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

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

4. 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

5. 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”.

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

7. 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 And in Germany, the Protestant churches did not act differently.” (Habermas 2008, 27)

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

9. 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)

10. Education about and from religion
Diversity
Reflexivity
Semantic potential
Dialogue

11. 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

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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. “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 )
“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 )

17. 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?

18. 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