This book presents a crisis of religion and belief literacy to which education at every level is challenged to respond. As understanding different religions, beliefs and influences becomes increasingly important, it fills a gap for a resource in bringing together the debates around religious literacy, from theoretical approaches to teaching and policy. This timely publication provides a clear pathway for engaging well with religion and belief diversity in public and shared settings.

The Politics of Religious Literacy challenges popular understandings of religious literacy as an inclusive framework for navigating religious diversity in the public sphere. Offering a new model, this book provides insights into the often-overlooked feelings and practices informing our questionably secular age.

Although we often assume religion is in decline in the West, it continues to have an important yet contested role in individual lives and in society at large. And after half a century in which religion and belief were barely talked about in the public sphere, we face a pressing lack of religious literacy. Many are now ill-equipped to engage with religion and belief when they encounter them in their daily lives--in relationships, law, media, professions, business, and politics, among other venues. This valuable book is the first to bring together theory and policy with analysis and expertise to explore what religious literacy is, why it is needed, and what might be done about it. Its contributors make the case for a public realm that is well-equipped to engage with the plurality and pervasiveness of religion and belief, whatever an individual participant's own stance. It will be of great importance to academics, policy makers, and practitioners interested in the manifold implications of the continued presence of religion and belief in the public sphere.

In the last ten years or so, religious plurality has become higher on the agenda for religious education research in the Nordic countries. This attention to religious plurality partly reflects processes of globalisation that include both physical migration and communication of ideas and is-sues across the world, making it ‘smaller’. It also reflects the preoccupation of governments with social cohesion and, as part of this, intercultural education. In the curricula of the Nordic countries this is manifested in different ways, setting also the agenda for parts of educational research. This book addresses issues related to the increasing religious plurality in the Nordic countries. These issues are a challenge to many religious groups including historically dominant Lutheran national churches, both nationally and locally. They have also led to a reorientation in religious education research in the last decade. A rich variety of research perspectives are presented under three headings: Theoretical and methodical perspectives, The world of the students, Teachers and textbooks. Nordic religious education research here proves to be internationally oriented in terms of theoretical perspectives, whilst also contributing to the debate through important empirical studies. Examples of issues covered in the book are unintended learning, dialogue, gender, life-interpretation, spirituality, identity and values. In different ways all the contributions in this book shed light on the common theme of diversity, and are based on a will to include diverse perspectives both on the actors and the material of the classroom as well as on the life world of young people. The researchers represent different generations and different theoretical and methodological perspectives.

The Turkish government is urged to make a fundamental shift in its approach to education by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) in a new report. A long-standing focus on state-building has been supplemented by increasing emphasis on religious teaching. Both feature strongly in the education system in Turkey making schools a focus of discrimination. The report, Discrimination based on Colour, Ethnic Origin, Language, Religion and Belief in Turkey’s Education System, reveals evidence of discrimination of minority groups and suggests comprehensive reforms to effectively ensure equality. “The ‘national’ education system, which for decades aimed to create young Turkish nationalists, has in recent years become a vehicle for raising young religious Turkish nationalists,” says Nurcan Kaya, Turkey Coordinator of Minority Rights Group International. Religious education is compulsory from grade four in primary schools. While some information on world religions has been introduced, the emphasis remains on teaching Sunni Muslim religious practices. Children of Jewish and Christian families may apply to opt out, but the process can be cumbersome and in many schools alternatives are not provided for them. Non-Muslim students who have opted out can still find themselves having to remain in the religious instruction class or alternatively having to wander in the school corridor – making them vulnerable to taunts from pupils and even teachers. The opt out possibility is still not available to children of other minorities. Another issue is mother tongue education. In 2012, a new elective on the living languages and dialects in Turkey was introduced but due to various limitations, minorities remain marginalised “others” in the education system. Subsequent to the 2012 reform, the report monitors discrimination in the formal education system in the period of the academic year of 2014-2015. The findings are based on the field work of the Monitoring Discrimination in Education Network, an alliance of 16 organizations working in Turkey. The report compiles numerous cases of discrimination based on language, religion, ethnicity, skin colour and the level of income. “In order to bring about a fundamental solution to these problems in the education system, the government must prioritise developing an approach that sees all groups as equal and that responds to demands for rights based on such an understanding of equality,” says Kaya. The report highlights that Turkey has no anti-discrimination law or an equality commission to which victims of discrimination can apply. The existing legislation contains no effective and accessible means of judicial remedies or compensation. Therefore, many discriminatory practices are not reported to school administrations. “The entire education system is based on Turkishness. Non-Turkish groups are either not referred to or referred in a negative way,” says Kaya. “Education system has played a significant role in deepening conflict in society. The positive representation of other groups in the education system would contribute to social peace and harmony.” In order to resolve the many problems in the education system that the current approach causes, the overall aim of government education policy should be cleared of ideological references, and the protection of children’s best interests and the right to education in line with international standards should be considered its fundamental goal, says the report.

Despite the increased trend towards secularisation in state schooling, issues of religion and spirituality have remained important. Increased pluralism within societies through expanding migration patterns is changing the religious and cultural contours of many countries in Europe and North America, and is creating a need for a deeper understanding of religious diversity. However, the lack of religious or spiritual education within the educational curriculum leaves a moral vacuum that can become a space to be exploited by religious extremism. More recently, religiously motivated incidences of terrorism in several parts of the world have heightened prejudicial attitudes and distrust of certain religions, in particular. These are profound concerns and there is an urgency to examine how religion, religious education and interfaith initiatives can address such misconceptions. This book is thus timely, focusing on an area that is often neglected, particularly on the role of religion in education for sustainable development. While religious organisations and faith communities have had a long history of involvement in both schooling and social service delivery in many countries, their role in reaching development goals has not always been explicitly recognised, as is evident even in the United Nations’ most recently conceptualised 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Undeniably, the integration of religious dialogue into mainstream development issues is crucial because deep cleavages resulting from the issue of minority religious rights continue to give cause for concern and conflict in many countries. This edited book explores some of these tensions and issues and draws parallels across differing geographical contexts to help enhance our collective and comparative understanding of the role of religious education and institutions in advancing the post-2015 development agenda. The contributors to this volume each demonstrate that, while religion in education can contribute to understanding and respect, it is also a space that can be contested and co-opted. Without addressing the salience of religion, however, it will not be possible to foster peace and combat discrimination and prejudice. This book will be of interest to researchers, scholars and students in the field of comparative education and development, religious studies, theology and teacher development and training. This book may also be of interest to national and international policy makers. There are also numerous faith-based organisations, as well as other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on religion and education issues that may find these case studies a useful resource.

This book examines how religion and related beliefs have varied impacts on the needs and perceptions of practitioners, service users, and the support networks available to them. The authors argue that social workers need to understand these phenomena, so that they can become more confident in challenging discriminatory and oppressive practices. The centrality of religion and associated beliefs in the lives of many is emphasised, as are their potentially liberating (and potentially negative) impacts. In line with the Social Work in Practice series style, the book allows readers to explore issues in depth. It focuses on knowledge transmission, and the encouragement of critical reflection on practice. Each chapter is built around 'real-life' case scenarios using a problem-based learning approach. This book is the first to deal with social work and religion so comprehensively and will therefore be essential reading not only for social work students, but also for practitioners in a range of areas, social work academics and researchers in the UK and beyond.

This text presents a comparative, cross-cultural analysis of the legal status of religion in public education in eighteen different nations while offering recommendations for the future improvement of religious education in public schools. Offering rich, analytical insights from a range of renowned scholars with expertise in law, education, and religion, this volume provides detailed consideration of legal complexities impacting the place of religion and religious education in public education. The volume pays attention to issues of national and international relevance including the separation of the church and state; public funding of religious education; the accommodation of students’ devotional needs; and compulsory religious education. The volume thus highlights the increasingly complex interplay of religion, law, and education in diverse educational settings and cultures across developing and developed nations. Providing a valuable contribution to the field of religious secondary education research, this volume will be of interest to researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in religion and law, international and comparative education, and those involved with educational policy at all levels. Those more broadly interested in moral and values education will also benefit from the discussions the book contains.

In the current climate, and in an age of increasing hostility towards religion and the study of religion, religious education is a much-debated area. Bringing together an interdisciplinary team of contributors from the USA, Britain and Ireland, and Australia, representing a variety of religious perspectives, Does Religious Education Matter? provocatively demonstrates that it is vital that religious education is presented as it ’really’ is: a valuable and rich resource that, when taught and engaged with appropriately, stimulates essential qualities for global and responsible citizenship: critical thinking, tolerance, respect, and mutual understanding.

Although Religious Education (RE) is a legal requirement in UK schools, it is an oft-neglected and misunderstood subject. It is important to seriously re-think this key subject at this time of low religious literacy and rising extremism, to protect communities from the consequences of hatred and misunderstanding. This book promotes a public discussion of what exactly is needed from a new model of RE within our education system to benefit wider society. In this edited collection, the chapters are diverse and future-facing, informed by theory and practice and written by a variety of key leading practitioners and emerging national leaders in RE. It covers the most pressing and urgent issues for RE such as hate speech, educational reform, and the weakening of moderate religious institutions. Linking the chapters together with recurring themes and joining passages, the editors create a flowing and coherent discussion about the state of RE and offer choices and routes for readers to consider in terms of its future course.