2017-12-06

Roman-Catholic and Islamic RE in post-secular Societies Dr. Leni Franken (FWO post-doc researcher, University of Antwerp) Leni.franken@uantwerpen.be

Introduction Habermas: religion in post-secular society Non-confessional RE Confesional RE Islam Roman-catholic RE Solving the problems

Habermas: Religion in post-secular Societies “Religious communities continue to exist in a context of ongoing secularisation” (Habermas 2002, 66)  post-secular society Religion has a “potential of meaning” for religious and non-religious people

Habermas: Religion in post-secular Societies “Secular citizens or those of other religious persuasions can under certain circumstances learn something from religious contributions; this is, for example, the case if they recognize in the normative truth content of a religious utterance hidden intuitions of their own.” (Habermas 2006, 10; see also 2008, 29) “semantic potential” of religion “complementary learning processes”.

Seperation of church and state REFLEXIVE RELIGION Seperation of church and state Religious freedom Science

Habermas: Religion in post-secular Societies “It is a well-known fact that the Catholic Church first pinned its colors to the mast of liberalism and democracy with the Second Vaticanum in 1965. And in Germany, the Protestant churches did not act differently.” (Habermas 2008, 27)

Habermas: Religion in post-secular Societies “[m]any Muslim communities still have this painful learning process before them.” (Habermas 2008, 27).

Education about and from religion “taking Habermas’s post-secularism seriously, gives […] a strong argument in favor of integrative, religious studies based religious education.” (Loobuyck 2016). “the secular student can learn from religious students, the religious student can learn from the secular one, and both can experience the right to disagree and develop an attitude of reciprocity.” (Loobuyck 2016)

Education about and from religion Diversity Reflexivity Semantic potential Dialogue

Education into religion “[p]ost secularism does not exclude it, but it has not the same priority as religious studies-based, integrative religious education”. (Loobuyck 2015) Permitted but not required in post-secular society

Education into religion REFLEXIVE RE  no ‘lawless zone’ Seperation of church and state Religious freedom Science

Roman-catholic and islamic RE in Belgium (Flemish Community) 80% of the students: Roman-catholic RE (Flemish Community) Islamic RE in state schools since 1975  20% of students in state schools (5,5% of students in all schools) Organized by religious authorities (Roman Catholic Church; Executive of Muslims in Belgium) + financed by the state

Roman-Catholic RE Islamic RE Religious freedom/plurality? Inter-religious Dialogue and literacy vs. conversion and catechesis Mixed classroom  Respect for non-christian identity Rather mono-confessional Traditional, catechetical (‘nurturing faith’) Monoconfessional classroom  Own islamic identity; being a good muslim Science? Evolution theory (cf. Gaudium et Spes) Symbolic interpretation of Genesis Creationism No text interpretation (Quran; Genesis) Ethics + separation church/state? Different ethical positions; critical reflection Christianity has a priority position but is not imposed to students Quran and Hadith as authoritative sources for ethics Islamic way is the only ‘right’ way

Roman-Catholic RE Islamic RE Teacher training Long tradition of teacher training (college and university) Good quality (also at vicaries) Most teachers have a required degree No teacher training before 1992 (EMB)/1998 (college)/2014 (univ.) Poor quality (esp. at CIE) Required degree only for 16% (primary) / 38% (secondary) Curricula Long tradition of curricula New curricula since 1999/2000  open, dialogical No curricula before 2001 New curricula since 2013/14  opener, more reflexive Textbooks Long tradition of textbooks Adapted to Belgian context Good online support Mainly from Turkey (Diyanet) Not adapted to Belgian context No online support (yet) Inspection Long tradition of inspection Sufficient number No inspection before 2002 Insufficient number State control No state control

“Ghosts entering into my body” May 2017: Islamic pupils in Brussels’ official schools afraid of ghosts, hell, torture, punishment… Feelings of dread and fear Ideas spread by imams, ‘islam experts’ and islamic RE teachers “Where does this terrifying worldview come from? The least you can say is this: those who are in the best position for putting these children’s minds at rest – imams and teachers of Islam in official schools – do not take any initiative. They do not oppose these horrifying stories. Why? […] Anyway, it is a fact that they create, via their indoctrination, a culture of fear.” (Knack 09-05-2017) “In many cases, [Islamic RE teachers] have an alarming lack of knowledge of their own religion and make an appeal to a limited number of mainly extremist texts, while they do not know or neglect other texts. It is clear that Saudi influences and petro-dollars are also part of this [problem].” (Knack 10-05-2017)

Solving the problems new curricula (2013/14)  2016: “Statement of engagement for qualitative Islamic RE” “the improvement of Islamic RE and the investment in training and refreshing courses for Islamic RE teachers.” Teacher training: colleges; universities Actualization of present teacher degrees Extra inspector Reorganization of CIE new curricula (2013/14) Improvement but still deficits Theory vs. praxis?

Solving the problems State control? RE: organized by the reconized religious communities, financed by the state No state control over curricula, inspection, textbooks… No final achievements for RE designed by the state No curricula designed by the state  “Achilles tendon of confessional RE” in Belgium  if RE wants to be part of the regular curriculum, state control is required Conditions designed by the state  reflexive RE ‘basic’ curriculum designed by the state State control  if these conditions have not been met  no part of regular curriculum