Religious Education Top Of Agenda At InterFaith

Proposals for interfaith education have gained momentum at interfaith dialogues at Waitangi.

At the current InterFaith Dialogue talks in Waitangi one of the key topics being discussed is religious education - to increase understandings of different religions and cultures at school level.

The interfaith talks are aimed to “build a bridge” between different faiths in order to reduce religious radicalization and terrorism.

Paul Morris, professor of Religious Studies at Victoria University and member of the New Zealand delegation, said changes in New Zealand demography such as seeing greater migration and different cultures made it important.

“The idea of religious education is that we understand our neighbour, the people we go to school with, the people we work with,” Mr Morris said. “In order to do this we need to know something about their faith and what is sacred for them.”

The idea is not to force someone into a religion but rather to inform them about different religions said Mr Morris, what’s important is increasing peoples “religious literacy”.

Interfaith education would not be aimed only at younger children said New Zealand delegation leader Dr Henare, the need is also in areas such as business.

Dr Henare gave the example of businesses studies in Islam,”They are driven by a completely different set of values which are largely set in religion.”

Also it is not just on Islam that we need to educate on, said Dr Henare, We need to look at our neighbours.

“Our closest neighbour Melanesia is set to reach 30-40 million in our lifetime,” said Dr Henare. “That’s where New Zealand is going to be living and trading.”

He said there is a need to prepare people for what the future will be like.

Journalism exchanges have also been forwarded as a way to increase understanding of different religions and cultures in the media.

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