Political Secularism and the Governance of Religious Diversity

This chapter discusses the changing relations between religion and education through the theme of political secularism and religious diversity. In Western Europe at least, these changing relations and debates around religion and education can hardly be told without reference to the idea of political secularism and various issues raised by religious diversity and how states and societies perceive it. First, what is meant by political secularism is outlines and a brief overview of how this has developed in relation to education in a wider Western European context is provided. Then the case of Britain is used to explore in more detail how processes and various significant issues of religious education reflect these concerns and wider social changes and debates. To do so, reference is made, in particular, to several reports that have been produced in relation to religion and education in recent years. In the final section the issue of political secularism, religion and education beyond schools is considered, through a focus on the idea of religious literacy in society more widely. In relation to this, an argument is given for the necessity of a multicultural sensibility if religious diversity is to be positively engaged with.