Abstract
This article draws on the experiences of Ireland and England, which support different conceptions and practices of religious education (RE), in order to provide a normative framework for the organisation of RE in multicultural states. This analysis consists in an assessment of three conceptions of RE: the liberal conception, which emphasises neutrality and objectivity; the pragmatist conception, which is egalitarian in character; and the tradition-oriented conception, which is based on a substantive ethics. Rejecting the view that RE should be only informative and free from criticism of content, I will make the case for an ethical-dialogical approach to RE, whereby pupils can learn from each other’s beliefs and experiences, as availed by their own cultural traditions, without setting aside their capacity to evaluate different moral claims. This approach to RE is especially designed to multidenominational schools that recognise the ethical potential of learning from religion, but are sensible towards issues of conscience in plural environments.
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Notes
Nancy S. Netting (2006) conducted a survey with young people of Indo-Canadian origin about their views on arranged marriage. Although some of them strongly rejected the practice, many held the view that love should not be a matter of individual choice only, as it can also be brought about afterwards, in the course of a relationship. As the majority of the respondents opted for a middle ground position between reworked to have enough here to apply individual and parental choice – with the children assenting to a pre-arranged list of candidates, Netting realised that the idea of one’s life as community-oriented challenges a strict account of liberal freedom. Here, interdependence comes up as an important determinant of individual choices.
Habermas’s (2003, p. 237–275) theory of truth distinguishes the theoretical domain of validation from the moral domain, stressing that, whereas the former refers to the objective world, the latter lacks any external reference that could determine moral validity. However, given Habermas belief that in modern conditions of pluralism there is a universal imperative for the search of impartial norms of moral judgement, conceptions of normative rightness, which emerge as the outcome of universal discursive procedures aimed at resolving moral conflicts, are, by character, truth-analogous. It is important to note, here, that there is also a distinction between warranted assertibility – what people take to be true – and theoretical and moral truth, as a context-transcendental reference that outruns justification. Habermas espouses a pragmatically-realist account of truth, that is, he acknowledges that the objective world (theoretical truth) and the practical imperative for an impartial and universal morality (normative truth) is what define truth validity in a context-transcendent manner.
Maeve Cooke believes that Habermas embraces this view of the recalcitrancy of reality, which gives his theory a metaphysical purport, even though he insists on the postmetaphysical character of his communicative ethics.
Hans-Georg Gadamer (1975) employed the concept of intentionality to explain how scientific research questions emerge from the needs of the community, which draws the agent´s attention to certain specific problems.
For more on the religious and intellectual roots of slavery issue and the American Civil War, see John P. Daly (2002) When Slavery was Called Freedom: Evangelicalism, Proslavery, and the Causes of the Civil War. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky. The author explores both sides’ arguments on the legitimacy of slavery, pointing out protestants in the North and in the South shared ideas such as freedom, democracy, and prosperity, though drawing different conclusions from them. In the South, the conception of social gradations of service and the view of the redemptive character of labour, combined with a Calvinist notion of providence and the perception that intervention in the slavery market would be counterproductive, led prospective confederate states to the conviction that they were living in a virtuous society.
Ubuntu is a spiritual conception that emphasises togetherness and that has been influential in shaping public policies in South Africa after the Apartheid.
McLaughlin (1990: 75–87) draws attention to the psychological aspects of the process of child-rearing, observing that, both at the conceptual (teaching that), and at the practical level (teaching how and teaching to), parents need to take a firm stance on what they believe is true and right for their children to believe and do – even though allowing for questioning – rather than leave them in a confused state of insecurity with hesitant and ambiguous statements.
For more on this, see Gilson (1986).
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Carvalho, T.A. Towards an ethical-dialogical approach to religious education: a theoretical analysis from the cases of Ireland and England. j. relig. educ. 70, 157–179 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-022-00173-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-022-00173-x