Chapter 9: The Interaction of Type of Religious Education and Sociocultural Contexts: Implications for Motivation and Learning

Religious education (RE) in school settings has, in many social and cultural contexts, a long and not uncontroversial history (Burgess, 1996; Haakedal, 2000; Johnson, 1993). Essentially, controversy concerning religious education in schools has centered on whether religious education has any place in schools at all, and if so, in what form and under what constraints. Responses to this controversy range from the very positive to the very negative, with many “shades of gray” in between. What is striking from a cross-social and cross-cultural perspective, however, is the differing reactions to broadly the same type of religious education in various socio-cultural contexts. For example, in some contexts (e.g., Greece and Iran) single-faith religious education (i.e., religious education from one particular faith perspective) is cherished and protected by society as a whole--and secured and developed through state legislation and educational support. In other contexts, however, single-faith religious education is specifically legislated out of formal state-school curricula (e.g., in Australia and many other Western nations, although notably not in the United Kingdom) and, in some cases, out of state schools altogether (e.g., the United States). Conversely, multifaith religious education (i.e., education that recognizes many faith perspectives) is valued in some settings, tolerated in others, and actively opposed in the remainder.