This book explores recent calls to increase instruction of the Bible in American public schools. The work develops a distinctive philosophical and trans-Atlantic assessment of these proposals by critiquing European approaches to religious education and by reviewing the role of religion in contemporary democracies. The work will spark debate among political scientists, policy experts, Religious Education instructors, theologians, and social and educational theorists.

This book explores recent calls to increase instruction of the Bible in American public schools. The work develops a distinctive philosophical and trans-Atlantic assessment of these proposals by critiquing European approaches to religious education and by reviewing the role of religion in contemporary democracies. The work will spark debate among political scientists, policy experts, Religious Education instructors, theologians, and social and educational theorists.

Educating Believers: Religion and School Choice offers theoretical essays and empirical studies from leading researchers on religion and schooling. Religious authority and emphasis on fairness and caring provide consistent rules governing the stable family and community relationships needed for individual growth and collective action. Religion is among the most important aspects of human life, likely hard-wired into human beings, and intimately intertwined with schooling. The book addresses key matters regarding religious pluralism in education, including the history of state-faith relationships in schooling, how religious faith can motivate teachers, whether religious education teaches tolerance, and whether practices in Europe and Asia hold lessons for American schools. The works in this volume can guide future scholarship on religious pluralism in education, particularly work related to civic values, character formation and public policy. The chapters in this book were originally published in the Journal of School Choice.

The essays in this volume offer a groundbreaking comparative analysis of religious education, and state policies towards religious education in seven different countries and in the European Union as a whole. They pose a crucial question: can religious education contribute to a shared public sphere and foster solidarity across different ethnic and religious communities? In many traditional societies and even in what are largely secular European societies, our place in creation, the meaning of good and evil, and the definition of the good life, virtue, and moral action, are all primarily addressed in religious terms. It is in fact hard to come to grips with these issues without recourse to religious language, traditions, and frames of reference. Yet, religious languages and identities divide as much as unite, and provide a site of contestation and strife as much as a sense of peace and belonging Not surprisingly, different countries approach religious education in dramatically different ways. Religious Education and the Challenge of Pluralism addresses a pervasive problem: how can religious education provide a framework of meaning, replete with its language of inclusion and community, without at the same time drawing borders and so excluding certain individuals and communities from its terms of collective membership and belonging? The authors offer in-depth analysis of such pluralistic countries as Bulgaria, Israel, Malaysia, and Turkey, as well as Cyprus - a country split along lines of ethno-religious difference. They also examine the connection between religious education and the terms of citizenship in the EU, France, and the USA, illuminating the challenges of educating our citizenry in an age of religious resurgence and global politics.

Excerpt from The Religious Education of an American Citizen The purpose of this series of loosely con nected chapters is to call attention to some of the influences which direct, and some of the qualities which mark, the religious education of an American citizen. The normal life of an American proceeds from childhood to youth and from youth to manhood, through the shift ing environments of home, school, college, busi ness, citizenship and Church; and at each step he is met by conditions and demands which may either promote or obstruct his religious educa tion. What, then, are the circumstances which are likely to be most favorable for a healthy minded and progressive religious experience? What can be done by parents, teachers, em ployers, statesmen, or pastors, to reinforce American citizenship with a rational religious life? What are the special obstacles which American civilization offers to religious prog ress? What are the traits of the American character on which teachers of religion may most confidently depend? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.