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Discussion of religion and education continues to evoke conceptions of confessional teaching; however, research and educational practices in recent decades illustrate an expanded understanding that relates to the teaching of, about, and from religion across formal and non-formal educational spaces in secular and religious spheres. An expanded understanding also illustrates various intersections between religion and education that extend beyond religious or non-sectarian instruction, to include everything from the recognition and accommodation of religious student identities in K-12 public school settings, to the internationalization of religious higher education. Drawing on the Comparative and International Education Society’s Religion & Education Special Interest Group’s programing and activities, this paper aims to present a brief summary of trends observed both in research and practice concerning religion and education among educators worldwide, and highlights the place of religion in our growing recognition of intersectionality, one that occurs between academics and the community.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the causal link between religion and the formation of human capital. It takes into consideration that, though religion may transmit a system of values that positively affect children’s education, it can also be characterized by a traditionalist dimension. The latter may hamper children’s self-determination and their educational achievements. Nevertheless, religious values may adapt to the cultural changes due to economic development and modernization and become less conservative.

The above aspects are investigated through an overlapping generations model with human capital where parents’ human capital and the religion in which individuals have been raised, characterize family background.

The model’s predictions point to the crucial role that development may play in promoting education. For instance, if a moderate responsiveness of religious institutions to economic and cultural changes is associated with low development, conservative attitudes prevail in society. This undermines individual confidence in improving one’s socio-economic status through education and negatively affects children’s education. Whereas, a development level sufficiently high counterbalances the effects of a low ability of religious institutions to adjust to changes and fosters education.

Though the empirical literature widely acknowledges that religion affects economic growth, the hypothesis that the link between religion and economic performance may also pass through education has been overlooked. In this respect, the paper investigates on this relationship by taking religion as a force reactive to economic processes.

The purpose of this paper is to outline arguments for addressing religion in social studies teacher education, including strategies teacher educators might use on how and why pre-service teachers should incorporate teaching about religion in their classes. Topics addressed are: issues surrounding pre-service teachers’ religious identities; teaching pre-service teachers about legal issues associated with religion in public school classrooms (e.g. teaching about religion vs teaching for religion, First Amendment rights and constraints); teacher education’s role in developing religious knowledge and the influence of religion in the disciplines that comprise the social studies; and an overview of strategies and resources that teacher educators can use with their pre-service teachers.

This paper provides a literature review and arguments for addressing religion in social studies teacher education. A lesson plan and resources for teacher educators are also provided.

Teaching and talking about religion can no longer be marginalized or ignored within social studies teacher education. Whether it be the importance of pre-service teachers’ religious identities, legal issues related to public schooling or the influence of religion across the social studies disciplines – religion matters to social studies teacher education. As the current social, political and cultural realities attest, the influence of religion appears to be more and more significant in our interconnected and interdependent world.

Religious literacy is a key part of civic competence and if social studies is viewed as a way to help prepare a more informed citizenry – and a way to teach and promote dialogue across difference – then social studies teacher educators must find a way to include religion in their courses. By doing so, teacher educators encourage pre-service teachers to examine how religious identity may influence their teaching, and also help develop religious literacy and an understanding of how religion is integral to the various social studies disciplines. Ultimately, this important and often ignored work in teacher education may foster cultural understandings that will lead to a more informed and respectful society.

In the light of intensifying academic discourses on contemporary religious education in Hong Kong, this paper aims to examine how the interreligious model (i.e. that features teaching religious variety rather than a particular faith) is consistent with Hong Kong’s social context. It begins with a theoretical conceptualization that interreligious education originates from certain preconditions and is only understood contextually. Next, the analysis identifies the preconditions within Hong Kong milieus: sociodemographic, sociocultural and legal.

Theoretically driven case study. The paper analyses Hong Kong's development toward interreligious education.

Albeit most conceptualizing of interreligious education has been conducted in Europe, the study finds the model functional to Hong Kong. Moreover, these preconditions-religious heterogeneity, freedom of religion and secularity – are met, although with their specifics. These preconditions, however, do not imply imperativeness yet rather feasibility if the interreligious model adheres to Hong Kong’s educational aims.

This study develops theoretical lenses for interreligious education in Hong Kong. First, it analyzes religious heterogeneity, freedom of religion and secularity within the Hong Kong milieus and reveals Hong Kong’s capacity to implement the interreligious model. It also advances scholarship on interreligious education in relatively underexplored settings (referring not simply to Hong Kong but to Chinese societies and contemporary Asia).

The purpose of this paper is to provide teacher educators with a foundation for including religion in multicultural education classes. In doing so, they can foster more robust discussions of religion and its implications for equity and justice in K-12 classrooms.

This piece was adapted from the religion unit that the author designed for the multicultural education course, and is the combination of the author’s expertise in religious studies, and curriculum and instruction.

As a practice piece, this paper is meant to start discussions and reflections for teacher educators as to how we can better address religion when discussing multicultural education, and the implications of equity, diversity and social justice in the classroom.

The author hopes that this piece will contribute to a growing field of literature on how to foster discussions of religion in teacher education and K-12 classrooms. As a former religious studies educator, the author hopes to offer a perspective that combines the fields of curriculum and religious studies to create a more robust relationship that will foster democratic and civic engagement.

The relationship between religious belief and spousal choice in Nepal is examined, looking at how the importance that individuals place on their own religious faith influences their decision either to allow their parents and other relatives to arrange a marriage for them or to initiate their own love marriage. How the importance attached to religious faith within the individual’s family and neighborhood affects this decision, and how education modifies the relationship between religion and spousal choice are also looked at.

Ordinary least squares regression models are used to examine the relationship between spousal choice and key independent variables. Interaction terms are used to examine how education may moderate the relationship between personal, family, and neighborhood religious salience and spousal choice.

It is found that the effect of one’s neighbors’ faith operates differently based on one’s own level of education. The “moral communities” thesis is used to theorize that in neighborhoods where religion is regarded as very important, individuals need to expend more effort to maintain respectability, adhering to tradition by having arranged marriages. In neighborhoods where religion is less important, the weaker demands made by the “moral community” render individuals more free to choose their own spouses. For highly educated individuals, the effect of their neighbors’ religious belief is considerably reduced.

As Nepalis become more educated, they not only move out of the sphere of family influence, as discussed in previous research, but also away from being influenced by their neighbors.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how rulers by supporting religion influence the growth of human capital and physical capital.

The authors consider a model where the government, on the one hand, sets the output quota transferred to religious activities and workers and entrepreneurs, on the other, choose human and physical capital, which are complementary. The findings of the model are used to interpret some historical evidence.

When a religious denomination puts a strong emphasis on children’s education, the rulers who back religion, may encourage the diffusion of education among the followers of that denomination. Conversely secular rulers may face a religion that they consider a force opposing modernization and may develop a secular system promoting the diffusion of education. In both cases, the diffusion of education triggers the increase in physical capital and economic growth.

The contribution of the paper is to show how religion may be either a progressive force and promote education by contributing to economic growth or present a conservative dimension opposing the diffusion and rise of human capital.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to better understand the connection between religious affiliation and educational attainment and how this connection has changed over time.

Methodology/Approach – We utilize the cumulative 1972–2008 General Social Surveys to examine the relationships between childhood religious affiliation, college degree attainment, and religious switching across three birth cohorts.

Findings – We find in early cohorts that traditions such as Conservative Protestantism and Catholicism are negatively associated with college degree attainment. However, switching out of those traditions is positively associated with obtaining a college degree. In later cohorts, these effects disappear.

Social implications – The finding that the relationships between religious affiliation and educational attainment are dramatically changing over time means that scholars, educators, and religious groups might need to revise their current thinking concerning the topic of religion and education.

Originality/Value of chapter – This research helps us better understand the complexities involved when thinking about the role of religion in education and vice versa. By explicitly considering the different causal and temporal factors involved, this analysis provides a more nuanced understanding of the connection between religious affiliation and educational attainment.

The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative approach to studying religion in social studies classrooms through reframing. The authors encourage this reframing through the lens of citizenship and terror as a human experience.

This is a practitioner’s piece and did not include research methodology or design.

This is a practitioner’s piece and did not include any findings.

This paper presents practical approaches to examining religion in social studies classrooms through a comparison with citizenship and the lens of terror. The authors offer activities which current classroom teachers will be able to put into action immediately. In addition, the authors offer a detailed background for further study if teachers wish to learn more.

This paper presents ways to study religion in the social studies and in the current fractured social environment the authors feel is needed. The authors wish to showcase how to examine a controversial issue in a reflective, respectful and honest fashion.

The authors present the idea of studying religion through the lens of terror while showcasing how it mirrors the requirements of citizenship. The authors believe that studying religion in this way in the social studies will help to demystify the topic and allow students to unpack religion as a topic in social studies.

In an editorial introduction essay for the special issue on Religion, Literacies, and English Education in Global Dialogue, the editors frame papers in the special issue in dialogue with previous scholarly literature around three central lines of inquiry: How do children, youth and families navigate relationships among religion, spirituality, language and literacy? What challenges are faced by language and literacy teachers and teacher educators around the globe who seek to respond to diverse religious and spiritual perspectives in their work? And what opportunities do teachers seize or create toward this end? How are developments of language and literacy theory, policy, curriculum and ritual entangled with race and religion?

Taking an essayist, humanistic approach, this paper summarizes, interprets and comments on previous scholarly works to frame the articles published in the special issue “Religion, Literacies, and English Education in Global Dialogue” in relation to the field and in relation to one another.

Denise Dávila, Matthew Deroo and Ilhan Mohamud reveal the relationships young people and families forge and navigate among spiritual literacies and literatures, digital technologies and ethnic identities. Heidi Hadley, Jennifer Wargo and Erin McNeill illuminate how teachers’ vocations, as well as their pedagogical goals and curricular artifacts, can become deeply entangled with religious and spiritual sense-making. Kasun Gajasinghe and Priyanka Jayakodi expand perspectives on both the ritualization and racialization of religion through nationalist policies surrounding national anthem performances in Sri Lanka. Anne Whitney and Suresh Canagarajah discuss how spiritual commitments, communities and experiences interact with their scholarly trajectories.

The essay concludes with a discussion of scholarly capacity building that may be needed for conducting research on religion and spirituality in relation to languages, literacies and English education on a global scale.

The second section of the essay discusses challenges faced by language and literacy teachers and teacher educators around the globe who seek to integrate diverse religious and spiritual perspectives into their work. It foregrounds how many teachers and teacher educators work within contexts where ethnoreligious nationalism is on the rise. It highlights the need for language and literacy educators to develop curiosity and basic knowledge about diverse religions. Further it calls for teacher educators to engage with teacher candidates’ religious identities and sense-making.

Because it considers religious and spiritual sense-making in relation to language and literacy education, the social implications of this work are significant and wide-reaching. For examples, the paper questions the conceit of secularism within education, pushing readers to consider their own spiritual and religious identifications and influences when they work across religious differences.

This paper identifies, interprets and assesses current threads of work on religious and spiritual sense-making within scholarship on languages, literacies and English education.