The purpose of this essay is to examine both the questions that are asked, and the answers that are given in two episode of Tänk till- våga fråga? These questions and answers will first be thematized and then analyzed based on the concept of religious literacy. The goal is to be able to broaden the knowledge about which levels of religious literacy are shown in the program. The methodological approach is qualitative content and thematic analysis which codes and thematizes questions and answers from young people in the episode. The essay analyze a program called ”Tänk till-våga fråga” from UR. The research questions for this study are: What recurring themes can be identified in the viewer`s questions and the participants answers, in the series ”Saker du aldrig vågat fråga”? How can these themes be understood as expressions of the three levels of religious literacy described by Löfstedt & Sjöborg? The theoretical starting points used to answer the study's purpose and reserach questions were Löfstedt and Sjöborg (2019) descriptions of religious literacy (religionslitteracitet). The results showed that the viewer's and the participants factual knowledge differed, as the viewer had an outsider's perspective on the subject versus the participants who had an insider's perspective on hijab and Jehovah's Witnesses. The results also showed that factual knowledge influenced the understanding and ciritical ability in young people.

The study aims to investigate the correlation between teacher’s didactical choices and the student’s interpretation of religious studies that focuses on Islam. The data consists of two surveys answered by both teachers and students. In total, 22 teachers participated in the survey, and 55 students. Both the teachers and the students answered questions regarding the choice of material and the choices made by the teachers both in- and outside the classroom. The analytical framework applied to the data was norm critique and intercultural religious literacy. The results indicate that there is a partial symbiotic relationship between the teachers and the students  regarding the educational point of view. However, there is some dissonance between what some of the students’ experiences and the teachers’ intent. The teachers apply a norm critical approach to their education to some extent, but very little of the intercultural  religious literacy.

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.

This is a study that with critical eyes, studies schoolbooks that are meant for upper secondary school in the curriculum – Religion. I am studying how schoolbook authors portray Islam and its practitioners. Is there possibly any tendency towards orientalism to be found in them? Hopefully, none or very little. There are earlier studies that show how Muslims are portrayed as “the other”, the lesser, while Christians are portrayed as “we”, the normal. To be able to do this study I am using qualitative content analysis as a method. That way it is possible to systematically work through a larger text and cut it down to smaller themes. How are the authors portraying God? How is Islam´s view of man presented versus the Christian view of man? Finally, in what way has the representation of Islam changed over time?By using Edward Said’s theory of orientalism, I have been able to get the following result. It shows that the presentation of Islam and Christianity is still othering Islam and its practitioners, but differs on how easy you as a reader can see it. By using the theory of religious literacy, I have been able to identify how the author uses his/her language, if the author thought of conveying a deeper explanation and not just focus on small factual parts.

Thesis advisor: Thomas H. Groome / The public schools in the United States fail to deliver a curriculum that adequately addresses religion in general and the many world religions in particular. This lacuna does not represent the constitutionally required neutrality of schools toward religion(s) and non-religion, but instead indicates the existence of what the author terms the hostility of neglect. When the curriculum privileges non-religious epistemologies, ideologies, and worldviews, such as secularism and scientism, often to the exclusion of religious ways of knowing and making meaning, then the schools violate the First Amendment of the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court. In this dissertation, the dominant myths of America’s founding are examined historically in an effort to provide a thick description and critical analysis of the reigning meta-narratives that influence the debate concerning religion in American public schools (chapter 1). Then, turning to the particular, some current models of inclusion or exclusion of religion(s) in/from the curriculum are identified and examined, with a brief proposal for a new way forward called the Meaningful Inclusion Approach (chapter 2). To demonstrate the constitutionality of this new proposal, a careful study of the Constitution and its interpretation by the Supreme Court is presented, highlighting especially the demand for neutrality and the Court’s positive opinion concerning teaching about religion(s) in public schools as part of a secular program of education that is considered complete (chapter 3). The constitutional question is followed by a critique of the reigning educational paradigm, which is unduly subservient to the market economy, too narrowly focused on STEM technical knowledge, and hyper-individualistic. In an exploration of alternative educational philosophies, warrant is found for not only teaching about religion(s) but also learning from religion(s), thus taking seriously the demands of neutrality and the promise of a holistic, liberal education (chapter 4). The author then proposes resituating the educational project in terms of the common good. A basic framework is proposed for education that is rooted in a healthy understanding of the human person in society, and which calls for a problem-posing approach to education that values cooperation, building bridges through dialogue to encourage the virtue and commitment of solidarity, and openness to both religious and non-religious contributions to human knowledge and wisdom (chapter 5). Finally, a consideration of the unique circumstances of our post-secular age and the urgency of the need for religious literacy in a globalized world is presented as a major rationale for changing the curricula of our public schools without delay. The dissertation concludes with a proposal for the Meaningful Inclusion Approach (MIA) to learning about, from, and with religion(s) in age-appropriate ways from kindergarten through grade 12 (chapter 6). / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.

This dissertation is based on an ethnographic study of a discussion board and its 120-150 female participants, all of whom are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). My primary goal was to discover how the women’s religion influences their uses of and the rewards of their online literacy and how their online writing affects how they practice their faith and define themselves. Methods of inquiry included two years of participant observation, phenomenological interviewing, discourse analysis interviewing, and collection of discussion board threads. Participants’ spoken comments and writing show how they created an enclave in order to communicate in ways driven by their religious beliefs and to discuss the multiple essences that emerge as they live their faith. Participants’ literacy practices also demonstrate that the discussion board functions simultaneously as a private board and as a public LDS community, in which participants use intimate literacy to construct public voices that are in harmony with LDS teachings but that reflect their individual differences with those teachings. My analysis reveals that writing in this enclave often contributed to openmindedness and critical agency. The participants conscientiously engaged in both deliberative discourse and in a pragmatics of naming to claim religious essences and to negotiate their multiple relationships to their religious doctrine, even as they accept that doctrine. In doing so, they have found power to resist other cultural discourses. They also have become more open to difference within their community. This study shows that agency can occur within a fixed structure because there are choices within fixity and that religious discourses offered participants a position of resistance from which to speak. This study suggests the importance of qualitative research on private contexts for faith-based literacy because public contexts may not be deemed as “safe” for discussions of fluidity within faith. I argue that composition studies and literacy studies need to pay attention to the extent to which religion informs individuals’ literacy practices, particularly students who struggle to reconcile the coexistence of religious and academic literacies. I also suggest pedagogical tactics for welcoming faith-based literacies in the composition classroom.

Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka fyra lärares uppfattningar kring sitt undervisningsmaterial i religionskunskap för grundskolans senare år. Frågeställningarna rör lärarnas uppfattningar kring undervisningsmaterial, hur de anpassar materialet gentemot elever och vilket syfte de anser att religionskunskapen har och hur det påverkar dem i val av material. Teorin som används för att undersöka detta är ankrad i religiös litteracitet och metoden för att samla in empiri är semistrukturerade intervjuer. Alla lärare intervjuas två gånger; först enskilt och därefter i en fokusgrupp. Empirin kodas med hjälp av en tematisk analys och tre huvudsakliga teman i lärarnas utsagor skrivs fram: elevernas behov, ämnessyn, samt tiden och ”mellanmjölkseffekten”.Resultatet visar att lärarna påverkas mycket av kringliggande faktorer i fråga om vilket material de anser att de har möjlighet att använda. Tid, undermåligt skrivna läroböcker och elevers mognadsgrad är exempel på sådana faktorer. Den viktigaste frågan för lärarna i den här undersökningen är inte främst vad som kommer främja religiös litteracitet hos eleverna, utan hur de ska göra det. Slutsatser som går att dra är att valen av undervisningsmaterial hänger mycket ihop med lärarnas egen ämnessyn. Kraven på religionslärares förmågor och kunskaper för att främja elevers religiösa litteracitet är stora, och vidare är lärarna själva nyckeln till att religioners mångfald ska bli synlig i undervisningen. Påverkan av framför allt tiden tvingar däremot lärare att begränsa sin undervisning till majoritetsfenomen, vilket leder till en ”mellanmjölkseffekt”. En annan slutsats är att baserat på dessa fyra lärares uppfattningar om undervisningsmaterial och hur de bidrar till att uppfylla religionsämnets syfte så kan den klassiska lärobokens legitimitet och särställning i religionsundervisning ifrågasättas.

The Diploma thesis "Research on religious literacy of preschool children in a Christian kindergarten class: Case study" consists of two main parts. Its chief aim is to introduce a new term "religious literacy" and identify its main features on children of preschool age. In the first chapter, it is dealt with the term of literacy in general and from the religious point of view. First, the term is defined; its levels, main factors and points of judgment are specified. Further, the particular models for preschool age and the main principles of its effective stimulation and development are drawn up. In the chapter about religious literacy, the stage of faith intuitive - projective is presented, typical for preschool age. It is based on the passages from Catechism of the Catholic Church. The item of the second part is a case study as an empirical research on religious literacy of preschool children in a Christian kindergarten class. The research is directly connected to the theoretical part and its main goal is to get a real picture of the stand of religious-literacy state of preschool children and to analyze given issues. The research sample is characterized; the kindergarten is presented with the related commentary of the Educational program for preschool education. The project main aim and partial...

This thesis deals with the topic of teaching religious topics at secondary schools according to Framework Education Programme for Secondary General Education. Also, the aspect of education towards tolerance and preventing religious xenophobia in multicultural society is involved. The thesis is divided into three parts. The first part is focused on the theoretical background and includes interpretation of formal documents that the teacher must take into consideration when teaching this topic, (such as textbooks, national curricular documents and recommendations). The approach in other countries is mentioned as well. The theoretical part involves a minimal amount of knowledge that the teacher should know and be able to implement while teaching the topic this work is focused on. The second part contains a qualitative research concentrating on finding students' preconceptions towards the topic of the thesis. The research method was a profound dialogue with five students of secondary schools. The students were of different age, sex, religious opinion, nationality and socio- economical background. The data were analysed regarding the areas of knowledge, abilities and opinions. The last part of this work deals with solving particular methodological situation when discussing the topic of this thesis. There...

This study explores information seeking behavior of second-generation Muslim immigrants utilizing factors such as critical, cultural, and religious literacy skills. The study examined the second-generation immigrants' ability to balance their parents' and grandparents' native culture and traditions with the culture and traditions of their country. The interview questions were designed using the cognitive authority theory and the figured worlds theory that provides an explanation for the mentality of those who are in environments influenced by culture or religion. An interesting main finding of the study is that participants sought more religious-based rather than culturally-based information. Participants seek information from their parents, communities, and religious leaders, but are particular with who they consider credible and reliable; if the person providing the information follows a similar lifestyle to the participants, they are more likely to hold cognitive authority. Four different themes emerged from the study. The first is "religious focus" where many participants stated that religion is rather static whereas culture can evolve and change with time, location, and events. The second theme emerged is the reliance on family members for religious literacy given the close upbringing of Muslim extended family system. The third theme indicated that although information seeking behavior relied on Google and mobile devices to locate information, in verifying religious content they depended on parents and religious cognitive authorities. The fourth theme emerged is the loss of richness going forward and the concerns about the possible decline in religious information literacy for future generations.