Education about Religions and Worldviews

Anna Halafoff is a Lecturer in Sociology and a member of the Alfred Deakin Research Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research focuses on religious diversity, religion and education, and Buddhism in contemporary society. She is the author of The Multifaith Movement: Global Risks and Cosmopolitan Solutions (2013). Elisabeth Arweck is a Senior Research Fellow in the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit (WRERU), Centre for Education Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK, and the Editor of the Journal of Contemporary Religion. Her recent research has focused on young people’s attitudes to religious diversity and the religious socialisation and nurture of young people. Recent publications include a number of book chapters and co-authored articles and (co-edited) volumes, such as Religion and Knowledge (with Mathew Guest, 2012), Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age (with Chris Deacy, 2009). She is the author of Researching New Religious Movements in the West (2006).Donald Boisvert is an Affiliate Associate Professor of Religion at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. In addition to a number of articles, he has published the following books: Out on Holy Ground: Meditations on Gay Men’s Spirituality (2000), Sanctity and Male Desire: A Gay Reading of Saints (2004), nominated for the Lambda Literary Award, Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct: Breaking the Silence (edited with Robert E. Goss, 2005) and a two-volume collection, Queer Religion (edited with Jay Emerson Johnson, 2012).

• Introduction: Education about Religions and Worldviews: Promoting Intercultural and Interreligious Understanding in Secular Societies 1. Young People’s Attitudes to Religious Diversity: Socialising Agents and Factors Emerging from Qualitative and Quantitative Data of a Nation-Wide Project in the UK 2. ‘Respect Study’ the Treatment of Religious Difference and Otherness: An Ethnographic Investigation in UK Schools 3. International Human Rights Law: Its Potential and Limitations in Effecting Change to the Place of Religion in the Irish Education System 4. Education and Common Values in a Multicultural Society - The Norwegian Case 5. Pupils’ Perceptions of Worldview Diversity and Religious Education in the Finnish Comprehensive School 6. Religion in New Zealand’s State Primary Schools 7. Education about Diverse Religions and Worldviews, Social Inclusion and Countering Extremism: Lessons for the Australian Curriculum 8. Commentary: Quebec’s Ethics and Religious Culture School Curriculum: A Critical Perspective