This study explores how religious education, and in particular transformative teaching and learning can provide an opportunity to re-ground authority in the Roman Catholic Church. The research presents an educational response to the legitimation crisis. It seeks to resolve the organization problem as typified in the pyramidic-hierarchical pattern…

The paper critically engages with contemporary theories of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue found in the areas of linguistic pragmatics and intercultural theology. Drawing on Ducrot's theory of polyphony, it takes preliminary steps in formulating an alternative conception of the individual subject that incorporates a polyphonic…

Using adolescent samples from four cultures, the current study tested whether effects by religiosity on deviance varied by the nature of religiosity (intrinsic versus extrinsic) and by the cultural context (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, and the U.S.). Results indicated: a) that not every type of religiosity has a buffering effect on…

This qualitative study aimed to develop theory about psychological constructs relevant to spiritual development in diverse adolescents. Exemplar and Consensual Qualitative Research methods were used to explore 30 interviews of adolescents aged 12 to 21 years ("M" = 17.73 years) representing eight religions and six countries from around…

The purpose of this study was to uncover real importance and volume of schooling interlaced with political practices through placing the education in a pragmatic position in forming national epistemologies and political ambitions by non-Muslims who desire to establish a geography by virtue of having specific national histories, cultures,…

Irish society has experienced unprecedented demographic change since the turn of the twenty-first century, and increasingly, educators are facing the prospect of having to respond to the changing nature of cultural diversity in their classrooms. Traditionally characterised as"Catholic, white and Gaelic", Irish schools are said to be…

The purpose of this study was to assess developmental and social determinants of the age at which children become aware that the social environment can be marked by categorization into religious groups and that those groups are associated with different religious beliefs. The results show that middle childhood is a critical period for this…

This research aims to look at how a group of primary head teachers' in the North West of England perceive the Catholic nature of their schools and how they give their account of Catholic education for twenty-first century Britain. They go on to describe their feelings about the mission of their school. The head teachers' views of how they…

Globalization has made human rights both increasingly important as the normative standards that seek to shape the diverse religious, cultural, political, and economic interactions of the world, and also increasingly controversial in the face of the realities of cultural diversity and economic inequality. Over the past half century, hopes that…

How do pupils in dialogical classroom communication understand the otherness of peers who belong to religions different from their own? We distinguish between three aspects of dialogical communication that are conducive to understanding pupils' otherness: orientation, appropriation, and evaluation. To what extent do teachers apply these three…

Researches have emphasized religiosity as a protective factor against drug use although the mechanism through which it occurs is still unknown. This article aims to explore religious beliefs that could prevent drug use among youth. Three sources of qualitative data were used: participant observation in 21 religious institutions, semistructured…

The purpose of this case study is to analyze a Turkish Student Association's (TSA) extracurricular activities involving interfaith dialog with respect to their contributions to students' academic and social development in a predominantly white, Catholic, liberal arts college located in the Northeastern United States. The study aims to explain how…

This study reports on a study of student attitudes towards war. To study the impact that the type of university attended has on a student's level of support for war and attitudes towards war a 15-question survey on moral disengagement in support of military actions based on one developed by McAlister was given to college students attending Quaker,…

The former British Labour Government acknowledged that religious practices play an important role in the development of children's identities [DCFS. (2009). "Your child, your schools, our future: building a 21st century schools system." London: HMSO; DfES (2007). "Curriculum review: Diversity and citizenship." London: HMSO].…

Religious communities are important sources of bridging and bonding social capital that have varying implications for perceptions of social cohesion in rural areas. In particular, as well as cultivating cohesiveness more broadly, the bridging social capital associated within mainline religious communities may represent an especially important…