Although we have developed modes of governance of religious diversity to accommodate the weak level of religious pluralism which characterized Western societies until recently, it is not clear that these modes of governance can meet the challenges raised by the new and deeper form of religious diversity characterized by a growing gap between the self-understandings of religious and secular citizens as well as by an increasing number of religious groups due to contemporary patterns of immigration. Freedom of conscience and equality between the adherents of different churches have historically been secured by a separation between state and religion. However, contemporary political theorists disagree about the shape that this separation should take. Some defend a model of institutional pluralism which requires the state to equally support and recognize different religious groups by providing them with the means to set up their own pervasively religious social institutions. Others put forth a restrictive secularist model according to which religion should be privatized. There should be a strict separation between the public and the religious spheres to ensure that no religion is privileged or disadvantaged by the state. However, I argue that both approaches fail to meet the challenges raised by the arrival of new religious minorities within Western societies. Accommodation of religious diversity through separate institutions is not required by equality and freedom of conscience. Moreover, since it favours institutional segmentation along religious lines, it fails to provide favourable conditions for the integration of new immigrant groups. Strict secularism requires that religious expressions be severely restricted in the public sphere and thus heavily limit freedom of conscience. Moreover, since the public sphere is never fully neutral, strict secularism fails to equally protect the freedom of new religious groups. How can we then achieve the two apparently irreconcilable goals of integrating new minorities and of protecting their freedom and equal status? The thesis that I defend is that these goals can be reconciled by an approach of open secularism based on the reasonable accommodation of religious diversity within shared public institutions. / Thesis (Ph.D, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-26 10:50:03.663

The premise for this study is the question how we should relate to people with different religious beliefs. The aim is to examine if an existence characterized by a religious diversity should affect the certainty and confidence in our faith. To answer my question I have turned to the philosophers David Basinger, Mikael Stenmark, William Lane Craig and Robert McKims different views on this issue. Using an approach based on a comparative method and argument analysis I have then assessed their different opinions in the matter. Based on my own discussion of these arguments I conclude that a religious diversity should imply a reduction in our own religious confidence and that it should be reduced in relation to the amount of disagreement that exist between conflicting religious perspectives in an specific case and matter. This may also foster a reduction of religious intolerance through a nuanced of our own belief while highlighting the conceptions and values in our own religion that stresses tolerance.

This dissertation explores visions of the good life in America through the lens of what middle-class parents from Liberal Protestant, Evangelical Protestant, Roman Catholic, Muslim, Hindu, and Atheist communities want for their children. In the book Habits of the Heart, Robert Bellah and associates famously posit that the dominant moral language of America today is one of utilitarian and expressive individualism. In this dissertation, I measure the degree to which parents in America are guided by that individualism and the degree to which they speak alternative languages that encourage concern for others and for the common good. Through participant observation, interviews, and a letter-writing task with eighty-three New England parents connected with particular congregations, as well as twelve comparable non-attending parents, I look at religious traditions, some of them with long histories in America, and others more recently prominent on the religious landscape, to see how religion shapes parental values. To what extent do parents from these traditions agree on what a good life looks like? And to what extent do we find divergence based on social location, ethnic background, and the beliefs and practices of their traditions? I find that parents across traditions hold five master values for their children--health, happiness (both in childhood and in adulthood), altruism, groundedness in identity, and autonomy. With a few important exceptions, parents see religion as having relatively little to do with the values of health and happiness, which turn out to be influenced more by social class. Religion plays a much greater role in parents' discussion of altruism, with various traditions expressing different forms of the Golden Rule. Parents from all groups also find that they cannot take for granted the transmission of religious identity within a materialistic, pluralistic, and increasingly secular culture. Religious identity is largely an achieved status, and all contemporary American religious communities are, to some degree, sectarian. Finally, parents want their children to be autonomous, but find that they often have to weigh this against other master values. These findings should encourage researchers to take more seriously both the contextual and the conflicting nature of human values.

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Thesis advisor: Dennis Shirley / Schools and classrooms in the United States are increasingly religiously diverse, and religion remains a deeply influential social force, locally, nationally, and globally. However, decades of misunderstanding about the constitutionally appropriate relationship between religion and public education have created a cycle of silence about religion in K-12 schools and in teacher education. As a result, public school educators are not prepared to teach about religion in the curriculum. Nor do they have the skills to respond to common challenges that arise in religiously diverse school communities. This dissertation examines four professional development courses about religious diversity to understand the motivations and experiences of the educators who participated and to explore the impacts these courses had on the educators’ teaching practices. The 145 participants in the professional development courses learned about several religious traditions through a combination of visits to religious communities, guest speakers, and classroom discussion. The mixed methods study surveyed the participants three times, once before the courses, and twice afterwards. Follow-up interviews with 13 educators were conducted approximately one year after they completed the courses. The findings reveal that educators working at all grade levels and in all content areas found valuable benefits from increasing their understanding of religion, including a greater appreciation for the religious identities of their students and increased comfort with religion when it appeared in a range of school settings. Based on my analysis, I propose a framework of Pedagogical Content Knowledge about Religion to describe five domains of knowledge and skills that are necessary for educators to be able to competently respond to religion in public schools. This framework and the findings of this study have valuable implications for the development of future professional development courses and in charting a trajectory for further research on religion in U.S. public schools. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Darbe kalbama apie religinės įvairovės reprezentavimą Lietuvos internetinėje erdvėje: diskutuojama apie religinės įvairovės procesą šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje ir ypatumus Lietuvoje. Taip pat kalbama apie žiniasklaidos ir religijos santykius bei konfliktus. Pristatomi ir analizuojami tyrimo, kurio metu buvo nagrinėjami dviejų lietuviškų internetinių naujienų portalų publikuojami straipsniai apie įvairias religines bendruomenes, duomenys. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, jog pasirinkti internetiniai naujienų portalai tinkamai nereprezentuoja religinės įvairovės, daugiausiai teigiamai vaizduoja dominuojančią religinę bendruomenę ir itin neigiamai reprezentuoja naujuosius religinius judėjimus. / This paper presents various aspects of representation of religious diversity in Lithuanian online media. There is a discussion about religious diversity process in today's society and various aspects of this process in Lithuania. Also there is spoken about media and religions cooperation and conflicts. Paper presents the results of a study, which analyzed two Lithuanian online news portals. Study showed, that the religious diversity in the selected online news portals are not adequately represented. Also, it is important to note that the dominant religious community were portrayed more positively than negatively and new religious movements were portrayed very negatively.

Cette thèse porte sur le rôle du compromis politique dans des conflits liés à la pluralité religieuse. Comment prendre une décision collective lorsque le désaccord touche aux convictions religieuses de certains groupes ? Le compromis est défini comme une procédure de prise de décision collective reposant sur des concessions réciproques. Nous en proposons une analyse conceptuelle ainsi qu’une défense de type procédural que nous illustrons par des cas précis de disputes mobilisant des acteurs religieux, en particulier les controverses françaises sur l’objection de conscience au service militaire et sur l’avortement. L’intérêt de réfléchir au compromis en relation avec la pluralité religieuse est l’antithèse supposée entre religion et compromis. Tandis que la politique est souvent décrite comme « l’art du compromis », le religieux est perçu comme le domaine de l’absolu et de l’intransigeance. Notre argument n’a pas pour objectif de confirmer cette assertion ou de l’infirmer : il ne s’agit pas de démontrer que les personnes religieuses sont plus ou moins conciliantes que leurs homologues séculiers. Nous soulignons, en revanche, la valeur procédurale du compromis notamment lors de disputes opposant des acteurs à religieux à une loi de l’État libéral et séculier. Si la politique est bien « l’art du compromis », elle ne se réduit pas au seul marchandage des intérêts. De même, si la religion touche au sacré et au non-négociable, la coexistence et la coopération dans une société plurielle ne se font pas sans concessions. / This dissertation deals with the role of political compromise in conflicts stemming from religious diversity. How can a collective decision be made when disagreement affects the religious convictions of some groups? Compromise is defined as a decision-making procedure based on reciprocal concessions. I propose a conceptual analysis and a procedural defense of compromise which I illustrate with cases of disputes that have mobilized religious actors, especially the French controversies on conscientious objection to military service and on abortion. Reflecting on compromise in relation to religious diversity is interesting because of the putative antithesis between religion and compromise. While politics is often described as the “art of compromise,” religion is perceived as the realm of the absolute and the intransigent. My argument is not intended to confirm or to invalidate this assertion. I do not demonstrate that religious people are more or less conciliatory than their secular counterparts. I emphasize, however, the procedural value of compromise particularly in disputes opposing religious actors and the law of the liberal and secular state. If politics is “the art of compromise,” it can not be reduced to a mere bargaining of interests. Similarly, if religion touches the sacred and the non-negotiable, coexistence and cooperation in a plural society are not achieved without concessions.

Sweden has an integrative approach to religious education and the classroom is a platform for religious plurality. At the same time, school is one of the sources for youth to get their information about religions. The aim of this thesis was to describe how teachers of religious education in Sweden perceive their own teaching in relation to a religiously diverse context. The research questions were as follows: How do upper secondary school teachers of religious education describe their teaching, as taken place in a religiously diverse classroom, as well as a religiously diverse society? and How can we understand the image of religious diversity which is being conveyed by the teachers', in relation to James A. Beckford's clarification of the concept religious pluralism. By using an inductive qualitative content analysis, four semi-structured interviews with upper secondary school teachers of religious education were analysed. Through the results three themes emerged, which were: motivations, selection strategies and teaching strategies. To understand how these were related to religious diversity in society as well as in the classroom the results were analysed from a didactics perspective. To understand the image of religious pluralism that was constructed in the teacher’s descriptions James A. Beckford’s concept of religious pluralism was applied To conclude, the results answer to the questions of didactics. The religious diversity within the classroom emphasizes the question of how the teaching is conducted, while the religious diversity in society emphasizes the question of what is being taught. The question of “why” relates to both the diversity in the classroom as well as society. The description mirrors different forms of religious diversity. The teachers’ aim is to generate recognition and acceptance towards religious diversity which is in line with the curriculum. The teachers’ description of the content constructs an image of the level of religious diversity which relates to what is current in society. The religious diversity in the classroom is also described to have a certain positive value for the teachers as it allows different teaching strategies to be used.

The dispute over the place, accommodation and tolerance of religion and religious expression in South African public schools, as well as globally, has been vehement. This is, to some extent, because public schools reflect the multicultural and religious societies in which they are found. In addition to their diverse backgrounds, public schools in South Africa and elsewhere are dominated by Christianity, with most people claiming allegiance to it and, sometimes, discriminating against the other minority religions. This has led to governments developing a plethora of legislation, policies and regulations to redress the dominance, unequal treatment and discrimination of the dominant religion. This study was undertaken to answer the question: “How do public schools promote the learners’ right to freedom of religious expression?” This interpretive multisite case study explored the experiences of the SGB chairpersons, principals, Life Orientation educators and learners at three public secondary schools in the Bohlabela District of the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The research used interviews, document analysis and observations to elicit the participants’ views and understandings of how their various schools’ religious observance policies promoted the learners’ right to freedom of religious expression. The findings revealed that most schools have not changed the way they conduct religious observances since the promulgation of the National Policy on Religion and Education of 2003. Moreover, learners still experience religious intolerance and religious discrimination because schools promote single-faith religious observances. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria 2021. / pt2021 / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

Corporate websites provide outsiders with a glimpse into organizations. 200 companies from among Glassdoor's "Best Companies to Work For" lists for 2013 and 2014, along with a list of Fortune 100 companies were analyzed through a textual analysis for how a company communicates diversity on their corporate websites. Findings revealed six suggestions for organizations on how best to communicate diversity on their corporate websites. The suggestions include: Be transparent, dedicate a single webpage, use testimonials, title the web page "Diversity and Inclusion," have diversity reach beyond the corporate website, and provide realistic pictures. Using Geertz and Pacanowsky's Cultural Approach to Organizations, this study developed a new approach to studying corporate culture through websites called, the Website Approach to Corporate Culture. This new approach explains that corporate culture transcends the workplace into the Internet sphere and is studied through corporate websites.