The idea of the classroom as a 'safe space' has been popular in education for at least two decades. More recently, the term has also been used by religious education scholars not least in the wake of the use of the term in the influential Council of Europe publication 'Signposts'. In this article, I want to question the usefulness of the term…

Field visits to churches, mosques, temples or other buildings used by religious groups, are often valued by students of religious education as an opportunity to engage with the 'reality' of the subject: religions as they exist in the world. The Council of Europe text "Signposts" specifies field visits as an important contributor to the…

Against the backdrop of growing sociolinguistic interest in transnationalism, this paper uses the notion of "scale" as an "ideological project" (Irvine in "Scale. Discourse and dimensions of social life," University of California Press, California, 2016: 214) to study situated discursive performances of…

The civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended in 2009, with total defeat of the LTTE and many thousands of civilian casualties. The country is now engaged in peace-building. Key elements of the secondary school curriculum--truth-seeking, social cohesion and active citizenship--may contribute…

The United States Supreme Court's decision in the case Wisconsin v. Yoder et al. (1972) created a special provision for Amish and Old Order Mennonite families by allowing their children to end formal schooling at age 14. The assumption was that these Anabaptist families were preparing children adequately to live "full lives" in their…

Greater attention to methods and methodologies when studying writing in religious contexts is needed to help researchers navigate ethical issues specific to faith communities and religious practices; to improve knowledge regarding the relationships among writing, religion, and faith; and to encourage respect for religious and nonreligious beliefs.…

This study sought to determine the relationship between adolescents' involvement in service to others and their commitment to religious values and Seventh-day Adventist beliefs. Canonical correlation indicated that adolescents' involvement in service to others is significantly related to their commitment to religious values and beliefs. Results…

In this article, the author examines the growth of the current strain of fundamentalism that is influencing rural schools in the United States, and how it is, according to him, creating a self-sustaining pipeline of fundamentalists into positions of power. The author details the type of anti-public and anti-democratic education being expressed…

The theological misappropriation of Christianity as a civilizing force occurs when individuals convert to Christianity due to deception that ignores the faith-based aspect of Christianity. The history of Western education in India illustrates the hidden curriculum that Christian missionaries employed to disrupt the Indian educational system. This…

In the absence of a dedicated subject for teaching general religious education, the inclusion of Civics and Citizenship education as a new subject within the first Federal Australian Curriculum provides an important opportunity for teaching the religious within Australian schools. The curriculum for Civics and Citizenship requires students to…

This response to David Lewin states the purpose of my critique of some aspects of Liam Gearon's work. It clarifies my position on the aims of "inclusive" religious education, rejecting Gearon's view that REDCo researchers shared a common pluralistic theology, regarding religious education as having a single political aim. It reinforces…

This paper examines the possibility of teaching the holocaust in Jordanian universities. In this regard, it highlights the socio-religious challenges that may impede such a project and suggests some methods to overcome them. It discusses the material to be taught and the background that should be furnished for students before presenting the topic.…

Fishman's scale for evaluating language vitality proposes a stage in language shift where exclusively the older generation takes part in "rituals", "concerts" and "songfests" in the minority language. Once this generation dies away, according to the scale, these cultural practices disappear with them. Within certain…

This phenomenological qualitative research study investigated Mennonite women with experience leading Mennonite high schools across the United States and Canada during their first year serving in the role of principal. This study gives voice to 12 Mennonite women leaders who felt God's "call" to lead. Women leaders encountered bias due…

Matters of interreligious engagement and worldview orientation are becoming more salient on campuses across the country. All-comers policies, conflicts about the Middle East, and intersections of spirituality with other aspects of identity present challenges for professionals working with students on college campuses. This article will discuss…