Religious education

About: Religious education is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 9554 publications have been published within this topic receiving 65331 citations. The topic is also known as: faith-based education & RE.

Children's rights and religious education in state-funded schools: an international human rights perspective

Abstract: The issue of whether and how religion should be taught in state-funded schools in secular, liberal, democratic, pluralistic and post modern societies remains crucially important. Given the sustained, dominant presence of religion in the public sphere, the need for children to possess in-depth knowledge and critical understanding of the role of religion in today's world cannot be overemphasised. In the same manner, the need to safeguard children from being subjected to indoctrination through religious education (RE) programmes offered in schools cannot be underestimated. Using international human rights frameworks and the relevant case law in assessing the different pedagogical approaches to RE, this article maintains that non-confessional multifaith RE – given its focus on conveying the body of knowledge to children in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner, without indoctrination – is the pedagogical model which best conforms to the principles of international human rights law. It is, therefore, t...

Religious freedom in Germany

Abstract: I. INTRODUCTION At least from a U.S. perspective, religious freedom in Germany has become a matter of concern in recent years.1 It may well be time to reconsider the law and the facts of religious life in a country under scrutiny due to its twentieth-century history. Upholding religious freedom is a key issue in any community committed to the idea of human rights. After the end of the devastating rule of national-- socialism, Germany reestablished its long-standing cultural history in which it had intensively contributed to the development of human rights. The purpose of this article is to describe the various normative sources of religious freedom in Germany and to establish an understanding of religious freedom as a positive freedom in harmony with the legitimate culture of the people concerned. II. THE NORMATIVE SYSTEM A. Constitutional Provisions Religious freedom has a prominent place in Germany's constitution.2 Freedom of religion is protected before many other freedoms. Only human dignity,3 freedom and life,4 and equal protection5 are human rights placed before religious freedom in Germany's constitution. Religious freedom under the German constitution means freedom of belief and freedom to act according to one's beliefs. The constitution secures religious freedom for both individuals and collective bodies. The various freedoms guaranteed for religious institutions in Germany can be found in the German constitution, in the constitutions of the German Lander and in ordinary laws, and in the various treaties between the state and specific religions.6 In addition to the central guarantee of religious freedom, the constitution offers additional religious rights and institutional guarantees for churches and religious communities. According to Article 3 of the constitution, no one shall be prejudiced or favored because of his faith or religion.7 This guarantee is specified for civil rights, public office, and public service.8 Article 4 provides for the right to refrain from military service in the name of religion.9 Article 7 guarantees religious instruction in public schools and includes the right to abstain from that instruction.10 Article 7 also secures the right to establish and to run religiously or ideologically based private schools.11 Several far-reaching institutional guarantees for churches and other religious communities referred to in the German constitution12 have been incorporated from the German Reich's Weimar constitution of 1919 ("WRV").13 The most important provisions are as follows: there shall be no state church, i.e., no established church;14 all religious communities shall enjoy the right to self-- determination,15 the status of certain religious communities as public corporations,16 equal rights to associations that foster a non-- religious, philosophical creed,17 the guarantee of Sundays and feast-- days,18 and chaplainry in public institutions.19 The preamble to the German constitution also describes Germany's commitment to religious freedom. It states: "Conscious of their responsibility before God and humankind, animated by the resolve to serve world peace as an equal part of a united Europe, the German people have adopted, by virtue of their constituent power, this Basic Law."20 The reference to God and humankind acknowledges responsibility for the crimes committed during national-- socialism and responsibility to prevent a repetition of those events in Germany. This reference to God does not allude to nor establish any specific religious belief.21 Rather, by referring to God, the preamble acknowledges a sphere of transcendence, indicating a borderline for the state-that is, a field beyond the reach of the state. It suggests that there is something other than the political order established by the constitution, that the state is not all-powerful. The preamble is anti-totalitarian. B. Other Textual Sources of Religious Freedom Religious freedom in Germany is rooted as well in texts other than the constitution, such as the Lander constitutions, agreements between the government and specific religious organizations, and case law. …

Teaching Race: Pedagogical Challenges in Predominantly White Undergraduate Theology Classrooms

Abstract: While a number of scholars in the field of Christian theology have argued for the importance of teaching diversity and social justice in theology and religious studies classrooms, little has been done to document and assess formally the implementation of such pedagogy. In this article, the authors discuss the findings of a yearlong Scholarship of Multicultural Teaching and Learning (SoMTL) study, which examined student learning and faculty teaching regarding race and white privilege in two theology classrooms. After a brief overview of the study's design and execution, we reflect upon our findings and draw out implications for pedagogical practices. In particular we discuss students' emotional responses to the material and the role of cognitive dissonance in student learning with respect to racial inequality via social structures. See a companion essay in this issue of the journal (Karen Teel, “Getting Out of the Left Lane: The Possibility of White Antiracist Pedagogy”) and responses by the authors of both essays, also published in this issue of the journal (“Responses: Toward an Antiracist Pedagogy”).

Effect of Religious Education on the Moral Development of Children

Abstract: Education is a moral enterprise. Character building of students is the pivotal goal of education all over the world. It has ever been a hot issue either religion should be included the syllabi or secular values are enough for the moral development of young children. During the recent years, syllabus for Islamyat in schools and Madaris of Pakistan has also come under objection and revision. However, no research on relationship of moral development and religion has come to light in Pakistan. For the reason, a study was conducted to find the, “Effect of religious education on the moral development of children.” It was a causal comparative ex post facto study with a 3x3 factorial design. The stratified sample comprised 1350 children of 4-15 years from public schools, Madaris and uneducated from urban and rural areas of Lahore. The researcher developed a tool MDII (Moral Development Interview inventory) herself. Its validity and reliability were determined statistically. The data was analysed by ANOVA and T-test for independent sample. It was found that there was a substantial increase in the moral development of children during every age stage. Religious education has also significant positive effect on the moral development of children because the uneducated children showed the least moral development. The children from 7-11 (childhood) from schools and Madaris showed equal performance and the children in early childhood of Madaris indicated no significant difference with uneducated children. It was concluded that Hifz students were not provided with illustrative moral content so they lagged behind in moral concepts. The adolescents studying translation of the Quran and Hadith showed the highest stage of moral development. It was suggested that Madaris should introduce translation of the Quran and comprehensible subject matter of religion for young students also.

Religious education in schools

Abstract: For many years, the courts have been trying to decide the appropriate relationship of the church and religion to the public schools and education. The dominant religious group in the community has usually pressed for the inclusion of some form of worship and religious education in the school system. This has ranged all the way from reading of the Bible as a morning exercise to direct support by tax funds of parochial schools.'Since most of the programs express the will of the great majority of the citizens of the school districts, relatively few actions have been commenced to restrain or limit these programs. Further, since state constitutions have had the more specific provisions on the separation of church and state, few cases have reached the Supreme Court of the United States. Beginning shortly after the turn -of the century, the churches, faced with a declining attendance at the Sunday school, urged the inclusion of religious education in the school program.2 They argued that the secularization of public education results in inadequate prepaiation for life, for it ignores the important part which religion plays in the experience of individuals in the United States.3 Separating the teaching of religion and religious ideals entirely from the public school system and assigning this important aspect of education to after-school time or to Saturday or Sunday leads the child to regard this aspect of his education as unimportant. Thus the purpose of the weekday church school is stated by the Vermont Council of Churches as follows: \"To round out a more satisfactory educational experience of the pupil by guiding him in a discovery of the spiritual and Christian elements of life.\"4 The churches therefore insist that a satisfactory religious education program is one which is carried on in \"public school time.\"5 This is necessary if the child is to understand the essential unity of his education and the part which religion