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‘... for more and better religious education’

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Abstract

Mahner and Bunge argue that (1) ‘science and religion are incompatible’, in order to develop their thesis, that (2) ‘a religious education ... is an obstacle to the development of a scientific mentality’, and that therefore we should only teach our children (3) ‘how science explains the existence of religion in historical, biological, psychological and sociological terms’, and that (4) ‘religious education should be kept away from public schools ...’ I offer brief comments on each of these strands of their argument. ‘Religionists’, to use Mahner and Bunge's term, generally come from a specific stance so I shall make it clear, from the outset, that these remarks come from a Christian standpoint, even though many of them are much more widely applicable. Although I agree with some of the observations which Mahner and Bunge make, my conclusions are generally opposite to theirs on each of the four points.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. King's College London, Cornwall House Annex, School of Education, Waterloo Road, SE1 8WA, London, England

    Michael Poole

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  1. Michael Poole
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Poole, M. ‘... for more and better religious education’. Sci Educ 5, 165–174 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428616

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428616

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