This article is a revised version of the author's contribution to the 2006 meeting of the "International Seminar on Religious Education and Values" in Driebergen, the Netherlands and is concerned with the need for continuing discussion about the identity of religious education. The article begins by arguing that, despite current criticisms,…

Following 9/11 and the growth of religiously legitimated violence in Islamic countries, the focus of public discussion moved to imams and teachers of religion as actors supporting Muslim isolation and the lack of willingness to integrate--imams became central figures in the debate on Islam. With great enthusiasm, politicians discovered them to be…

The purpose of this action research was to examine how a narrative case study in an online asynchronous world religions course affected learners' understandings, appreciation, and respect for the beliefs and values of others. The world religions course examined a variety of religions including Islam. Ten participants received information about the…

This paper focuses on issues of reproduction and the manufacturing of national/ethnic and religious identities in the deterritorialized space of the Moroccan immigrant diaspora. More specifically, this paper examines Moroccan immigrant children's language socialization into pan-Arabic and Islamic identities in relation to the teaching of the…

During the past 10 to 15 years there has been a renewed interest in the place of religion, religious education and religious schools in different parts of the world. This began in the USA and Europe with the development of private Christian schools. It was later followed by the resurgence of religious schools in the former parts of the Soviet…

Islam has become an increasingly important topic in American society and education. This article will explore the rationale for teaching about religion in public schools, the role of Islam and Muslims in a multicultural society, and discuss numerous ways in which Islam can be incorporated into multicultural secondary school curricula.

In 1998, Indonesia embarked on a journey to democracy. This journey involved the decentralization of education from 2002. The new school-based management (SBM) system required greater community and parental participation in schools--thereby, it was hoped, contributing to a deepening of democracy. Islamic schools ("madrasah") also adopted…

Faith communities, such as churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques, are providing new venues for innovative adult environmental education. As faith communities turn their concerns to issues of sustainability, environmental teaching is emerging in many forms across diverse religious traditions, as evidenced by the development of denominational…

In a context of globalisation and the rapid expansion of low-paid "global" jobs, formal schooling is no longer perceived as contributing to the acquisition of skills that are appropriate or even relevant to active engagement with the new opportunities. Based on empirical material from a village in Bangladesh, this paper explores the role…

Looking back on the use of distance education tools by religious groups, one word that stands out is change. The old adage "We've never done it that way before" will become less valid as religious bodies find themselves in the midst of a world inundated with online possibilities that call them to question how they interact with members…

This article illuminates how religious education worked when students posed questions to believing guests in a Swedish upper secondary classroom, which was homogeneous concerning ethnic origin. The guests invited to school represented four religious traditions but they also represented themselves. Their messages, as well as the questions posed by…

At a very general ("civilisational") level, compulsory and upper secondary education in Europe is based in the Christian tradition and does not easily tolerate other types of education. Europe is the only continent that has been able to combine modernisation and secularisation, and this has continuously favoured religious schools of the…

Between recent threats by a Florida pastor to burn the Quran, the nation's ongoing presence in Afghanistan, and protests at the planned site for Park 51, an Islamic community center and mosque set to be built two blocks from the World Trade Center site, the topic of Islam is a tricky one, especially in K-12 schools, say many educators. For…

Nowadays education in the madrassahs (Muslim schools) is constantly being placed under the spotlight, such as being considered as seedbeds for terrorism. This article takes a critical look at some South African madrassahs with the aim to find out what these educational institutions do and whether or not the possibility for radicalisation and…

There is speculation about madaris in Pakistan as sources of terrorists and about levels and reasons for enrolment, but a dearth of empirical data. We studied madarsah enrolment among 53,960 representative households; 853 focus groups of parents discussed enrolment choices. In 2004, 2.6% of all children (3.8% of school-going children) aged 5-9…