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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 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.

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.

This study sets out to examine conflict style preferences in India and the predictive effects of various demographic variables on conflict style preference.

Data were gathered in India (n=827) among Muslims and Hindus. Conflict was measured using Oetzel's Conflict Style Measure. To answer the research questions, repeated measures ANOVA and multiple regressions were conducted.

The findings reveal that conflict style preference among Hindus in India differs significantly and that Hindus prefer the integrating and dominating styles, whilst showing the least inclination towards the avoiding and obliging styles. Muslims prefer the integrating and compromising styles and least prefer the dominating and avoiding styles. Analyses of the demographic variables' predictive influence reveal that age and sex are significant predictors for all five conflict styles for both Muslims and Hindus. Education has a mixed predictive influence on conflict style among Hindus and Muslims.

Use of self‐report instruments and the majority of the participants coming from middle‐class backgrounds could limit the generalizability of the study.

The study calls for conflict mediators to consider the influence of group membership and educational level on conflict management/resolution. The research also discusses national/international conflict intervention.

This paper informs individuals regarding the way in which two large religious and cultural groups differ in their approaches to conflict. For a nation that has experienced a history of conflict between these two cultural/religious groups, this paper can help shed light on how to bridge the conflict between them.

There are no studies directly comparing the conflict styles of Muslims and Hindus.

This paper explores religious education (RE) in South Australia from 1968–1980. It focuses especially on the collapse of the RE settlement from 1968–1972 and the controversial legislation and subsequent curricula emerging from changes to the Education Act in 1972.

This paper draws upon archival materials, published sources from the South Australian Institute of Teachers, the South Australian Education Department and the Religious Education Project Team, as well as an interview with Malcolm McArthur, one of the most influential figures in the controversy.

Following the collapse of religious instruction from 1968–1972, the Minister of Education quickly passed legislation regarding a new course of religious education. A major controversy subsequently broke out over the appropriateness and design of a new programme of religious education. Educators attempted to design an educationally sound programme of RE that would avoid the problem of indoctrination. Ultimately, a new programme was created that satisfied neither proponents nor opponents of religion in state schools, and General Religious Teaching gradually faded from South Australian classrooms by 1980.

The article engages with broader debates on the nature of secularity in Australian history. In particular, it complicates the political-institutional approach developed by Damon Mayrl by stressing the agency and significance of elite educational and religious actors in the creation of new secular settlements. It also provides a useful addition to an older South Australian historiography by utilising newly available sources on the topic.

The increase of Islamophobia-inspired hate crimes toward Sikh Americans led the Sikh Coalition of America and the National Council for the Social Studies to request social studies educators to conduct a content analysis on the presentation of Sikhism in social studies textbooks. The Sikh Coalition hopes to use the findings of such research to encourage more appropriate inclusion about the religion in textbooks by the leading publishing companies and as a legitimate social studies subject of instruction in the state standards for all 50 states. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The incorporation of critical pedagogy, as a tool of critical multiculturalism, serves as the theoretical design of this study. Content analysis serves as the method of research for this study. The authors also employed an online survey to determine the scope of religious literacy of the pre-service teachers with regard to Sikhism before the conducting of content analysis of social studies textbooks for the presentation of Sikhism.

The current presentation of Sikhism in social studies textbooks has the potential to help fuel the Islamophobia that Sikh Americans now face. The authors found that the pre-service teachers possess little religious literacy regarding Sikhism. Furthermore, from the content analyses, the authors found that a total of 21 out of the sample of 32 textbooks (5 elementary, 11 middle grades and 16 high school) mention Sikhism. Eight textbooks include a mention of the origins of Sikhism. Nine textbooks misidentify the religion as a blending of Hinduism and Islam. Nine textbooks mention the religion in relation to the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

The originality of this research led the authors to find that the very limited and inaccurate information we found present in the most-used textbooks for elementary, middle grades and high school social studies made the employing of inferential statistics like correlation difficult. Also, the authors found from the literature that research addressing Islamophobia in the classroom has centered on the role of licensed teachers only. The research gives a model to how pre-service teachers may address Islamophobia in the classroom and also gain religious literacy regarding Sikhism.

The rise of Islamophobia-inspired violence toward students of South Asian descent has led to the call to address this matter. The research introduces a method to how social studies education professors may help engage their pre-service teachers in proactively addressing Islamophobia. Social studies professors have a responsibility to help promote social justice through critical pedagogy that explores the religious literacy of their pre-service teachers beyond Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.

The Sikh Coalition, by telephone, has formally acknowledged to the authors that the textbook research has been the most extensive they have received since making their joint request with the National Council for the Social Studies. They have used the research to successfully convince the state education boards of Texas and recently Tennessee to adopt the inclusion of Sikhism in social studies content. More Americans, at a young age, need to learn about Sikh culture, so they are less likely to develop prejudicial ideas about Sikh Americans and commit violent acts of religious-based discrimination.

The research is extremely rare. To date, no one else in the country has conducted research on the presentation of Sikhism in textbooks to the extent that the authors have. The authors hope that the research will encourage more dialogue and further research. The authors hope that the research will help prevent further acts of religious-based violence toward followers of the world’s sixth largest religion.