to the debate about democratic citizenship. A European perspective will be developed. Top

Bernd Schröder - Comparative Religious Education as a methodological response to the challenge of religious diversity

The rise, recognition and appreciation of religious diversity challenges Religious Education in different respects - by becoming a distinctive content of learning as well as an important factor of religious socialisation, by confronting Christian Education with educational concepts inspired by non-Christian religious doctrines and by provoking interreligious competition and dialogue, last but not least by changing the political and juridical framework of Religious Education in the European Union and the European nation-states.

This paper will analyse these dimensions. It will then display comparative Religious Education as an appropriate methodological response to the challenge of religious diversity. Reviewing recent publications in the field of comparative Religious Education, fields and functions as well as some future tasks of comparative work will be named.

The work on comparative Religious Education (CRE) does not aim at the standardization of educational approaches in the field of RE - on the contrary. CRE tries to offer hermeneutics of difference. On the way to learn from approaches and traditions of Religious Education in other countries and religions, CRE is a necessary, but intermediary step between perception and evaluation. It is the paper's aim to intensify the discussion on how international contributions to the theory of RE can improve RE in one's own religious and cultural home. Top

This paper introduces comparative research in religious education as a field of study and as a methodology. The focus will be on comparative research in Europe but more general perspectives of international research will also be included. The first question to be addressed is the need for comparative research and the reasons for this need in terms of social, political, and religious changes as well as in terms of academic methodologies. Moreover, ways of doing comparative research in religious education are considered by drawing on existing studies as well as on the methodological discussion in related fields like comparative education. These considerations will also make reference to the difficulties and specific obstacles encountered in this kind of study. Finally, a number of suggestions are set forth concerning future work in religious education, for example, possible topics for comparative investigation. The focus of this last section will be on contemporary challenges that seem to make themselves felt in similar ways in different countries, like coming to terms with plurality, the development of RE in state schools, demands for syllabus/curriculum construction, political and legal issues concerning commitment and neutrality in RE, etc.

The paper also serves as an introduction to the symposium on Comparative Research in Religious Education. One of its tasks is to set forth questions and perspectives that can be taken up in the other papers (by Terence Copley, Heid Leganger-Krogstad, and Peter Schreiner) and in the discussions of the symposium. Top

Emma Shackle - Promoting Healthy Religion among Adults: The Place of the Novel in Religious Education

This is a second paper on the place of didactic novels in promoting healthy and unhealthy religion (cf. previous paper, Villanova (2004)). Particular attention will be paid to the historical development of novels addressing sexuality, power and gender within religious contexts. We will focus on novels published in the UK and North America. These novels are written from Christian perspectives but the aim of the paper is to look at religion in general rather than a particular religion.

Iconic previous novels include Antonia White's Frost in May, Rumer Godden's Black Narcissus, David Lodge's How Far Can You Go? and Andrew Greeley's The Cardinal Sins. Important current novels include Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, David Guterson's Our Lady of the Forest, Andrew Greeley's The Priestly Sins and the Starbridge Novels of Susan Howatch.

We will pick up on theoretical constructs developed originally such as the contrast between 'religious sagas' informed by psychology and social science and 'theological thrillers'. We will also consider additional sociological and theological literature, such as the work of Michael Hornsby-Smith and Martin Percy. One key question is the extent to which traditional patriarchal religions should continue to educate girls in well-trodden ways and refuse to change some teachings on sexuality. Beyond this, we can ask what types of faith education should be acceptable within contemporary civil society so as to avoid fanaticism and absolutism. Many of the novels are in fact written by novelists who wish to deal with questions first raised within their own experience. Top

Akiko Shibanuma - Religious Education in Public Schools in Japan

Religious Education in public schools has been problematic in the history of education in Japan. The Constitution, issued in 1947, states that "the state and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity". Following this article, the Fundamental Law of Education also states "the schools established by the state and local public bodies shall refrain from religious education or activities for a specific religion". These provisions have restrained the Japanese educational world from the discussions concerning the rationale of religious education in public schools and have constrained its implementation in spite of the former part of the same article of the Fundamental Law of Education: "the attitude of religious tolerance and the position of religion in social life shall be valued in education".

Quite recently, however, we notice a change from avoidance or denunciation to positive concern for religious education. The revision of the Fundamental Law of Education proposed by the Central Council for Education was one of the outcomes.

In this paper I will trace the historical discussions about the "religious difficulties" in public schools since 1945. Then I will indicate the possibility of religious education under the present law, based on a survey of teaching materials for moral education at the compulsory level and of textbooks for civics" adopted by upper secondary schools. Top

Geir Skeie - Religious education at the interface: epistemological and practical challenges in teacher training.

Theologians dominate the academic staff in charge of religious education teacher training in Norway, but increasingly, new staff are coming from religious studies. The historical relationship between the two academic disciplines has partly been marked by conflicts, but in teacher education there seems to be a tendency to play down this tension. Instead of confronting or merging the different disciplinary perspectives on religion, it seems that they are just added. The theologians tend to deal with Christianity, while the religious studies people deal with other religions. Still, we have no firm evidence about these issues, no knowledge about how the students receive this and know nothing about how it affects their in-service training.

The paper will report from an ongoing study investigating these issues by interviewing teacher-trainers as well as students in different higher education institutions. Research questions include: What is the relationship between academic disciplines, teacher training and school practice? Is the self-understanding of the religious educator related to academic discipline or to the role as teacher? The results are discussed partly in the light of epistemological debates within and between the academic disciplines theology and religious studies, and partly in the light of a broad concept of education (Bildung). Top

Fred D. Smith - To Create the Beloved Community: A Prophetic Religious Education

This paper will first distinguish a prophetic education from religious education that is formational, nuture or instructional. Prophetic education will be defined as transformational of persons, culture and society according to a revelation or vision that is of religious origin. Its instructional method will be described as metaphorical, narrative based and praxis oriented. A case will be made for the Beloved Community as a prophetic vision in a world of religious diversity. Five components of the vision of the Beloved will be expanded upon:
1. Love and Justice Rule
2. Everyone's worth is affirmed
3. diversity enriches all lives through common memories and a shared future
4. stories inspire hope, and
5. all are loved unconditionally and forever.

A brief history of the Beloved Community begining with Josiah Royce's conceptions of "loyalty to a cause", "community of interpretion" and "the moral burden" that prevents community. It will explore Walter Rauschenbusch' Social Gospel where the divine worth of life and personality of even the least of these require a social order that guarantees to all personalities their freest and highest development via the progressive reign of love in all human affairs, social, economic and political. Prophetic education will promote progressive unity of all human kind while maintaining individual liberty and opportunity of nations to workout their own national peculiarities and ideals. Finally it will explore the nonviolent pedagogy of Martin Luther King Jr's Civil Rights movement which promoted the idea that the color of a person's skin does not determine the content of his character. Top

Heinz Streib - Interpersonal Negotiation Styles and Dealing with Religious Diversity. Conceptual Clarification and New Empirical Evidence

The paper addresses the question of developmental-stylistic preconditions for the capacity of dealing with religious diversity. Based upon the author's previous typological portrayal of inter-personal and inter-religious negotiation styles - which, in turn, have emerged from a critical divergence from, and a constructive modification of, structural developmental proposals such as Fowler's, Selman's or Noam's perspectives -, the paper presents both further conceptual clarification, but, perhaps even more importantly, new empirical evidence. For conceptual clarification, prominence is given to philosophical reflections on the relation to the Other, the Strange (xenosophy) and its consequences for inter-religious dialog. Empirical evidence is based on questionnaire data (Five Factor Personality Assessment, Construction Other, Conflict Resolution, Exclusivist vs. Relativist Attitudes) from a sample of more than 500 subjects from Germany and the USA. Conceptual clarification and empirical evidence lead to conclusions about the predicaments and chances of nurturing capacities needed for dealing with religious diversity in the classroom communication in religious education. Top

Howard Collings Summers - Accommodating Religious Diversity: What really happens?

In South Africa there are many different religious persuasions, although the country remains predominantly Christian. The Constitution of South Africa guarantees freedom of religion, diversity is highly valued, and tolerance and respect are actively promoted. Government policies ensure that the major religions are included in public life, but especially in the school curriculum. Although Religious Education is now part of an umbrella subject called Life Orientation and given little teaching time, the subject is still considered important.

The first part of the paper offers a brief critique of the religion component in Life Orientation. It is admirable in some respects (promoting tolerance and respect, democratic values), but lacking in others (personal values and moral education). The second part of the paper provides the findings of a very small, ethnographic survey carried out in two Johannesburg schools, one primary and one secondary. Interviews were conducted with individual teachers and principals.

The purpose of the survey is to find out what really happens in the schools regarding the teaching of religion. Do schools take diversity seriously? Is the promotion of tolerance and respect important? Are some of the major world religions taught, or at least those represented in the school? Or is it the same old confessional approach to Christianity? What is the official school policy regarding religion, and what is the principal's attitude? The results of the survey will hopefully provide the basis for a much larger, empirical study to be done in the near future in a variety of schools. Top

Geoff Teece - Religious Education as 'skilful means': a contribution to discussions on the identity of the subject

This paper begins by arguing that from the 1970s onwards, with the adoption of the phenomenological approach to the study of religion, naturalism became the 'consensus reality' of religious education and consequently the subject has struggled to find a distinctive identity with theological contributions struggling to be heard.

Recently there have been some significant 'theological' contributions to the debate, which have recognised that transcendence matters to, and is a defining characteristic of, religious traditions and believers. Moreover the ontology as well as the phenomenology of transcendence needs to be taken seriously by religious educators. Nevertheless there is a need to search for an appropriately universal or general ontology rather than a tradition specific one which cannot, by definition, do justice to a multi religious subject.

Nevertheless it is important to argue that in seeking an appropriate understanding of religion in religious education, education remains the first order activity of the subject.

Bearing all this in mind, a possible starting point is to recognise that religious education requires the process of teaching and learning, including learning about religion and learning from religion, to be understood in a way that can best be described as upayic, or 'skilful means'. In this way students will be encouraged to engage with the realities to which religious experience is a human response and hopefully the study of religion will have much to contribute to students' ongoing search for truth in a global situation with its human and religious problems. Top

K.H. ter Avest - Living apart together, the other and me

In this research project the concept of 'human solidarity' is central. Theoretically, we examined this concept extensively in the philosophical writings of Emmanuel Levinas, and in the religious traditions of Christianity and Islam. We also analyzed the theoretical implications of the main characteristics of the concept of 'human solidarity' in pedagogical theories.

Until now no research has been done on the issue of how elementary schools (both public and private) deal in their daily practice with different fundamental world views. In what way do they give expression in their vision and practice to 'teaching how to live together' as our operationalisation of the theoretical concept of human solidarity. This is remarkable because at the moment the population of most schools in Holland consists of pupils with diverse world views. We describe the way in which this concept of human solidarity is practised in highly pluriform primary schools in the Netherlands. In our research project we aim to answer the following questions:
Do teachers in these schools pay attention to 'teaching how to live together', and, if so, how is that traceable in vision and practice?
In what way and to what extent is their daily practice related to the public or private (religious) identity of the school?

In our presentation we will invite colleagues to comment on our tentative interpretation of the data. Top

Pille Valk - Does RE make a difference?

Religion and particularly Religious Education has been a sharply debated issue during the last 15 years in Estonian society. Closer examination of the content of these debates indicates a considerable influence of the atheistic ideology and education, experienced by more than two generations of Estonians during the Soviet occupation. On the basis of this analysis of these debates a scale of religious prejudice has been created.

The aim of the research was to compare the positions of students regarding Religion before and after their studies in World Religions. For this purpose a scale of Religious prejudice was used. Students completed the questionnaires twice - before and after the course. Statistical analyses of the collected data indicates significant changes towards more balanced and competent positions regarding Religion, thus indicating some positive impact of RE. Top

In all varieties of youth culture music is an expression of personal identity and a way to show to which group you want to belong. One's music choice expresses the way one wants to be seen and, moreover, to distance oneself from undesirable associations. Young people from several backgrounds emphasize their cultural roots in choosing a specific kind of music, for example R&B, soul, hiphop or rap.

The research group Practical Theology/Social Sciences of the Free University of Amsterdam recently started a research project on immigrant churches in the Netherlands. The general research questions are: How do immigrant churches develop themselves in Dutch society (with a special focus on Amsterdam)? What meanings are represented by the churches for their members, and based on which theological and social views do they define their role? How do they design their position in the (local) society? What is their social and religious impact?

Each member of the research group focuses on some aspects corresponding with their own scientific specialism. In my field, Religious Education, I will gain more insight into the dynamics in the church groups of the older adolescents (16 - 23 years). In order to introduce these subjects I asked for the cultural and religious music preferences of these young people.

Question: Is there any relationship between the secular music preferences of the young people in the immigrant churches and the music in the church they belong to? Do the musical preferences of the young people influence the music in the community services and vice versa? The paper will present the first results of this project. Top

The basics of teaching and study in religion/philosophy of life in the Netherlands have been drastically altered by religious localization. The course no longer serves as a medium through which belief systems are passed on, nor does it attempt to strengthen a personal relation between students and church or religion. At the same time, education itself has changed didactically in that it stimulates independent, individual studying. Religious and/or philosophical education is required to add to the accumulation of communicative and substantial competence. The Dutch subject of study in religion/philosophy of life is designed to increase the communicative competence of students to partake in religious/philosophical discussions, through which they will acquire the ability to enhance their own religious/philosophical identity. The main content of this course centers on the stimulation of inter-religious dialogue. The concept of 'inter-religious' studying is of importance here.

The question I would like to pose in this paper is whether the said education is experienced in this way by the students themselves and whether they have actually obtained the skills mentioned above. The results of an empirical survey into this matter are further analyzed with regard to this question. It appears that students themselves ideally deem the study in religion/philosophy of life a vehicle that adds to their knowledge of religion, as well as a means through which their competence in dealing with social issues is strengthened. At the same time, the results point out that students think little of the inter-religious dialogue. Instead, through an individual approach, they view the host of different religions and belief systems as co-existing but separate entities. In that respect, the course has not achieved its goal. This paper will reflect on why study in religion/philosophy of life apparently does not stimulate religious/philosophical dialogue. Isn't the truth-claim of every individual religion the cause of this problem? Top

Bruno Vanobbergen - Beyond the myth of the child. From the Garden of Eden to the Promised Land

In this paper I will primarily focus on the idea of the child as the one who carries the potential to change society. I will first pay attention to the way this is conceptualised in Romanticism and its leading author Jean Jacques Rousseau. Next, progressivist theories like those of Ellen Key and Maria Montessori will be dealt with. These conceptualisations have played a crucial role in the creation of the myth of the child. This mythologisation of the child has been strongly criticized by the Sociology of Childhood, a new and important paradigm within educational research. In the second part of this paper I will present implications for the concept of the future as it is found in education. By giving up the belief, not only that we need a description of the nature of the child but also the idea of the child as a symbol of change, the danger of this mythological conception of the future can be avoided. Finally, the paper will deal with the meaning of the Exodus story as a different metaphor for education. This metaphor offers an interesting way to conceptualise the future where the possibility of change is not situated within one person but in what happens between persons. Keywords within this educational framework are the Covenant and the Promised Land. Top

Inge Versteegt - Ethnicity, national identity and teaching about religion in European context

The paper will bring forward the problem of the intertwining of ethnic identity, national identity and the teaching of religion in the multicultural classroom. Considering the fact that both religion and the position of ethnic minorities is dealt with differently in every nation-state, religious education in multicultural classes can take different forms. What are the underlying assumptions about national identity, religious identity and ethnic identities that are part of the practices of teaching religion in different European countries? What are the effects of these assumptions on the practice of religious education?

The focus of the paper will be a comparison between The Netherlands, Germany, England and France, based upon literature by Gerd Baumann, Patrick Wolf and Stephen Macedo, and Werner Schiffauer. I present this paper because I found these insights very useful for my own current Ph.D. research about the perception of religious diversity in the classroom by Dutch primary school teachers. Top

Karen Walshe - Jesus in UK RE: Children's perspectives.

This paper relates to research conducted at the School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of Exeter, as part of a four year project investigating:
a) the presentation of Jesus in RE
b) the figure of Jesus in world religions and contemporary New Testament scholarship
c) young people's knowledge and understanding of, and beliefs about, Jesus

This paper presents the main findings of empirical research conducted in a number of schools in England with a sample of over a thousand pupils. The study employed both questionnaires and follow-up semi-stuctured interviews in an attempt to examine what young people themselves think about Jesus. In contrast to many earlier studies in the field which invited participants to express agreement or disagreement with adult researcher compiled attitude statements, this study sought to allow children to speak for themselves. This paper presents the findings from both questionnaire and interview data, compares results with those of previous studies in the field and explores the implications for religious educators. Top

Wolfram Weisse - Religion in Education. A contribution to dialogue or a factor of conflict in transforming societies of European countries

The paper gives information on a European research-project (2006-2009) on the question, how religions and values can contribute to dialogue or tension in Europe. In this project, researchers in the humanities and social sciences will cooperate in order to gain better insight into how European citizens of different religious, cultural and political backgrounds can live together and enter into dialogue of mutual respect and understanding. We plan to research empirically how differences within European societies can be taken into account without creating conflict or exclusion. Empirical studies, targeting students in the 14-16-year age group, will look into their own perceptions of dialogue or conflict within the different national contexts. These will include a dual perspective of, on the one hand, the subjects' own perspectives and, on the other hand, analyses of observed teaching in both dialogue and conflict situations. Our subject selection will also allow for gender-specific results. It is particularly from those studies we expect to gain insight into whether and how religious and value-based identity development can coexist or clash with openness for other positions. We also plan to look into how, in the context of religious education in schools and universities, theoretical and practical approaches that promote openness towards others and mutual respect across religious and cultural differences can be strengthened. Looking towards the future, we can not hope to solve this task at the national level alone. A European perspective needs to be established through comparative study. Top

Andrew Wright - Liberal Religious Education and the Pursuit of Ultimate Truth

This paper argues a) that the pursuit of ultimate truth ought to be a primary goal of religious education in liberal schools, and b) that it is entirely feasible to pursue ultimate truth in a rational manner in this context. Liberalism is defined as an interim political ethic concerned to enable citizens in a plural society to pursue the good life in a spirit of freedom and tolerance. The task of nurturing the twin virtues of freedom and tolerance in liberal schools is not a sufficient condition for preparing students to live the good life; rather, what is required is a form of education that enables them to explore the disputed nature of the good life in an informed and intelligent manner, and this entails asking questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life and hence about the ultimate nature of reality. The ensuing duty to pursue ultimate truth in liberal schools is conditional on the possibility of conducting such a pursuit in a rational manner, and the shift from a foundational to a contextual epistemology suggests that this is indeed possible. Top

Yaacov Yablon - Privatization of Religious Public Education in Israel: Parents' Preferences and Educational Goals

The State-religious education in Israel provides educational services to the majority of Israeli religious students and is an integral part of the State education system. Students from all different religious Jewish groups comprise the mosaic of the religious public school system ranging from secular to orthodox students and from very low to the highest socioeconomic classes in Israel. Since its inception in 1953 the State-religious education has no systematic philosophy and schools react to the public concern. As a result and in recent years privatization of the religious public system is becoming more common then ever. A development which leads not only to the abolishing of equality between students but also raises accusations about the use of religious arguments in order to create altruistic and selective schools.

The present study was supported by one of the four major towns in Israel in order to reveal parents' perceptions and demands towards the educational system. Questions regarding privatization, extant and importance of religious versus classical and science studies were examined. The research findings reveal that values education is the most important educational goal followed by achievements and religious education. When it comes to privatization and additional school payments more parents are willing to pay additional money for extra general studies compared to religious studies or for gender separation (based on religious reasons). The findings of the study reveal the gap between parents' demands for privatization and their educational goals and raise the need for reorganization of the religious public education in Israel. Top

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