Young People’s Attitudes to Religious Diversity


Book Description

Investigating the hitherto unexplored topic of how young people understand and relate to religious diversity in the social context in which they are growing up, this book makes a significant contribution to the existing body of literature on religious diversity and multiculturalism. It closes a gap in knowledge about young people’s attitudes to religious diversity, and reports data gathered across the whole of the UK as well as comparative chapters on Canada, USA and continental Europe. Reporting findings from both qualitative and quantitative research which reveal, for example, the importance of the particular social and geographical context within which young people are embedded, the volume addresses young people’s attitudes towards the range of 'world religions’ as well as non-religious stances and offers an interdisciplinary approach through the different analytical perspectives of the contributors.




Young People and the Diversity of (Non)Religious Identities in International Perspective


Book Description

This volume brings together current research on young people, (non)religion, and diversity, documenting the forms young people’s stances may take and the social or spatial contexts in which these may be formed. The social contexts studied include the family, school, and faith communities. The spatial contexts include (sub)urban and rural geographies and places of worship and pilgrimage.Youth and (non)religion are an area of academic interest that has been gaining increasing attention, especially as it pertains to youthful expressions of (non)religion and identities. As research on religion and young people spans and expands across academic disciplines and across geographic areas, comparative approaches and perspectives, such as presented in this volume, offer important spaces for reflecting about the experience of religiosity among young people and the ways they are learning about, and developing, (non)religious identities. Building bridges geographically and methodologically, this volume provides an international perspective on religion and nonreligion among young people, offering a diversity of religious and nonreligious perspectives.







From Indifference to Dialogue?


Book Description

This case study contributes to discussions about religious education and its relation to young people's concerns and to social cohesion in Estonia. However, the book also makes an important contribution to the international debate about religions and education. It brings together empirical studies conducted in Estonia in the framework of a major European project, REDCo (Religion in Education: A contribution to Dialogue or a factor of Conflict in transforming societies of European Countries?) setting the research in the context of wider international debates. The mixed methods research investigates the attitudes of 14-16 years old Estonians towards religion and religious diversity, exploring their views on the role of the school in promoting dialogue and tolerance among representatives of different worldviews, and establishing the ways in which their experience of religious education affects their views on these issues. Dr Schihalejev draws on three of her empirical studies, each utilising a different methodology. The qualitative and the quantitative studies investigate students' attitudes to religion and religious diversity, while two contrasting classroom-based studies of religious education explore patterns of interaction, both using video-ethnography and incident-analysis respectively to collect and interpret the data. Grounded in the findings of the empirical studies, the author explores dialogical pedagogies for non-confessional approaches to religious education and discusses policies for strengthening active tolerance in the school context. Dr. Olga Schihalejev is a researcher and a lecturer in the Faculty of Theology at Tartu University, Estonia. She has worked as a teacher of religious education and has written teaching-learning resources for students in Estonia. She is a board member of the Estonian RE Teachers' Association, actively involved in improving the national syllabus for RE and organising annual conferences for RE teachers in Estonia. She worked on the EC Framework 6 project REDCo (Religion in Education. A contribution to dialogue or a factor of conflict in transforming societies of European Countries). Within the REDCo Project her research was on how religion is perceived by young people in a secular context. Additionally she is interested in the perception of religion and tolerance by different ethnic groups in Estonia. Her current research interest is the study of the competences young teachers of different subjects have for implemeting values education.




Youth On Religion


Book Description

Globalisation has led to increasing cultural and religious diversity in cities around the world. What are the implications for young people growing up in these settings? How do they develop their religious identities, and what roles do families, friends and peers, teachers, religious leaders and wider cultural influences play in the process? Furthermore, how do members of similar and different cultural and faith backgrounds get on together, and what can young people tell us about reducing conflict and promoting social solidarity amid diversity? Youth On Religion outlines the findings from a unique large-scale project investigating the meaning of religion to young people in three multi-faith locations. Drawing on survey data from over 10,000 young people with a range of faith positions, as well as a series of fascinating interviews, discussion groups and diary reports involving 160 adolescents, this book examines myriad aspects of their daily lives. It provides the most comprehensive account yet of the role of religion for young people growing up in contemporary, multicultural urban contexts. Youth On Religion is a rigorous and engaging account of developing religiosity in a changing society. It presents young people’s own perspectives on their attitudes and experiences and how they negotiate their identities. The book will be an instructive and valuable resource for psychologists, sociologists, criminologists, educationalists and anthropologists, as well as youth workers, social workers and anyone working with young people today. It will also provide essential understanding for policy makers tackling issues of multiculturalism in advanced societies.




Religion, Education and Society


Book Description

This volume presents findings from recent research focusing on young people and the way they relate to religion in their education and upbringing. The essays are diverse and multidisciplinary - in terms of the religions they discuss (including Christianity, Islam and Sikhism); the settings where young people reflect on religion (the classroom, youth club, peer group, families, respective religious communities and wider society); the different perspectives which relate to religious education and socialisation (the teaching of RE, the role of teachers in pupils’ lives, the way teachers’ personal lives shape their approach to teaching, school ethos and social context, and the place and rationale of RE); the contexts within which the authors work (different national settings and various academic disciplines); and the methodology used (qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method approaches). The authors make important contributions to the debate about the role of religious education in the curriculum. They demonstrate the crucially important formative influence of religious education in young people’s lives which reaches well into their adulthood, shaping religious and other identities, and attitudes towards the ‘other’ - whatever that ‘other’ may be. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Beliefs & Values.




Religious Diversity and Education. Nordic Perspectives


Book Description

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.




Religious Diversity in Europe


Book Description

Drawing on research funded by the European Commission, this book explores how religious diversity has been, and continues to be, represented in cultural contexts in Western Europe, particularly to teenagers: in textbooks, museums and exhibitions, popular youth culture including TV and online, as well as in political speech. Topics include the findings from focus group interviews with teenagers in schools across Europe, the representation of minority religions in museums, migration and youth subculture.




Religious Perspectives on Religious Diversity


Book Description

Religious Perspectives on Religious Diversity addresses fundamental and controversial questions raised by religious diversity. What are members of religious traditions to say about outsiders, their views, and their salvific status? And what are they to say about the religions of outsiders – about, say, whether those religions are inspired or salvifically effective or worthwhile or legitimate? Discussion of some Muslim, Christian, and Jewish perspectives is combined with more methodological work. The authors of these ground-breaking and original, yet readable and accessible, essays include established scholars and younger scholars whose reputation is growing. Contributors are: Imran Aijaz, David Basinger, Paul Rhodes Eddy, Jerome Gellman, Mohammad Hassan Khalil, Eugene Korn, Daniel A. Madigan, Robert McKim, John Sanders, and Diego R. Sarrió Cucarella. "Judaism, Christianity and Islam’s attitudes to other religions are thoughtfully examined in this collection, both with fine historical sensibility as well as original constructive contributions from leading scholars in the field. A series of helpful meta-reflections follow on: typologies in theology of religions; the act of comparison between traditions; and a plea for informed tolerance when difference is confronted. A rare treat: an edited collection that is of uniformly high quality, throwing immense light on the subject. It will help specialists and undergraduate students approaching the subject of religious pluralism." - Professor Gavin D’Costa, University of Bristol, September 2016.




Teenagers’ Perspectives on the Role of Religion in their Lives, Schools and Societies. A European Quantitative Study


Book Description

Religion is on the European agenda again. The secularisation paradigm has lost its explanatory power and the newly coined term ‘post-secularism’ is used to describe the realisation that in the current social transformation, religion cannot be ignored any longer. The quantitative study presented in this book is part of the research effort by the REDCo project. REDCo is the abbreviation for “Religion in Education. A contribution to Dialogue or a Factor of Conflict in Transforming Societies of European Countries”. The project brought together nine research teams from eight European countries: England, Estonia, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Russia and Spain. The research involved interdisciplinary cooperation between specialists in the different academic fields of education, religious education, sociology, political science, anthropology, psychology, theology and religious studies. The book offers valuable interpretations and inspirations on the question how the students in the 14 – 16 year age group in Europe see the (ir)relevance of religions for dialogue and conflict in their daily lives, in the school environment, and in society as a whole. The young respondents of the quantitative study are clearly aware that the diversity of religious and non-religious worldviews is the reality of the European contexts they have to manage within. Most of them are convinced that religion must be addressed in schools, as it is too important as factor in social life, and for the coexistence of people from different cultural and religious backgrounds throughout Europe, to be ignored.