This article reflects on the place of RE in a pillarised education context, taking into account the fact of religious diversity and pluralisation among the school population on the one hand, and the freedom of religion and education of faith-based schools on the other. Particular attention will be given to Belgium and the Netherlands, which do not…

In spite of recent tendencies of secularisation and religious pluralism, most Belgian schools are Catholic schools, where Roman Catholic religious education is a compulsory subject. As we will argue, this can lead to a "de facto" undermining of the freedom of religion and education and a shift in the system is therefore required. In the…

From a modest beginning in 1994 with a single school and a little more than 500 pupils, the system of Catholic schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina developed to its 7 currently functioning Catholic School Centres, with 14 schools and 4683 enrolled pupils. From the beginning these Catholic schools were open equally to Catholic and non-Catholic…

Around thirty per cent of all schools in England have a religious character. The author argues that the current "faith schools debate" is more about the nature of its "plural society" than about the place of such schools within the state-maintained sector. He suggests that to assume we are, in fact, living within a determinedly…