Teaching Religion OR about Religion: The Paradox of Religious Education in Secondary Schools in Uganda

The article reviews the teaching of Religious Education in schools in Uganda. Uganda is a religiously pluralistic country with Christianity and Islam the most popular. Ugandans are theists, their worldview is religious and they are passionate about their faiths. Therefore, Religious Education is a fundamental subject since the early years of education as it marked the beginning of formal education in Uganda. However, whilst Uganda has a diversity of religions such as Christianity with its different sects, Islam and its sects, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, the education system considers only Islam and Christianity. Therefore, the article discusses whether the teaching of Religious Education where only Christianity and Islam are considered is justified to be referred to as Religious Education. The article concludes that there is a mismatch between the NCDC (2008) stated goals, objectives and content of Religious Education. The objectives and goals portray a false image that RE is intended to expose learners and to achieve educational purposes. Yet, the content, approaches and teaching methods are quite contradictory. The implementation of RE in Uganda is purely confessional; it does not aim at educational goals but at deepening learners' faith distinctively. Instead of teaching about religion, learners are taught religion. The article is based on documentary analysis of the Religious Education curriculum, syllabi and teachers' and learners' handbook documents. In addition, the article analysed literature about the teaching of Religious Education including the aims and goals of Religious Education, the pedagogical approaches, methods and techniques in Religious Education in modern pluralistic communities. In identifying the appropriate literature, suitable databases were identified and used Boolean operators and proper search terms, phrases and conjunctions were used. To further ensure the credibility of the reviewed publications for analysis, only peer-reviewed journal articles with ISBN numbers and Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) were used

PERAN SOSIAL KIAI PADA MASA KOLONIAL KARYA-KARYA DJAMIL SUHERMAN DALAM TELAAH SOSIOLOGI SASTRA/KIAI’S SOCIAL ROLES AT THE COLONIAL PERIOD AN ANALYSIS OF SOCIOLOGICAL LITERATURE ON THE WORKS OF DJAMIL SUHERMAN

AbstrakArtikel ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana karya-karya Djamil Suherman menggambarkan sosok kiai dan peran-peran sosial kiai pada masa kolonial. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah deskriptif analitis dengan pisau teoretik sosiologi sastra. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan teknik studi pustaka yang sumber data penelitiannya adalah kumpulan cerita pendek Umi Kalsum, novel Pejuang-Pejuang Kali Pepe dan novel Sakerah. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa kiai di dalam karya Djamil Suherman digambarkan sebagai pemimpin pesantren yang taat beragama. Kiai berperan dalam kehidupan sosial dengan cara mengajarkan agama, membimbing umat, mengajarkan kesaktian, memperkuat moral dan melawan penindasan kolonial Belanda. Peran perlawanan terhadap penjajahan ini merupakan ijtihad dan kontekstualisasi pemahaman keagamaan kiai sebagai bagian dari semangat zaman. Kata kunci: kiai, peran sosial, sosiologi sastraAbstractThis paper aims to research how Djamil Suherman's literary works portrayed the figure of the kiai and the social roles of the kiai during colonial period. The method used in this research is analytical descriptive with Alan Swingewood's theory of sociological literature. The data collection was done by literature study techniques where the source of the research data was “Umi Kalsum” collection of short stories, novel “Pejuang-Pejuang Kali Pepe” and novel “Sakerah”. The findings of this study indicate that the kiai in the work of Djamil Suherman is described as a religious leader of a pesantren. The kiai played a role in social life by teaching religion, guiding people, teaching supernatural powers, strengthening morals and resisting the oppression of Dutch. The role of resistance to this colonolialism is a form of ijtihad and contextualization of kiai’s religious understanding as part of the period spirit. Keywords: kiai, social role, sociological literature

Humanized Collective Awareness in Islamic Education for Public Prosperity: A Cross-Cultural and Religious Psychological Study

Islamic education is essential even as the spearhead for the development of religion, culture, and humanity because the aim of Islamic education, in general, is to be rahmatan lil alamin, which means non-discrimination through understanding the meaning of Al-Hujurât: 13. This meaning exists in the offer of teaching solutions with an interfaith and cultural approach with a reflective method. It produces self-awareness that is Islamic education requiring not only teaching religion is essential, but also how to explore and understand more substantive religious values so that one day can become a more spiritual and humanist human being. The purpose of this research is to present text studies as a solution to the current cultural and religious diversity. The result found that collective awareness in the frame of religiosity needs to be in Islamic education for the benefit of the people in a country with a high level of diversity.

Teaching Religion With Data

The humanities in general and religious studies in particular are currently seeking new ways to address the learning needs of today’s students. This article discusses one approach whereby humanities students are taught the analysis of data using a variety of web based technology. Using the class we taught as our primary example we discuss the challenges and successes we had trying to bring data analytics to humanities/religious studies majors. In the end we show how humanities students can gain a new understanding of how to answer religious studies questions at the same time gaining skills valued in the contemporary marketplace.

Integrating Workforce Competencies into Introductory Religion Writing Assignments

Taking up the suggestions made by Eugene V. Gallagher and Joanne Maguire in their article, “Teaching Religion to Undergraduates in the 2020s: A Preliminary Reconnaissance,” this essay addresses one means of thinking about writing assignments in introductory religion courses at the undergraduate level with “broad goals” and “institutional mission” in mind. The essay begins with a description of the institutional context and proceeds to describe an argument analysis writing assignment for a general education religion course that attempt to draw out the “workforce competencies” developed in the exercise. Framing assignments explicitly in terms of the workforce skills students will hone offers teachers the ability to display the transferrable skills they help students develop and provides an avenue to connect assignments to the institution’s mission statement.

Irreligious Educators? An Empirical Study of the Academic Qualifications, (A)theistic Positionality, and Religious Belief of Religious Education Teachers in England and Scotland

This paper, based on 355 survey responses from secondary Religious Education (RE) teachers in England (n = 238) and Scotland (n = 117), explores the background of these educators in terms of qualifications, personal (a)theistic belief, and religion. This research seeks to establish the degree backgrounds of RE teachers, what religion they belong to (if any), and the range of theistic, agnostic, and atheistic teachers currently within the RE profession. This paper, acknowledging the similar and contrasting natures of England and Scotland in terms of the history, status and purpose(s) of the subject, demonstrates that RE teachers in these countries come from diverse academic backgrounds, and that most RE teachers in England and Scotland do not believe in God(s). Nearly half of RE teachers in England and more than half in Scotland have no religion. The granulation to England and Scotland allows us to make tentative links with national census and social attitudes research, and with literature, which posits nuanced secularisation trajectories. Furthermore, the data allow us to cross-tabulate (for example, between degree background and religious beliefs), as well as with the data in extant research about the risks of sanitised and essentialised approaches to teaching religion in schools.