Global terms: Religion and Worldviews

Do Jain teachings solve the ecological crisis?

Research Summary: Do Jain teachings solve the ecological crisis?

From proclaiming the equality of all life forms to the stringent emphasis placed upon nonviolent behavior (ahimsa), and once more to the pronounced intention for limiting one’s possessions (aparigraha), Jainism has often been pointed to for its admirably eco-friendly example. The Jain-inspired Anuvrat Movement, founded in 1949 by Acharya Sri Tulsi, is relevant today. Anuvrat’s final vow (vow eleven) calls for practitioners to “refrain from such acts as are likely to cause pollution and harm the environment,” and to avoid the “cutting down of trees” and the “wasting of water”. When it comes to the modern eco-conscious imperative to “live simply so that others may simply live”, this research argues, there is indeed much that Anuvrat has to offer.

Researcher

Michael Reading

Research Institution

Mt. St. Mary’s University, Los Angeles

What is this about?

  • Jainism.
  • The Anuvrat Movement.
  • Eco-conscious living.
  • Ecology.
  • Ecological vow-taking.

What was done?

This is a critical, scholarly study of Jainism, the Anuvrat Movement and their relevance to contemporary ecological problems.

Main findings and outputs

  • Jain beliefs and practices, e.g. ahimsa (non-violence to all beings) are highly relevant to ecological problems.
  • A further ideal, aparigraha, refers both to the physical limiting of one’s possessions, as well as one’s achieving a general state of spiritual detachment, also a highly eco-friendly stance.
  • The Anuvrat Movement, launched in 1949 by Acharya Sri Tulsi, revolved around what he perceived to be a moral deterioration within Indian society. To remedy the situation he encouraged all people to take a set of vows (not only Jains but also Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs have participated).
  • The vows are based on traditional Jain and Yoga vows, and also include one (the eleventh) of particular ecological relevance:
    I will do my best to refrain from such acts as are likely to cause pollution and harm the environment.
    I will not cut down trees.
    I will not waste water.
  • There are others of relevance, e.g. the seventh enjoins limiting one’s acquisitions – and 42% of greenhouse gas emissions is caused by consumer goods production.

Relevance to RE

This research has clear relevance to RE. Teachers can use it to develop their knowledge of Jainism. It also has clear applications to ethics courses and units of study. As reported, Tulsi placed emphasis on individual conduct. His teachings can frame questions such as: to what extent are we responsible? How important or difficult are lifestyle changes? How effective can vows be, and to whom or what might a non-religious person vow? Teachers are encouraged to read the whole article, which also contains interesting points not summarised above, concerning psychology, addiction and self-examination.

Generalisability and potential limitations

Rather than generalisable, the research is a scholarly account of one influential religious tradition and its possible contemporary relevance. People will have different views about Jainism and ecology, pointing out, for instance, that it originated as a soteriological not ecological movement, but the author explicitly recognises this.

Find out more

The original article is Michael Reading, The Anuvrat Movement: A Case Study of Jain-inspired Ethical and Eco-conscious Living, Religions 2019: 10 (11), 636

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/11/636

Elaine Arundell: Developing spiritual wellbeing through song in RE

Teacher Case Study: Elaine Arundell

Developing spiritual wellbeing through song in RE

Inspiration

Having served as a primary teacher and RE coordinator for over 16 years and an AST in RE for a number of these, I have always championed the use of creativity in RE, for example through song. Ironically, I am not what would be considered ‘musical’ as I have never sung in a choir nor play an instrument; however, this has not been a barrier for me in developing pupils’ RE because I have found that primary children are able to bring their own experience of song into RE lessons. One of the reasons for my interest in this area is that I have witnessed how it has helped to create a ‘buzz’ in lessons, even for pupils who are generally disengaged; I also saw how it can encourage collaboration and build self-esteem and a sense of community. Therefore, for the last 20 years, I have used song as a tool in the primary classroom and supported others in doing so in my role as diocesan adviser over the last six years. Some of the creations over the years were published in an article I wrote for RE Today (Arundell, 2021).

Context

It was through my experience as adviser that I heard from a multitude of leaders about the negative effects of technology and covid on the wellbeing of our pupils during lockdown. As I work with faith schools, a number of leaders reported to me that one of the sore bruises of social distancing was the inability to gather as a community to worship or sing and this also impacted negatively on pupils’ sense of wellbeing and relationships. Aware of the myriad benefits of music on the both the individual and community and having embarked on an MA in RE, heavily supported by Culham St Gabriel’s Trust, I wanted to explore the use of song in RE in order to offer some way forward . Although there was a plethora of literature on spirituality and music, there was little in regards to song, particularly in RE, so I intended to fill this gap and investigate whether song in RE and worship was just a ‘fun’ activity or if it could have a meaningful impact on the spiritual development and wellbeing of pupils in key stage 2, and if so, how.

Spiritual development and song

For the purposes of this research, song in RE and worship referred to any type of religious song that was used within the RE lesson or outside of it including hymn practice, assemblies, prayer or liturgy while the use of song encompassed three ‘aspects’: composition, knowledge & understanding and prayer, worship & reflection. Having been inspired by Hay & Nye (2006), de Souza & Halafoff (2018) as well as Aristotle’s notion of eudaimonia and flourishing (Kraut, 2022; Honderich, 2005), spiritual development was therefore a combination of their definitions and, for this investigation, had five ‘characteristics’ which all pertained to connectivity and relationships, namely with: The Transcendent, Self, Others, Cosmos and Social Action, and which also related to Ofsted’s own definition (Ofsted, 1994; 2004; 2019). My intention was to discover which of the aspects could be used effectively and if song in RE might have an effect on each of the characteristics.

Song in RE – A case study

One of the greatest challenges of this research was that it was conducted in a primary school with which I was not familiar around Christmas and New Year 2020-2021. This meant that covid and other illnesses were still rife, staff turnover and absences were high and pressures on various members of the community were great. Gaining consent from parents and finding willing professionals with the time and energy to support with the project was, therefore, not straight-forward initially and I needed to be creative with proceeding with the project so as to ensure that wellbeing was at the very heart of it. Another deanery school was then invited to take part and all key stage 2 classes from both schools were involved. As a result, both qualitative and quantitative data were used for this case-study research, with surveys being completed by 180 pupils and 9 teachers. Interviews were conducted with small groups of diverse pupils (45 pupils in total) and one-to-one interviews with 9 teachers, with a wide range of experience and level of responsibility, took place.

While the two schools were similar in their context as they were both Catholic schools in the same deanery with creativity in RE on their action plan, there were significant differences in approaches. School A had used songs in the past for worship and reflection as well as for listening and understanding during RE lessons and hymn practice; however, they had not composed songs in RE prior to this project and so I led staff training using some of the examples and tips given in the RE Today article (Arundell, 2021). The headteacher of this School A then tasked all key stage two classes with composing their own song to share at their Christmas concert having had three months to work on these. School B, on the other hand, were also confident in using songs for worship and reflection as well as listening and understanding. However, they were not unfamiliar with the concept of composing songs in RE, although this was mainly led by the school’s music coordinator with class teachers free to also use song within the RE classroom should they wish.

Findings

Due to the diversity in approach and experience as well as the wide spectrum of participants, the data was quite rich and robust and, although it was varied, the majority of participants agreed on several points, the main one of which was unanimous that song in RE created a sense of happiness and calm within the classroom. As a result of listening to, singing or composing religious songs, pupils reported that they were less likely to feel angry or anxious and reported that this can have a positive impact on their actions such as making friends again or looking after the environment by picking up litter. All teachers reported that using songs in RE increased their memory and the vast majority of pupils responded that choosing songs in RE and worship made them more engaged. One of the most surprising findings was that over half of the 180 pupils surveyed said that they would prefer to sing their song silently as opposed to almost a fifth who would rather read it aloud and almost a third who would enjoy singing it aloud.
Overall, the key findings were that using song in RE and worship can have an impact on all five of the characteristics of spiritual development and that all three aspects of song can be effective in developing the spiritual wellbeing of pupils in KS2. Perhaps the finding of greatest significance, however, was that the use of song in RE naturally encouraged the practice of all Gospel values (Richter, 2000) and virtues (CDCEF & CBCEW, 2020) and participants spoke indirectly about these, although they were not asked specifically about them. For example, pupils described the love, peace or courage they felt as a result of singing, listening to or composing religious song and how the mood created through the song influenced their actions in a positive way. Through close analysis of the data, it was possible to match all of the Gospel values and virtues, as well as all of the Holy Spirit’s gifts (New International Version [NIV] 2011, Is 11:2-3) and fruits of the Holy Spirit, (NIV, Gal 5:22-23) to responses of either pupils or staff. This may be significant because the values and virtues are not limited to any faith or worldview but cross many boundaries which music and song also can.

What next?

To support schools with the process of using song, particularly with composition of song in RE which is the aspect with which schools are less familiar, several models have been created and some of these are included below. These models have been shared at RE Coordinator conferences in both Southwark and Westminster dioceses as well as in various schools in which I am the adviser along with several examples of songs created by pupils, either as a whole class, small group or individually. Some of these songs have a known melody of a religious or popular song while others had both the melody and lyrics written by the pupils. All findings from this research have been shared in detail with schools A and B along with various other models and resources so that they can move this forward in their own contexts; the use of song in RE has also been mapped to the expectations for the new national inspection for Catholic schools so that it further reassures colleagues of the myriad benefits of using song in RE.

Over the past year, I have also been able to link this project to my diocesan work on Racial Justice, Equality and Diversity as pupils have had the opportunity to create songs based on this important theme; these have been shared on the diocesan website with several pupils having had the opportunity to share theirs publicly in front of an audience of 1000 people in Westminster Cathedral. Going forward, I hope to research this area in greater detail through more academic study, perhaps by exploring song in RE and worship in non-Catholic schools, by looking specifically at only song in RE lessons, or by doing a longitudinal study. I also aim to share and collate guidance and examples of good practice on song in RE and worship through my courses and resources and I am open to opportunities in which to share and develop this learning more widely.

References

Arundell, E. (2021b). ‘Song-writing in RE: a top ten of ideas’, RE Today, May 2021 pp. 22–23.

de Souza, M. & A. Halafoff. (eds.). (2018). Re-Enchanting Education and Spiritual Wellbeing: Fostering Belonging and Meaning-Making for Global Citizens. London and New York: Routledge pp. 1–22.

Department of Catholic Education and Formation Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales [DCEF & CBCEW]. (2020). Formation in Virtues: Educating the Whole Person. Available at: https://www.catholiceducation.org.uk/images/Formation_in_virtues_Final.pdf Accessed on 23rd February 2023.

Hay D. & R. Nye. (2006). The Spirit of the child (Revised Edition). London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Kraut, R. (2022). Edward N. Zalta (ed.). ‘Aristotle’s Ethics’, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/ . Accessed on 28th May 2022.

Mills, L. (1997). The Doughnut and the Hole: Spiritual Development in Primary Schools. Farmington Institute Research Projects. Available at http://www.farmington.ac.uk/index.php/ps12-the-doughnut-and-the-hole/ Accessed on 1st June 2022.

Mills, L (2019). ‘Growing Together? Spiritual development in schools and communities’. In Rickett, A. (ed.), ‘Spiritual Development: Interpretations of Spiritual Development in the Classroom’. The Church of England Education Office. Available at https://www.stalbans.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/CE-Spiritual-Development-Interpretations-in-the-Classroom.pdf Accessed on 16th May 2021.
New International Version. Biblica, 2011. Bible Gateway. Available at www.biblegateway.com/versions/NewInternational-Version-NIV-Bible/ Accessed on 29th May 2022.

Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills [Ofsted], (1994) Handbook for the Inspection of Schools. Part 4. Inspection Schedule Guidance. Consolidated Edition. London, HMSO. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-handbook-eif/school-inspection-handbook updated 14th April 2022 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-handbook-eif/summary-of-changes Accessed on 20th May 2022.

Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills [Ofsted], (2004). Promoting and evaluating pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. London, HMSO. Document reference number: HMI 2125. Available at https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/4959/1/Promoting_and_evaluating_pupils%27_spiritual%2C_moral%2C_social_and_cultural_development_%28PDF_format%29.pdf Accessed on 30th May 2022.

Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills [Ofsted]. (2019). School inspection handbook. Ofsted. [Online]. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-handbook-eif. Accessed on 29th May 2022.

Richter, K. (2000). ‘Gospel Values Across the Curriculum’. St Mary’s Press. Available at https://cici-online.org/catechetical-connections/gospel-values Accessed on 23rd February 2023.

Model A: Journey from experience to growth and transformation using song (inspired by Mills: 1997, 2019)

Model B: The process of song composition for the use of song in REW for SDW

Model C: CALM Model to summarise findings

Model D: Song-writing tips

From Sunday Stalwarts to Solidly Secular

Research Summary: From Sunday Stalwarts to Solidly Secular

“Most U.S. adults identify with a particular religious denomination or group. They describe themselves as Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Jewish, Mormon or Muslim– to name just a few of the hundreds of identities or affiliations that people give in surveys. Others describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or say they have no particular religious affiliation. These are the conventional categories into which Americans sort themselves. But a new Pew Research Center analysis looks at beliefs and behaviors that cut across many denominations – important traits that unite people of different faiths, or that divide people who have the same religious affiliation – producing a new and revealing classification, or typology, of religion in America.” (Summary taken from original press release at http://www.pewforum.org/2018/08/29/the-religious-typology/ downloaded on September 12 2018.)

Researcher

Pew Research Center, Washington DC

Research Institution

Pew Research Center, Washington DC

What is this about?

This is about the different religious groups in the US, and how they vary internally, in terms of religious commitment, behaviour or attitudes to religion. Survey data were used to generate seven categories of religiosity that cut across religious boundaries. E.g. ‘Sunday Stalwarts’ are the traditionalist, highly engaged members, ‘Diversely Devout’ are those who whilst traditionalist are also open to ‘New Age’ beliefs such as reincarnation or psychic power and ‘Religion Resisters’ are those who think that institutional religion does more harm than good. The other categories are ‘God-and-Country Believers’, ‘Relaxed Religious’, ‘Spiritually Awake’ and ‘Solidly Secular’.

What was done?

A survey of 4729 respondents was done. It included 16 questions about their religious and spiritual beliefs and practices, the value they place on their religion, and the other sources of meaning and fulfillment in their lives. The typology groups were then created using cluster analysis, a statistical technique that identified homogeneous groups of respondents based on their answers.

Main findings and outputs

The findings are quite extensive and readers are directed to the main report (link below), but some examples can be given so as to provide a flavour. What is interesting is how the categories cut across traditional religious and non-religious lines:

  • Some data may be unsurprising (76% of the ‘Solidly Secular’ have no religious affiliation).
  • However, it raises questions that 17% of the ‘Solidly Secular’ category identify as Christian.
  • Within Religion Resisters, non-Christian religious faiths contribute their highest overall percentage (11%).
  • They only make up 6% of the ‘Sunday Stalwart’ category, which could be down to population or survey factors; the word ‘Sunday’ is used because 90% of the group belong to Christian churches and it did not figure in survey questions.
  • There are interesting sub-findings, e.g. 19% of ‘Sunday Stalwarts’ and 12% of ‘Solidly Secular’ believe in reincarnation; 98% of ‘Religion Resisters’ believe there is spiritual energy located in physical things such as mountains, trees or crystals.

Relevance to RE

The final Commission on RE report speaks of the need for a deeper understanding of the complex, diverse and plural nature of worldviews at both institutional and personal levels, and to ensure that pupils understand that there are different ways of adhering to a worldview. This Pew Center research gives an original, imaginative illustration of these factors. RE curriculum developers and teachers could use it to consider how to represent diversity within religions; teacher trainers could use it to illustrate the need for this to trainees.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The survey was large-scale (4729 respondents) and care was taken to achieve a representative sample. One limitation is that the US rather than the UK is represented. The researchers also acknowledge that identifying cluster groups is as much art as science. However, UK teachers and researchers could take note of the problematising of religious categories and perhaps find ways to explore similar issues in our own contexts.

Find out more

The full Pew Centre research bulletin is available for free download at http://www.pewforum.org/2018/08/29/the-religious-typology/

How are young British Sikhs being brought up as Sikhs?

Research Summary: How are young British Sikhs being brought up as Sikhs?

Young British Sikhs are regularly accused of not attending gurdwara and not being interested in Sikhism. However, many young Sikhs are now learning about Sikhism outside traditional religious institutions. Using data gathered as part of a project studying the religious upbringing of 18- to 30-year-old British Sikhs, the research explores how young Sikhs are learning about Sikhism in their pre-adult life stage. It examines the influences of the family and the school environment and the various methods used in gurdwaras. It provides an understanding from the perspective of young Sikhs themselves about what it can mean to be a young British Sikh. There are important messages for RE teachers. British Sikh family life can vary according to different factors such as country from which migration into Britain took place. Particular individual, social or cultural experiences can deepen young Sikhs’ sense of commitment. So far RE in school appears to make very little contribution to young Sikhs’ development of religious identity.

Researcher

Jasjit Singh

Research Institution

University of Leeds

What is this about?

  • Young British Sikhs are regularly accused of not attending gurdwara and not being interested in Sikhism, but is this true?
  • How do young British Sikhs learn about Sikhism outside traditional religious institutions, and in what ways do they do so?
  • What influence do family life, school education and gurdwaras have on young British Sikhs’ religious development?

What was done?

A qualitative methodological approach was taken, using a variety of sources as part of the investigation. The main methods included: semi-structured interviews with 30 18- to 30-year-old British Sikhs who had attended and participated in events organised for young Sikhs; a
self-selecting online survey of young British Sikhs; focus groups with Sikh students; and participant observation at events organised for young Sikhs, including Sikh camps and university Sikh society events.

Main findings and outputs

  • Young British Sikhs are socialised into Sikhism in different ways – what is true of some may not be true of others.
  • It is important not to assume that there are discrete British and Asian cultures which necessarily clash. Although Sikh families may share some elements, many have their own way of practising Sikhism influenced by their migration experiences, caste, political affiliation, level of religious commitment, etc.
  • In general, the majority of East African Sikh migrants to Britain are more religiously inclined than those coming directly from India.
  • Sikhs not maintaining visible signs of commitment (e.g. uncut hair or the turban) may be very committed to prayer, storytelling to their children and other Sikh activities. In many families, emphases such as prayer, vegetarianism or display of images of gurus are passed down from parents or grandparents to children.
  • At school, experiences of not belonging to e.g. Islam or Catholicism – where these other traditions are prominent – sometimes provokes an emotional moment of identification with Sikhism, prompting more engagement with the faith.
  • Gurdwaras use different ways of engaging with young people, including Punjabi classes, music tuition, adapted services, youth camps or providing library facilities; but many young Sikhs themselves have started to organise events outside gurdwaras, which they are free to shape as they wish.
  • Many respondents reported that they had not learned about Sikhism in school.

Relevance to RE

  • At national levels of policy and curriculum, the absence of significant attention to teaching about Sikhism in school should be addressed.
  • When planning lessons about or teaching about Sikhism, teachers should bear in mind the diversity of British Sikhism and that Sikh pupils present may offer different explanations or relate differently to lesson content. Such pupils should be listened to with sensitivity.
  • The British context for Sikhism has evidently been rich and varied, and – again, with the sensitivity needed to avoid intrusion on privacy – teachers might usefully collect some of its stories as resources:
  • E.g. Sikh family experiences of coming to Britain from India or East Africa and how gurdwaras and other religious resources were developed. Contacts in local Sikh communities could be developed for this purpose.
  • ‘Emotional moments of identification’ could offer vivid teaching stories. The following example is from p.376 of the article:

I was in the choir .. .and I thought to myself, ‘today I’ll get the Holy Communion’ … so I had my hands in the right place … and I knew from his eyes that the priest wasn’t going to give it to me … and he just said, ‘Bless you my child’. I was so angry – I thought, ‘I’ve done your kirtan [singing of religious compositions] for so many years and you don’t give me parshad [blessed food]? ’Then I thought, ‘if these gore [white people] go to a gurdwara , they’ll get parshad no matter what.’ So from then on, every time we used to say, ‘In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’, I used to mattha tek [bow to the Guru] … it was an internal rebellion – and I was like ‘I’m going to gurdwara, I’m going to show my friends, I ’m going to talk about Sikhism – I’m going to tell them why I don’t cut my hair.’

Generalisability and potential limitations

This research is based on contact with as wide a representation of young British Sikhs as possible. The researcher identifies an interesting possible limitation, in that those studied did not grow up with the internet in the same way as the current generation of British Sikh children, meaning that the role of the internet in Sikh identity formation is not covered.

Find out more

Keeping the faith: reflections on religious nurture among young British Sikhs, Journal of Beliefs & Values, 33:3, pages 369-383 (published online 13 December 2012)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2012.732817

Does it matter whether Buddhists have home shrines?

Research Summary: Does it matter whether Buddhists have home shrines?

Previous research has recognized shrines in homes as sites of shared memory which bring the sacred into the home. For Buddhists, shrines occupy a grey area between the cultural and the religious. A quantitative study of 417 British teenagers self-identifying as Buddhists found that the 70% who had a home shrine were less likely to visit a Buddhist temple, but more likely to exhibit daily personal religious practice and to bow to parents. Those with shrines were generally happier at school, more communal and strict about intoxicants. Heightened religiosity was linked with having a home shrine, particularly for female, late-teen, and heritage Buddhists. For these groups of Buddhists, a shrine represents a site for shared memory, whilst for males, early teens, and converts, there is more a sense of shrines giving focus to their Buddhist identity.

Researcher

Phra Nicholas Thanissaro

Research Institution

University of Warwick

What is this about?

This research is about shrines in Buddhist homes and what they signify. Are they cultural or religious? How do they affect the religiosity of Buddhist teenagers? Does this vary according to different sub-groups, including male or female, early or late teen, heritage or convert, for example? The study is of different Buddhist teenagers in Britain.

What was done?

A survey questionnaire was completed by 417 self-identifying teenage Buddhists. The sample consisted of 225 males (54%) and 192 females (46%) aged between 13 and 20, with an ethnic composition of Asian (52%), White (34%), Mixed (11%), Chinese (2%), and Black (1%). In terms of the temple institutions they attended, to give some idea of the national Buddhist traditions included, the sample included Sinhalese (23%), Thai (16%), Tibetan (12%), Burmese (11%), Vietnamese (9%), Japanese (5%), Bangladeshi (3%), Western (2%), Chinese (2%), Nepalese (2%), and Cambodian (1%).

Main findings and outputs

  • 70% of British Buddhist teenagers had a shrine in their homes.
  • Having a shrine was likely to correspond generally with heightened religiosity but lower mystical orientation.
  • Those with a shrine at home were significantly more likely to have a daily religious practice (22%) than those without a shrine (7%). Those with a shrine were also significantly more likely to bow to their parents (66%) than those without shrines (36%). Those with a shrine were significantly less likely to attend a temple on a weekly basis (41%) than those who had no home shrine (74%).
  • Home shrines are significantly linked with Buddhist religiosity in female, heritage Buddhists in their late teens.
  • For these Buddhists in particular, the shrine helps remind them about the Buddha and Buddhist clergy as symbols of their religion.
  • This includes feeling that life has a sense of purpose, considering oneself a ‘proper’ Buddhist, and thinking that Buddhist monks do a good job.
  • For male, convert, and early teen Buddhists particularly, the presence of the shrine can be seen as a symbol of the self or identity formation.

Relevance to RE

The research is relevant to RE practice because it shows how teachers need to be sensitive to different factors about religion – it is specifically about Buddhism but has relevance regarding religious traditions in general. The researcher warns about the danger in presenting Buddhism as simply a set of beliefs, which is a distortion because ritual practice in the home as well as the temple is clearly significant to Buddhists. Yet he also presents evidence that ritual practice in the case of a home shrine is significant in different ways to different Buddhists; that it differs by gender, for instance, or whether one is a heritage or a convert Buddhist, is a reminder of the need to explore the diversity within religions when teaching about them.

Generalisability and potential limitations

This is a fairly large and differentiated survey. The researcher does identify some questions for future research, not yet addressed, which could elaborate upon the study of shrine-related practice using qualitative research. It might explore details such as observation of the daily context in which Buddhists practise in relation to their shrines, how they practise, what they worship, what they chant, how often they chant, whether they are alone when they practise or with their family, and so on.

Find out more

The original article is: Phra Nicholas Thanissaro (2018) Buddhist shrines: bringing sacred context and shared memory into the home, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 33:2, 319-335.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537903.2018.1469277

An ethnographic eye on religion in everyday life

Research Summary: An ethnographic eye on religion in everyday life

This article considers pitfalls associated with teaching about religions. The main pitfall considered is the risk of presenting religions as stereotypical monolithic systems: that all who belong to a particular religious tradition think and act in the same way. The writer calls this sort of stereotyping the ‘robotic tendency’ because it has a habit of reducing practitioners to robot-like beings that always perform identical actions. She argues that the ‘ethnographic eye’ can help educators to avoid stereotypes and the robotic tendency when teaching about religions. The ‘ethnographic eye’ means close attention to human thoughts, feelings and actions in everyday life.

Researchers

Jenny Berglund

Research Institution

Södertörn University, Sweden

What is this about?

The article is about learning to teach about religions (in this case, Islam) without neglecting the fact that within any religion, there are varieties of belief and practice that have to be taken into account. The writer tells and reflects on the stories of two teachers who were asked to investigate Islam in their own schools and local environments, then think about the ramifications of what they had learned for their future teaching. Both teachers were offered surprises and both were forced to consider that the lived reality of Islam in their immediate environments was more complex and differentiated than their previous picture, built up through text-books and media presentations. The writer argues that this more differentiated account, as well as being more accurate, avoids a rigid ‘us and them’ view and so lessens prejudice. Moreover, it helps teachers to examine their own understanding and its bases.

What was done?

As part of a continuing teacher education course on Islam, two teachers were asked to pay close ethnographic attention to the practice of Islam within their own schools and local environments, then writing an assignment about what they had discovered and how it would affect their future teaching. The article presents summaries of the process gone through by the teachers and their subsequent reflections on how their teaching needed to change in the light of what they had learned.

Main findings and outputs

Agnes
Agnes is a primary school teacher who initially believes that Islam is absent from her school. There are no Muslim pupils, but there is a book in the library stating that Muslims do not eat pork. She approaches the kitchen staff, finding to her surprise that two of them are Muslims. Their attitudes are complex, e.g. one of them has not informed their school that her children are Muslims, they eat all kinds of food at school but avoid pork at home. They mention an Ethiopian Christian colleague of theirs who avoids pork.
Stellan
Stellan is a secondary RE teacher. There are many Muslim pupils in his school. He causes an argument in a lesson by stating that Muslims do not celebrate the Prophet’s birthday. He decides to ask students about this, is informed by one student that he does indeed celebrate the Prophet’s birthday, telephones his parents to discuss it and is invited to the next such celebration. Other Muslim students tell him that they do not celebrate it. As well as building up notes on the celebration, Stellan consults background literature, finding that the celebration, especially associated with Sufism, is considered unlawful by some scholars.
Discussion
An ethnographic approach informs teachers on variations in religions. People manage different beliefs (e.g. dietary restrictions) differently. Cultural context and other factors influence this. In future these teachers will continue to ask questions about text-book presentations and examine local practices. Other research suggests that European Muslims’ religion is becoming increasingly individual.

Relevance to RE

The article has strong relevance to RE. Policy should reflect the presence of a local dimension in religious belief and practice and require the challenging of stereotypes. Curriculum planning should include the same points. There are implications for pedagogy, regarding the need to include the knowledge, views and experiences of students and their families, to accept that these may be different and to examine internal differences within religions (the article mentions the need for sensitivity in these respects). The article is itself a story of teacher development. RE teachers might usefully repeat the investigations of Agnes and Stellan in their own environments, perhaps in groups, in conjunction with academic researchers or as an element in initial teacher education or higher degree study.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The research has high credibility. The writer is a highly regarded, influential expert. The writing is characterised by clarity, balance and originality. A strength is its appeal to local, specific, individual experience, yet this is well integrated with wider scholarly references. Good ethnography resists simplification, accepting difference and individuality, and the article ‘rings true’ in these ways. In this sense, the findings appear to be secure. As individual findings, they cannot be generalised, but this is in the nature of ethnography. However, the principle of careful attention to lived reality (the ‘ethnographic eye’) ought to be generalised: that is, it ought to be and often is emphasised as an ingredient of professionalism in RE. The limitations of the research lie in its Swedish context, but again, the writer reaches out to wider literature and the article gives a basis to those wishing to repeat its methods in their own settings.

Find out more

British Journal of Religious Education 36.1 pages 39-52

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2013.820167

Authoritative female UK Muslims

Research Summary: Authoritative female UK Muslims

There is a new generation of female Islamic authorities in the UK. They are setting up their own institutes and emphasising the importance of drawing from within the Islamic tradition in the British context. They stress their unique ability as women to provide personal and collective guidance that addresses the needs of Muslim women in Britain. But they recognise the limitations of presenting guidance as ‘women’s work’; they sometimes present gender as irrelevant in their work. They are developing and imagining new understandings of Islamic knowledge and leadership. It is a move away from binaries such as liberal/orthodox Islam, or resistance to/compliance with established religion.

Researcher

Giulia Liberatore

Research Institution

University of Edinburgh

What is this about?

  • Islam in Britain.
  • Authority and leadership in contemporary Islam.
  • Islamic knowledge.
  • Gender and piety in Islam.
  • Experiences of Islam.

What was done?

The research is part of a larger ethnographic research project on female Islamic authority and guidance in the UK, conducted between April 2015 and October 2019. It involved mapping a broad range of female authorities across the country, analysing their online presence, interviewing over twenty-five female Islamic authorities (scholars, teachers, preachers, as well as authorities providing legal advice or counselling), visiting spaces of learning, attending classes and retreats, speaking to audience members and discussing the topic with male Islamic authorities and other experts in the area.

Main findings and outputs

  • Islam is changing.
  • There is a new generational of influential, younger, female Islamic authorities in the UK. They are not a cohesive group, they experience different opportunities and situations.
  • They have some things in common: teaching in English, teaching in informal spaces, addressing a broad British Muslim audience and sometimes using social media to teach.
  • They are known for high levels of scholarship and personal piety.
  • They are life guides, addressing issues such as marriage and relationships, though referring to Islamic sources in a ‘traditional’ way. Many young UK Muslims are in need of spiritual guidance, to practice Islam in a ‘western’ context. Women are seen as natural guides, within Islamic tradition.
  • These women do not see themselves as ‘liberal’ in contrast to ‘conservative’ teachers. They can be seen as part of an emerging European Islam.

Relevance to RE

This research has high relevance to RE. Teachers can use it to develop their own subject knowledge in line with current research. The research is ground-breaking, illustrates some new and significant themes and provides evidence on the roles of women in Islam that can help teachers to challenge stereotypes. Another particularly valuable point is how distinctions such as ‘liberal’ and conservative’ might not always adequately describe different experiences of Islam in the contemporary world.

Generalisability and potential limitations

This research deliberately illustrates a trend, rather than giving findings that can be generalised across the experiences of Muslims. It gives good detail and analysis on a significant set of changes regarding the transmission of Islam in the UK, however, and readers are encouraged to study the original article, freely available from the link given below.

Find out more

The original article is Giulia Liberatore, Guidance as ‘Women’s Work’: A New Generation of Female Islamic Authorities in Britain, Religions 2019: 10 (11), 601.

The article is available open-access at https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10110601

British Religion in Numbers

 Research Digest: British Religion in Numbers

British Religion in Numbers is an online religious data resource. Numbers aren’t just for statisticians. People want to visualise and understand data for work, for study, for general interest, or to settle a debate: how large? how many? how typical?

That’s from the introduction to the British Religion in Numbers (BRIN) database, managed by the British Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences: http://www.brin.ac.uk/ The database is itself an ongoing research project. And it’s for use by researchers, who are weighing up questions like these –

  • How secular, or religiously diverse, is Britain?
  • Do people see religious and political identities as conflicting?
  • How does religion affect lifestyle, health, and what opportunities are open to people?

It should be clear that the resource is useful to teachers as well as researchers (or illustrates how a teacher often needs to be a researcher). As it says, people need to use data for study purposes or to settle debates. Pupils are no exception, and teachers should ensure that the data we present to our pupils when teaching is up-to-date and accurate. BRIN provides a searchable database including government sources, opinion polls and faith community sources. There are figures, maps and charts, and guides to understanding the various data.

Teaching ideas

Representations of Muslims and Islam in the British media

The following is from the Counting Religion in Britain bulletin (number 74, November 2021) (page 7):

“In a 320-page report for the Centre for Media Monitoring at the Muslim Council of Britain, Faisal Hanif explores British Media’s Coverage of Muslims and Islam (2018–2020). The methodology for the underlying research comprised daily monitoring, between October 2018 and September 2019, of 34 British media websites and 38 television channels using keyword searches, leading to the identification of 47,818 articles and 5,512 broadcast clips referring to Muslims and/or Islam, followed by analysis of each article or clip against five metrics to determine whether it was affirmative or not affirmative in nature. Almost three-fifths (59%) of the articles were found to incorporate negative references to Muslims or Islam, while 21% were judged antagonistic and 14% biased. In his conclusion, Hanif asserts that ‘a large section of the media still favours voices that echo colonial era tropes which see Muslims as dangerous fanatics, terrorists and misogynists whilst giving preference to voices which regurgitate these tropes.’ He claims not to seek any special treatment for Muslims; rather he wants journalists to depict them consistently as for other social groups. The report is available at: https://cfmm.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CfMM-Annual-Report-2018-2020- digital.pdf ”

  • Your first task is to decide where to place this content in your curriculum and why. (Translating it into teaching material could be a very engaging and productive meeting agenda!) If including it in a unit about Islam, it might be best towards the close, for reasons that are given later.
  • Secondly, it is important to give attention to the language use. Try to re-create the excerpt so that it meets the pupils’ needs. Remember that they don’t only need to grasp it straightaway. They need to be stretched and challenged by it, developing new or improved knowledge, understanding, skills and dispositions. So, our suggestion is to leave some of the language as it is: e.g., ‘negative’, ‘antagonistic’, ‘biased’ are terms worth exploring with pupils.
  • Thirdly, consider how to introduce the re-worked material. You could create a power-point slide and give a brief lecture, or a handout for pupils to go through in pairs or groups; whichever way, allow time for questions and discussion afterwards, until you are sure that all are clear about the content.
  • That gives you the first broad part of a lesson (but adapt these suggestions as you see fit; you might begin with a quick ‘brainstorm’ about why the coverage of any group by the media matters, to establish the purposes of the lesson on secure grounds, before moving to the excerpt).
  • The pupils could next move into a task focused on these figures: ‘Almost three-fifths (59%) of the articles were found to incorporate negative references to Muslims or Islam, while 21% were judged antagonistic and 14% biased.’ Can they prepare to explain the differences between ‘negative’, ‘antagonistic’ and ‘biased’, perhaps with examples?
  • After some pupils have offered explanations for discussion, and when all are clear about the language and meaning, move into a plenary task. This could also form the basis of a homework write-up or reflective essay. It might be in two parts: first, comment on the researcher’s call for no special treatment for Muslims; rather, journalists to depict them consistently as for other groups. Second, from what you learned about Islam and Muslims in this unit, what would you say to those negatively biased against them: what positive media stories should be told? You need to go into detail about people’s practice of Islam, in their communities. Pupils could also be directed to the work of the Religion and Media Centre.

Depicting the ethnicity of Jesus Christ: What is acceptable?

See: http://www.brin.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/No-75-December-2021-1.pdf

The link is to the December 2021 edition of Counting Religion in Britain. Its first entry is about an opinion poll on what is acceptable when Jesus’s ethnicity is depicted. The poll was an online survey by YouGov of a national cross-section of 1,714 Britons carried out on 14– 15 December 2021. These were the headline figures:

  • 58% of the public think Jesus is usually depicted in images as a white person and 22% as Middle Eastern.
  • When asked which racial group he could be depicted as being from, 68% believed Middle Eastern was acceptable, 63% white, 44% black, 40% as South Asian, and 37% as East Asian.

The questions were also put to a sample of 1,023 black, Asian, and minority ethnic adults on 8–16 December 2021. In this case:

  • 60% felt it acceptable to depict Jesus as Middle Eastern. In a sub-sample of respondents who were Christian, the result was the same.

More details, including full data tables, can be viewed here.

The linked article – Matthew Smith’s What race can Jesus be? – contains the following paragraphs:

“The image of Christ as a man with white skin and blue eyes would appear to be at odds with what is likely, given the biblical account of his family hailing from the Middle East.

Nevertheless, Britons are far more likely to say they usually see Jesus being depicted as White (58%) than Middle Eastern (22%).

This is despite the fact that a Middle Eastern Jesus is the one that makes most sense to Britons. Two thirds (68%) say it would be acceptable to depict Christ as having Middle Eastern racial characteristics, compared to only 9% who disagree.”

The article also gives age-related data. “There is a noticeable age difference on these two characterisations: while opinion is near identical across all ages for a Middle Eastern Jesus, younger Britons are less accepting of a White saviour (51% of 18-24 year olds, 61% of 25-49 year olds) than their elders (66-67% of those aged 50 and above).”

Some ideas for basing teaching on the research now follow.

  • As with the representations of Muslims and Islam in the British media research, decide where to include the material in your curriculum. It could be in a topic on Christianity, Jesus, religion and the arts, or religion and social or community cohesion.
  • Within a lesson, it also has various possible uses (introduction, main task(s), plenary, or summary). In the outline given below, the idea is that pupils will be initially engaged by images rather than statistics.
  • You could begin by presenting a series of images of Jesus, varying by ethnic or other appearance, and asking pupils to respond to each. Where is it from? What is the artist trying to convey? What else strikes you? Which is most likely to ne historically accurate and why? In looking for images, you might start at Jen Jenkins’s superb RE:engaging collection of (mainly) Christian iconography from different traditions it/6AcFrY2 We are very grateful to Jen for this resource.
  • Then introduce the YouGov poll, talking briefly through some headline data before giving pupils a more detailed datasheet to discuss in pairs or groups. Why do you think British people are much more likely to see Jesus depicted as White than Middle Eastern? Why is there a big difference between the Jesus most British people would expect to see and the depiction of Jesus that makes most sense to them? Why do you think younger people are less accepting of the idea of a White Jesus?
  • Finally, take and discuss feedback of ideas from pairs or groups. This could precede a concluding discussion on why all this matters. Is it only a question of historical accuracy, or is more at stake? For Justine Ball, a dominant White depiction of Jesus “does not allow an opportunity for all children regardless of their background to see themselves in the teaching resources used and is something which suggests that a colonised curriculum is present in RE”. See Justine Ball, An approach to decolonising teaching about Jesus in Primary Schools

Justine’s piece describes her own research in this area and makes practice recommendations, including that we should not only consider what we present, but what we leave out; that Jesus’s Jewish context should be referenced; and that “the artwork that teachers use should not only reflect the worldwide global nature of Christianity, but also reflect the multicultural nature of Christianity in the UK.”

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Religion in Numbers

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An Approach to Decolonising Religious Education

An Approach to Decolonising Religious Education

November / December 2021 research of the month features Krystian McInnis

Krystian presents an approach to decolonising the curriculum drawing on his research with black students.

Historically, from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, religion and education have been at the epicentre of all European empires (Gearon et al. 2021). Whilst decolonising has had little uptake in recent years, with much left to the outskirts of British academia, a more detailed focus has been found in the US, Sub-Saharan Africa (Matemba 2021) and Canada (Cote-Meek & Moeke-Pickering 2020). The senseless killing of George Floyd however, brought to the forefront not only a conversation regarding race and racism, but the need to see institutional and structural change within society and education. With this the case, my research focuses on exploring decolonising religious education through the Black student perspective, a voice far too often neglected in both society and academia.

Positionality

I feel it vital, at this early stage, in line with postcolonial theorists’ work, to state my position as a Black male secondary practitioner and researcher. With my research exploring decolonising religious education, my cultural identity allows me to write from a position of strength. With very few academics writing within this sphere, and an even fewer number Black; my insider perspective is both valuable and necessary within this topic. Furthermore, my perspective allows for not only my voice, but others like me to have their voices heard and listened to, often a privilege not afforded within education.

Having been educated within the British education system myself from EYFS to postgraduate studies; I know too well of the diversity deficiency regarding religion and culture in secondary education. Moreover, from African-Caribbean lineage, consisting of a recent and brutal past of colonised heritage, I am acutely aware of my culture’s erasure from the British curriculum, confined to an annual acknowledgment of slavery in the month of October (Campbell 2020). Therefore, for me it has been pivotal to explore and research in this space, to bring about a long overdue change, exploring literature, neglected for far too long.

Furthermore, my position as an insider within the topic of decolonising the curriculum I feel is multi-layered and vital. With a severe lack of representation within education, much of the conversation appears to be stagnant with very few academics or school practitioners pushing the conversation forward. With approximately 2.3% of teachers in the UK Black compared to 85.7% White whilst in leadership positions 2.6% Black compared to 95% White, this arguably could be why within secondary education the conversation has not progressed much further. What must be noted however, is the impact this has on students. With a lack of representation, coupled with a non-diverse and colonial-centred curriculum, students with backgrounds similar to mine will continue to not see themselves truly reflected within their educational lifespan, bringing about complex identity issues which we see present in society today.

What is meant by Decolonising?

In recent years, calls for decolonisation have echoed through educational communities with much discussion regarding form, content and interpretation of the curriculum from the colonised and former colonised (Arday and Mirza, 2018). In addition, the debate on decolonising the curriculum has not been more central within history than it is today. However, much of this debate surrounds Higher Education. Arguably, exacerbated by the death of George Floyd, the conversation within academia and education most notably erupted with the infamous, Rhodes Must Fall Campaign, which called for the removal of the Cecil Rhodes statue at Oriel College Oxford (Chaudhuri 2016; Chigudu 2020; Makori & McKay 2020). It is paramount however to assert that decolonising the curriculum is not merely demanding the removal of statues or previously taught material, or the erasure of White history, but rather for an additional lens to be provided, exploring the voice of the ‘other’, the ‘colonised’, the intentionally forgotten. This additional lens allows for a holistic view of historical events, taking into account the lives and experiences both positive and negative of all those involved.

Postcolonial Theory 

In attempting to define postcolonial theory there are a plethora of definitions available, which has caused much debate over the years. Commonly accepted however, is that of a critical academic study of the cultural legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the human consequences of the control and exploitation of colonised people and their land. In addition, present within postcolonial theory is a false dichotomy between postcolonial theory and postcolonial criticism. Nevertheless, the key works and contributions of Aime Cesaire (Discourse on Colonialism), Frantz Fanon (Black Skin White Masks), Edward Said (Orientalism) and Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed) are a good starting point for exploration within this field. Whilst through a historical lens, postcolonial theory analyses texts, literature and prose, it is also important to note its analysis regarding race, culture and religion. By magnifying the socio-political layers of literature, postcolonial theorists show that aesthetics are not objective, disinterested or natural but rather politically constructed to put white European literature on a pedestal whilst simultaneously disregarding Black, native and aboriginal aesthetics (Eglinton 2019).

Key findings from my semi-structured interviews

  • Students had a lack of awareness regarding decolonising Religious Education. Students who were interviewed were aware of the need to diversify and add more ‘people that look like us’, but decolonising was a phrase they had not come across
  • Students were only able to make links between colonial and History; in particular, slavery however, felt this was limited to the British Empire
  • Students were unaware that Religion and education has played a pivotal role in the colonising of countries and expanding colonial empires
  • There appears to be a wider misunderstanding of what a decolonised curriculum is, with many practitioners believing it is in part to remove aspects of White British History rather than to include the voice of the oppressed
  • For a successful decolonised curriculum, cross-curricular collaboration will be curricular to ensure that students are getting a holistic picture, rather than it confined to one area of subject
  • Many practitioners appear to be apprehensive regarding decolonising the curriculum due to workload and time pressures. However, decolonising religious education does not mean new schemes of work per se, but rather for example additional resources and worksheets showing a different viewpoint

Decolonising Religious Education

My research, still in its early stages, has attempted to explore decolonising religious education taking into account the Black student voice and experience. What was stark however, through my semi-structured interviews, was that the students had no understanding or awareness of the politicised phrasing ‘decolonising the curriculum’ or ‘decolonising religious education’. Whilst students were able to suggest that they felt Religious Education did not represent them fully and needed to be ‘more diverse’ and argued they wanted to see ‘other cultures and backgrounds’ in their lessons and books, they believed that decolonising referred solely to a colonial past which was only relevant to History and the British Empire. Students did however; assert that Religious Education is more diverse than other subjects are.

Furthermore, what was more interesting is that students appeared to make no connection between the colonial past and its role within religion. Missionary work, most remarkably, was central to both the expansion and maintenance of the British Empire (Reichard 2015; Velho 2007; Vandrick 2018; Meier 2018). What this did however make me note, is that within religious education this is not an aspect often covered, nor is there investigation of the Church within History except most notably the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. I argue that perhaps a decolonised curriculum would explore the effects of missionary work in society today in particular within Sub-Saharan Africa.

As aforementioned, decolonising the curriculum requests for the inclusion of content, to both supplement the current curriculum and provide an overlay, exploring the views and perceptions of the ‘other’, the previously colonised. An example of this could be the teaching of key figures, such as Gandhi within religious education. Whilst much conversation appears to surround his teachings, it neglects to highlight his fight was directly against the decades long oppression of the British Empire on India. Additionally, perhaps the teaching of Martin Luther King Jnr, often portrayed as the epitome of pacifism, in direct opposition to Malcolm X, could be studied including recognition that the US government deemed King an ‘enemy of the state’.

Ideally, the impact of my research will help bring about the necessary decolonising of Religious Education and subsequently wider curriculum too. Whilst there is some suggestion Religious Education is already decolonised, I assert that this is not the case, however, arguably in some places the process has certainly started.

Discussion Questions

  • Are there, could there be, or should there be links between the worldview agenda and curriculum decolonisation in RE?
  • What would decolonising the RE curriculum actually mean in practice, not just rhetorically?
  • Discuss and identify some ways in which your own RE curriculum could be decolonised: come up with two or three specific examples of changes that could be made. Think about content, but also approach.

References

Arday, J., and H. S. Mirza, (2018) Dismantling Race in Higher Education: Racism, Whiteness and Decolonising the Academy. London: Palgrave.

Campbell, L. (2020) ‘It isn’t a tick-box’: young BLM activists on Black History Month in UK schools, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/11/it-isnt-tick-box-young-black-lives-matter-activists-on-black-history-month-uk-schools

Chaudhuri, A. (2016) The real meaning of Rhodes Must Fall:  After the nation’s long retreat from multiculturalism and the return of a rose‑tinted memory of empire, it is no accident that the Rhodes Must Fall movement has come to Britain, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/16/the-real-meaning-of-rhodes-must-fall

Chigudu, S. (2020) Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford: a critical testimony, Critical African Studies, 12:3, 302-312

Cote-Meek, S., Moeke-Pickering, T. (2020) Decolonizing and Indigenizing Education in Canada, Canadian Scholars

Eglinton, Y. (2019) Postcolonial Literacy Criticism: An introduction Handbook, Textual Matters

Gearon, L., Kuusisto, A., Matemba, Y., Benjamin, S., Petro Du, P., Koirikivi, P., Simmonds, S. (2021) Decolonising the religious education curriculum, British Journal of Religious Education, 43:1, 1-8

Makori, B., McKay, H. (2020) Rhodes Must Fall – Oxford protesters target statue of colonialist https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protests-britain-r-idUSKBN23G2CF

Matemba, Y. (2021) Decolonising religious education in sub-Saharan Africa through the prism of anticolonialism: a conceptual proposition, British Journal of religious education 43:1, 33-45

Meier, V. (2018) Neither bloody persecution nor well intended civilizing missions changed their nature or their number, Critical Romani Studies, 1:1, 86-126.

Reichard, J. D. (2015) Mutually transformative missions: A postcolonial, process-relational Pentecostal missiology, Missiology, 43:3, 245–257

Vandrick, S. 2018. Growing up with God and Empire: A Postcolonial Analysis of Missionary Kid Memoirs, Blue Ridge Summit

Velho, O. (2007) ‘Missionization in the post-colonial world: A view from Brazil and elsewhere’, Anthropological Theory, 7:3, 273–293

An approach to decolonising teaching about Jesus in primary schools

Research Spotlight: An approach to decolonising teaching about Jesus in primary schools

January 2022 research of the month features Justine Ball.

As you look at this research here are some things to consider:

  1. Are Jesus, angels and Christians often depicted as white-skinned and European in your RE resources?
  2. Are you confident to teach children about Jesus’ Jewish context?
  3. Do your teaching resources explore the diversity of Christian groups around the world?

My research centres on areas I observed with the teaching about Jesus in primary RE and considers ways to address these. The first issue is the dominant depiction of Jesus as lighter skinned and European in paintings and imagery that children see. This is well known in other related disciplines such as biblical and religious studies; for example, Pittman and Boyles state that:

The historical-cultural dominance of fair skinned, often blue-eyed Jesus is old news for theologians and biblical scholars. (2019, 315).

Although this is “old news” in other related disciplines, I still observe this in many of the paintings and imagery that children see.

A further issue that I observe is the lack of emphasis about Jesus as Jewish, which again has been noted in biblical studies for years (Pittman and Boyles, 2019, 324). This lack of focus results in younger children not understanding the connection between Jesus as Jewish and the impact of his actions in the stories they hear. When children are older, in Key Stage 2, they will also not understand the later development of the Christian church without first understanding the Jewish context of Jesus and his first disciples (for example, why Jesus is often referred to as a messiah and the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy). This lack of emphasis does not help children appreciate the historical or religious impact of his actions, which could also result in confusion in the subsequent teaching about Judaism. For example, how to explain to children the fact that Jesus was Jewish, but his followers were Christian.

A further issue is that white, European imagery is not only used when depicting Jesus, but often used when showing pictures of Christians or characters from the gospel stories. Persona dolls, which are popular in Early Years and Key Stage 1 teaching, often present one image of a Christian child with blond hair and blue eyes, without using other dolls that might suggest there is far more diversity among Christians. Using imagery such as this without further diversity gives the impression to children that Christianity is a European religion.

The issue of such dominance in imagery is a major concern because it is not only misleading, but it also does not allow an opportunity for all children regardless of their background to see themselves in the teaching resources used and is something which suggests that a colonised curriculum is present in RE. A colonised curriculum is defined as one where the “thinking, framing and curriculum has a Europe centred, colonial lens” (EachOther, 2021). It is an area that children at a very young age notice.

This led me to research how schools use imagery in their teaching and how important it is for children to see diversity in imagery.

A further issue that I observed was the need for further knowledge about the diversity of Christian churches and the need for knowledge about how other religious groups value Jesus too. Children will often visit their local church, but it might be the case that they visit only one church and hear only one set of views. This results in children failing to see the real diversity within Christianity in the UK. Teaching often also fails to highlight that people from other different religions revere Jesus too. This led me to question how the teaching about Jesus might invite other religious people to say why he is important for them.

The imagery and diversity of views that children are exposed to matters because it is this that they will remember above any content taught in the classroom. Dale’s study in 1969 revealed how powerful images are compared to words in people’s memory. Using a diagram referred to as the Cone of Experience, Dale’s work has gone on to influence educators ever since and it clearly shows that visual imagery helps people to remember information long after the words are forgotten.

What is shown to children therefore need careful selection because getting this wrong can lead to the stereotyping of others (such as seeing Christians as mainly European) and misconceptions about Jesus (for example, not knowing that he was Jewish, or assuming that he was white). It may lead to intolerance of others if the misconceptions lead children to believe that Christianity is only for Europeans, and other cultures or traditions are not valued. Therefore, inaccurate representations of Jesus and a lack of diversity in the imagery and content about Jesus may result in RE indirectly contributing to ignorance and misrepresentations of religion to children.

In my dissertation I argue that the teaching about Jesus in English primary schools urgently needs to address these issues by using biblical studies research and religion and worldviews research, suggested by the Commission on Religious Education in 2018 (Foreword) as the approach that would present a new direction for the teaching of RE. This research calls for the study of religious and non-religious worldviews in different ways, using different disciplinary techniques such as historical and sociological approaches to help children:

understand both a wider range of religious and non-religious worldviews and the idea of diversity within worldviews. (Commission on Religious Education, 2018, 5)

Using such research will help teachers recognise that the historical and geographical context of Jesus being located in Judaea two thousand years ago must be taught so that children understand this context as well as the continuing relevance of Jesus for diverse groups today. A worldviews approach will help the teacher introduce a variety of perspectives about Jesus from different communities and present a diversity of images from the UK and around the world rather than using artwork that continues to reflect the dominant presentation of Jesus as a White Western European[1].

The approach I argue for references anti-racist approaches to education and aspects of historical and theological studies about Jesus, such as marginalised voices and Black theological views of Jesus which are currently not reflected in much primary teaching.

I show that Christianity is a global religion with growth in newer churches in the UK and worldwide in African and Latin American countries and argue that this should be reflected in teaching. I further argue that the artwork that teachers use should not only reflect the worldwide global nature of Christianity, but also reflect the multicultural nature of Christianity in the UK and I call for further resources to help teachers with this. I argue that the demand for progress in this area has become much more urgent with the recent focus on decolonising the curriculum with an emphasis on:

the process in which we rethink, reframe and reconstruct the curricula and research that preserve the Europe-centred, colonial lens. (EachOther, 2021)

This is important as decolonisation research presents opportunities to consider different approaches to the teaching about Jesus and to address the issues that I raise here.

I used qualitative research methods with a small sample of teachers and their children  across 3 very different primary settings to seek further information.

My findings reveal the teachers’ comment that much of the artwork they use for the teaching about Jesus is European in style and imagery. They also comment on the lack of diversity in teaching about Christian views about Jesus or other religious views. Teachers themselves ask for further resources to help them teach about Jesus using artwork and resources from a greater diversity of sources to address this.

My findings show the importance of visual imagery for children in how they answered my questions. They show how the majority describe Jesus with dark hair, blue eyes and peach or light-coloured skin and they clearly reference that they know this from the books or films that they have seen. Children do not always know how other religious people view Jesus, but some children, particularly older children, do know that he was Jewish.

I make recommendations for RE advisors and curriculum writers to make teaching historically accurate by referencing the historical Jewish context of Jesus, to embed the principles of worldviews and decolonisation research and to approach the teaching about Jesus using much greater diversity in the imagery, artwork and examples taught to children in future.

Questions to consider:

  • What have you seen in your own context?
  • What actions can you take?
  • What resources would further help teachers address these issues going forward?

[1] The head of Christ by Warner Sallman has become the best known American artwork of the twentieth century of Jesus in recent years and has influenced the presentation of Jesus since it was painted. (Washington Post, 25 June, 2020).

Bibliography

Aylward, K., and Freathy, R. (2008). Children’s conceptions of Jesus. Journal of Beliefs and Values, 29/3, 297–304.

Bond, H. (2012). The Historical Jesus: A Guide to the Perplexed. London: Bloomsbury.

Carter, J. (2008). Race: A theological account. United States of America: OUP.

Chilisa, B., Major, T., Gaotlhobogwe, M., and Mokgolodi, H. (2016). Decolonising and Indigenizing Evaluation Practice in Africa: Towards African Relational Evaluation Approaches. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 30/3, 313–328.

Commission on Religious Education – CoRE (2018). Final Report, Religions and Worldviews: The Way Forward. London: Religious Education Council. Retrieved August 23, 2021, from FINAL REPORT. Religion and Worldviews: the way forward. A national plan for RE | Commission on Religious Education.

Cone, James. (2011). The Cross and the Lynching Tree. New York: Orbis Books.

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