In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion and its varied aspects —its beliefs, doctrines, rituals, customs, rites, and personal roles. Secularity ( adjective form secular) is the state of being separate from Religion. In Education, a teacher is one who helps Students or pupils often in a School, as well as in a Family, religious or A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a Proposition or Premise to be true Doctrine (Latin doctrina) is a codification of beliefs or "a body of teachings quot or "instructions" taught principles or positions as the A ritual is a set of actions often thought to have Symbolic value the performance of which is usually prescribed by a Religion or by the Traditions A rite is an established ceremonious usually Religious act or Process art. In Western and secular culture, religious education implies a type of education which largely separate from academia, and which (generally) regards religious belief as a fundamental tenet and operating modality, as well as a prerequisite condition of attendance. Western culture (sometimes equated with Western Civilization) are terms which are used to refer to Cultures of European origin

The secular concept is substantially different from societies that adhere to religious law, wherein "religious education" connotes the dominant academic study, and in typically religious terms, teaches doctrines which define social customs as "laws" and the violations thereof as "crimes," or else misdemeanors requiring punitive correction. In some Religions law can be thought of as the ordering principle of Reality; Knowledge as revealed by God defining and governing all human affairs Social norms have been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values beliefs attitudes and behaviors Infraction as a general term means a violation of a rule or Local ordinance or regulation promise or obligation In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment Punishment is the practice of imposing something unpleasant or aversive on a person or animal usually in response to disobedient or morally wrong behavior

Overview

Since people within a given country often hold varying religious and non-religious beliefs, government-sponsored religious education can be a source of conflict. Countries vary widely in whether religious education is allowed in government-run schools (often called "public schools"). The term public school has two distinct (and virtually opposite meanings depending on the location of usage in the United States, Australia and Those that allow it also vary in the type of education provided.

People oppose religious education in public schools on various grounds. One is that it constitutes a state sponsorship or establishment of whatever religious beliefs are taught. Others argue that if a particular religion is taught in school, children who do not belong to that religion will either feel pressure to conform or be excluded from their peers. Proponents argue that religious beliefs have historically socialized people's behavior and morality. They feel that teaching religion in school is necessary to encourage children to be responsible, spiritually sound adults.

Approaches in various countries

In the United States, religious education is often provided through supplementary "Sunday school", "Hebrew school", catechism classes, etc. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the " Sunday school " is the generic name for many different types of Religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations A catechism (ˈkætəkɪzəm κατηχισμός is a summary or exposition of Doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament taught to children at their family's place of worship, either in conjunction with worship services or some other time during the week, after weekday school classes. Some families believe supplementary religious education is inadequate, and send their children to private religious schools, called parochial schools when they are affiliated with a specific parish or congregation. Parochial school is one term used (particularly in the United States) to describe a school that engages in Religious education in addition to conventional Education Many faiths also offer private college and graduate-level religious schools, which may be accredited as colleges. College ( Latin collegium) is a term most often used today to denote an Educational Institution. Under U. S. law, religious education is forbidden in public schools, except from a neutral, academic perspective. For a teacher or school administration to endorse one religion is considered an infringement of the "establishment clause" of the First Amendment. The boundaries of this rule are frequently tested, with court cases challenging the treatment of traditional religious holidays, displays of religious articles and documents such as the Ten Commandments, the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance (which since 1954 has described the U. The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are a list of religious and moral imperatives that according to Judeo-Christian tradition were authored by God and given History The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855-1931 a Baptist minister a Christian Socialist, and the cousin of Socialist Utopian S. as "one nation under God"), and how prayer should be accommodated in the classroom.

In Canada, religious education has a varying status. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page On the one hand publicly funded Catholic education is mandated by various sections of the Constitution Act, 1867. This article is about Catholic schools in general for specific schools named Catholic High School, see Catholic High School (disambiguation. The Constitution Act 1867 (formerly called the British North America Act 1867, and still known informally as the BNA Act) constitutes a major part of More recently however, with a growing level of multiculturalism, particularly in Ontario, debate has emerged as to whether publicly funded religious education for one group is permissible. The term multiculturalism generally refers to a state of racial, cultural and ethnic diversity within the Demographics of a specified Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec Newfoundland for example, withdrew Catholic funding in 1995. Newfoundland and Labrador (ˈnuːfɨn(dlənd ən(d ˈlæbrəˌdɔr (Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador is a province of Canada, the tenth and latest to join the Confederation Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 Quebec abolished religious education funded by the state through the Education Act, 1998 which took effect on July 1st of that same year. Quebec (kwɨˈbɛk It re-organized the schools along linguistic rather than religious lines. In Ontario however, the move to abolish funding has been strongly resisted. As of 2005, funding from the taxes of those who specifically request to have their educational taxes allotted to Catholic education, remains in place and the foreseeable future. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. However, a debate similar to the American school voucher debate has emerged with the announcement in the 2001 Provincial budget that a system of vouchers for religious education may be on the horizon. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. However, this debate has faded due in large part to the election of a new government in 2003. The Ontario general election of 2003 was held on October 2, 2003, to elect the 103 members of the 38th Legislative Assembly (Members of Provincial

Some European countries and their former colonies maintain a state-supported religion, usually either Lutheran, Roman Catholic, or Orthodox Christian. Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century German reformer Martin Luther The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world It is taught in a special class of the government schools. This policy aims to build and maintain a national identity. In many countries families can get permission to withdraw children from these classes. Many families with other religions use religious schools. The state supports one (usually) central seminary which trains pastoral staff for the state church. Other religions may support private seminaries, but these are smaller and not as well funded. Religions other than the state religion, even if ancient and respectable, are often deprecated in the national cultures (e. g. they are called "cults" in the news media).

Most of the federal states of Germany, which has a long history of almost even division between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, have an arrangement where the religious bodies oversee the training of mainline Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish religious education teachers. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. In one of the federal states this includes Orthodox Christian teachers as well. The training is supposed to be conducted according to modern standards of the humanities, at mostly state-run colleges and universities. The humanities are academic disciplines which study the Human condition, using methods that are primarily Analytic, Critical, or Speculative Those teachers teach religion in the public schools, paid by the state but answerable to the churches for the content of their teaching; however they must not teach behaviour that is against the law. Children who don't belong to a mainstream religion or wish to opt out for another reason must usually attend neutral classes in "Ethics" or "Philosophy" instead. From the age of 14, children may decide on their own if they want to attend classes and which. For younger children it is the decision of the parents. The state also subsidizes religious schools by paying up to 90% of their expenses. These schools have to follow the same curricula as the public schools of their federal state, however. Currently there is an ongoing controversy about the introduction of Islamic religious education. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. While there are around three million Muslims, mostly of Turkish origin, now in the country, most of them are not members of large religious bodies with whom the states could arrange such matters. Some religious bodies are publicly suspected to further anti-constitutional values, such as inequality of men and women before the law. However, proponents of Islamic religious education in public schools say that it is better than having the children go to sometimes fundamentalist and always completely uncontrolled native-language "Qur'an Schools" in the afternoon, with which even many of the children's parents are not too happy.

In Austria the situation is similar. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Because of its history as a multi-national empire that included the largely Islamic Bosnia, Sunni Islam has been taught side by side with Roman Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox classes since the 19th century. Historically and geographically the Region known as Bosnia (natively Bosna; Cyrillic: Босна lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging But also children belonging to minority religions, like Jewish, Buddhist and Latter Day Saints enjoy denominational religious education. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices A Latter At many schools, secular classes in Ethics can be attended alternatively.

In France, the state recognizes no religion and does not fund religious education. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. However, the state subsidizes private teaching establishments, including religious ones, under strict conditions of not forcing religion courses on students and not discriminating against students according to religion. An exception is the area of Alsace-Moselle where, for historical reasons (it was ruled by Germany when this System was instituted in the rest of France), the state supports public education in some religions mostly in accord with the German model. Alsace-Moselle is the current legal name of the Alsace-Lorraine territory the part of France that was part of Germany from 1871 to 1919 (and then

In the UK, Catholic, Church of England and Jewish schools have long been supported within the state system with all other schools having a duty to provide religious education within a broadly Christian context. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located There is no National Curriculum for Religious Education. The content of the Syllabus is agreed by Local Education Authorities, in the guidance of a council comprising members of different religious groups, teachers and local councillors.

In traditional Islamic education, children are taught to read and sometimes speak Arabic and memorize the major suras of the Qur'an. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language The Qur’an ( القرآن, literally "the recitation" also sometimes transliterated as Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran Many countries have state-run schools for this purpose. Traditionally, a settlement may pay a mullah to teach children. Mullah ( ملا) is a Muslim learned in Islamic theology and sacred law There is a historic tradition of Sufi mullahs who wander and teach, and an ancient tradition of religious universities. However, the study of Islam does not suffice. Students must pass the state mandated curriculum to pass. Religious scholars often serve as judges, especially for criminal and family law (more rarely for commercial law). Non-Islamic religions are tolerated as personal beliefs, but not as public teaching. Most Islamic countries have laws against teaching other religions, and especially against attempts to convert Islamic believers.

In the Middle East, many Catholic schools are French-controlled so besides learning English and Arabic and French. While following the mandated curriculum, Catholic school students in the Middle East also learn theology and the parocial church's liturgical language.

Similarly, children receiving a traditional Jewish education are often taught some Hebrew, and students at Greek Orthodox schools typically learn some Greek. These traditions generally hope that by passing on the traditional language, the students will also retain a better memory of their culture's history and a stronger sense of cultural identity.

In the People's Republic of China, formal religious education is banned except in licensed schools of theology, which are usually college-level and above. Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES These colleges are state-supported and usually very small, with limited enrollments and budgets. Religious education usually occurs in scheduled sessions in private homes. Religious teachers usually move on a weekly or monthly circuit, staying as guests in private houses in exchange for teaching.

In Thailand, Burma and other majority Buddhist societies, Buddhist beliefs are taught in school, often by monks. The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar ( pjìdàunzṵ mjàmmà nàinŋàndɔ̀ is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Young men are expected to live as monks for several months at one point of their lives.

In Japan, Buddhism, activity, reinforced by public ceremonies and parades. There are also some Christian schools, but the majority of their students are not themselves Christians and do not receive religious education at these schools.

The Church Educational System of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) provides religious education in approximately 135 countries. The Church Educational System (CES of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church consists of several institutions that provide religious and secular education The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest Christian denomination in the United States and the largest and most well-known TalkMormon#Latter Day Saint vs Latter-day Saint --> Mormon

See also

 Education by subject   (Portal)  

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• Private school
• Parochial school
• Islamic studies
• Religion and children

External links

• Christian Aid's teaching resources
• Teaching about religion
• RE-NET
• Church of the Larger Fellowship, UUA on-line resources