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.

Religious Diversity in Schools: the Muslim Headscarf Controversy and Beyond

Abstract: The author studies the growth of religious pluralism in state schools through the case of Muslim students and their wish to express their religious affiliation. Two problems, symptomatic yet different, are highlighted. In France, wearing the Islamic headscarf in school resulted in dress code and discipline problems, with its underlying symbolism causing widespread arguments about laicite, religious pluralism and integration. The headscarf was only a minor problem in Britain, where the debate over the state funding of Islamic schools was focused primarily on discrimination and religious education within the context of British ethnic and race relations. The data analyzed consist of over 1000 press articles published from 1989 to 1999 by major French and British daily newspapers.

Fundamentalism and the Family: Gender, Culture, and the American Pro-family Movement

Abstract: Within a historical perspective, the relationship between fundamen- talism and the recent pro-family movement is complex. From the time of their origins in the late nineteenth century until World War II, fundamentalists said little about the family except as a means of deepening the lines of separation with the surrounding culture. If anything, moderate and liberal Protestants owned the family issue, for they emphasized "Christian nurture" and religious education in the home. The moment of shift in fundamentalism toward a pro- family orientation was the neo-evangelical revival of the 1940s and 1950s, which repudiated the militant separatism of fundamentalism and moved in a direction of more positive cultural engagement. The middle-class family of the 1950s was a powerful symbol of respect- ability and morality, and evangelicals embraced this image in the 1960s and 1970s. But conservative Protestants soon encountered a series of events—Supreme Court rulings on school prayer and abortion, and the sex education movement—that they believed challenged the moral autonomy of the family. The political agenda of the pro-family movement grew in response to these circumstances, but within a pattern of engagement already set by the historical and theological legacy of fundamentalism. It would be hard to imagine modern "culture wars" without the dis- puted and beleaguered traditional family playing a central role. Among the religious and political groups that scholars have labeled "fundamen- talist," the rhetoric of family decline has served to focus a range of objec- tions to modernity. In many Islamic movements, for example, the defense of the traditional family is a way of airing related anxieties about gender roles and female sexuality, as well as long-standing grievances against imperialism and Western secularism. In the United States over the past twenty years, the family has become a key issue in the moral and political agenda of the broad conservative coalition known as the "religious right."1 But in the American case, the link between the family and conserva- tive religious politics is neither obvious nor simple. True, the rhetoric of anxiety and protest has become a staple of the self-described pro-family

"Especially Special": Learning About Jews in a Fundamentalist Christian School

Abstract: Based on the premise that private religious schools function sociologically as crucibles for collective memory work, this study examined the image of Jews conveyed through a Holocaust unit as taught at a fundamentalist Christian school. After presenting an analysis of both the enacted and experienced curricular dimensions of the unit, we argue that studies of abstracted othersFothers studied about rather than interacted withFwithin communal religious schools potentially pose problematic implications for students’ multicultural sensibilities. Moreover, we claim that, given these implications, religion, as a category, ought to be both more consistently included within multicultural education frameworks and more closely examined within lived, classroom practice.

Religious education can contribute to adolescent mental health in school settings

Abstract: Mental disorders contribute substantial burden to the society due to their widespread occurrence and debilitating effects. A quarter of the world’s population are children and adolescents, a significant number of whom experience mental disorders as early as the age of 14. Some interventions have been found to effectively reduce the risk factors and reinforce protective or preventive factors. However, there is still a need to put emphasis on mental health promotion strategies such as religious education. This paper aims to discuss the importance of religious education in promoting mental health. Religious education can be instrumental to improving adolescent mental health. Specifically, it can: (1) help develop healthier reaction to stimuli through the internalization of religious morality; (2) reinforce religious coping mechanisms which reduce the impact of stresses, enhance coping skills, and promote a less risky lifestyle; (3) increase awareness regarding religious beliefs and practices and their influence on the individual, the family, and the community; and finally, (4) promote connectedness which can enhance self-esteem and well-being. However, negative health outcomes such as discrimination and social isolation can also develop, especially among religious or gender minority groups. It is important to reflect on the crucial role of religious education on adolescent mental health. School-based mental health education and promotion strategies can maximize the benefits of religious education by putting emphasis on effective implementation of religious education to positively influence adolescent mental health.