Policy Press
2 Policy framings of religion and belief: consolidating the muddle
Abstract
This chapter examines the overarching themes framing religion and belief in 21st-century public policy. This reveals a long gap from around 1945 to about 2000 when religion and belief were barely noticed in the public sphere, underpinned by vaguely secular assumptions. At the same time, the religion and belief landscape was changing dramatically, just as few people were watching. What seemed to subsequently burst back into public prominence was a preoccupation with religion and belief as deeply problematic. This has landed in policy approaches focused predominantly on extremism, cohesion, and equality, each designed to manage the risk. As responses, the dominant policy spaces imply a degree of anxiety about religion and belief as risky and problematic, and in need of a solution. These broad responses to the 'problem' of public religion and belief form an important part of the context for what happens about religion and belief in spaces of learning.
Abstract
This chapter examines the overarching themes framing religion and belief in 21st-century public policy. This reveals a long gap from around 1945 to about 2000 when religion and belief were barely noticed in the public sphere, underpinned by vaguely secular assumptions. At the same time, the religion and belief landscape was changing dramatically, just as few people were watching. What seemed to subsequently burst back into public prominence was a preoccupation with religion and belief as deeply problematic. This has landed in policy approaches focused predominantly on extremism, cohesion, and equality, each designed to manage the risk. As responses, the dominant policy spaces imply a degree of anxiety about religion and belief as risky and problematic, and in need of a solution. These broad responses to the 'problem' of public religion and belief form an important part of the context for what happens about religion and belief in spaces of learning.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vi
- Foreword and acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- The broken chain of learning: the crisis of religion and belief literacy and its origins 9
- Policy framings of religion and belief: consolidating the muddle 27
- Religion and belief in Religious Education 43
- Religion and belief across schools 61
- Religion and belief in university practices 85
- Religion and belief in university teaching and learning 103
- Religion and belief in professional education and workplaces 113
- Religion and belief in community education and learning 135
- The future of religion and belief literacy: reconnecting a chain of learning 153
- Notes 167
- References 171
- Index 189
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures and tables vi
- Foreword and acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- The broken chain of learning: the crisis of religion and belief literacy and its origins 9
- Policy framings of religion and belief: consolidating the muddle 27
- Religion and belief in Religious Education 43
- Religion and belief across schools 61
- Religion and belief in university practices 85
- Religion and belief in university teaching and learning 103
- Religion and belief in professional education and workplaces 113
- Religion and belief in community education and learning 135
- The future of religion and belief literacy: reconnecting a chain of learning 153
- Notes 167
- References 171
- Index 189
