The recently introduced and compulsory citizenship education in English schools seeks to prepare children for life in a liberal democracy and is concerned with far more than the acquisition of skills and knowledge; it privileges particular forms of action, behaviour and ways of thinking. I argue here that education for democratic citizenship (EDC)…

John Hull's recent educational writings have included several on what he calls the "money culture". This is analysed and criticised in this article. Hull offers a Marxist and a neo-Marxist account of the role of money in western societies utilising the labour theory of value, false consciousness and the materialist interpretation of history. It is…

This article is a revised version of the author's contribution to the 2006 meeting of the "International Seminar on Religious Education and Values" in Driebergen, the Netherlands and is concerned with the need for continuing discussion about the identity of religious education. The article begins by arguing that, despite current criticisms,…

This article deals with the results and further consequences of my empirical investigation of Christian-Muslim families and their children in Germany. It gives an insight into the religious world of 4- to 12-year-old children in Christian-Muslim families through the analysis of evaluated interviews and drawings concerning religious practice and…

In China, from the founding of the People's Republic of China to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, it was thought that religion would disappear with the development of society and the freedom not to believe in religion was stressed. During the Cultural Revolution religion became the object of oppression. However, from the end of the…

The article analyses the relation between religion, education and citizenship as reflected in recent research and current debates regarding religion in Pakistani schools. Following a description of the political context, two different views (one Christian, one Muslim) on the current state of affairs are presented. After a consideration of the…

This article raises the question of how to conceive of religious education as a research discipline. The theory of activity systems is used in an analysis of the relationship between theory and practice, the systems of research and the systems of school. The author argues for a dialectical relationship between research and school practice, where…

Dreaming is an integral part of human life. Whilst psychology has generated extensive knowledge and understanding about dreams, it was in religious contexts that they were originally understood. This relationship between dreams and religion is still evident in contemporary society in the scriptures of the Abrahamic faiths, which narrate dreams…

The place of religion in higher education has been and remains a complex issue internationally. This article aims to outline the nature and development of Religious Studies at the University of Zambia in Lusaka (UNZA) as an instance of how religion entered higher education in an African setting. In doing so, it will also provide perspectives on…

In recent years, in English schools, various linkages between religious education (RE) and citizenship have been identified or proposed. Yet neither education for citizenship nor its relationship with RE is new. Evidence for this is provided by an analysis of the public discourse pertaining to these areas, which took place between 1934 and 1944,…

This article contains the results of how a selected group of Finnish upper secondary students understand Lutheranism. The data consisted of 63 students' responses to a writing task together with complementary interviews of 11 students. The outcomes of phenomenographic analysis of variation in the students' understanding of Lutheranism are…

State religious schooling in Israel constitutes a fascinating setting for examining forces of conformity and resistance. This study, which examines the identity formation of adolescent girls and their teachers in this complex cultural-educational setting during the Al-Aksa Intifada (1999-2002), highlights the complexities of agency within a…

Although well documented from a British perspective, empirical research exploring the spiritual lives of primary school children in the Australian context is a field in which scholarship is beginning to emerge. This article reports on one particular finding which emerged from an Australian study seeking to identify some characteristics of…

This article argues that, considering the current trends of polarization between adherents of different religions, courses on world religions should no longer focus only on the transmission of knowledge, but include material from human rights studies, inter-religious dialogue, and peace studies as well. According to the author, due to their…

This article provides some concluding reflections on religious education and peace-making in different countries in East and West (Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Israel, Spain, Germany, USA), as discussed in the previous papers of this volume. I mention the changed nature of modern forms of violence and war, so that peace is no longer just an option in…