Teaching materials used for Level 1 course entitled 'Education and Faith' at York St John University. Devised by Jonathan Vincent

1. 1ED100: Education and Faith
Secularism and
Religion
Is God dead and have
we killed him?

2. Humans can decide what is
right and wrong without
religion
Agree Disagree

3. Religion is a force for good
in the world
Agree Disagree

4. Politicians should only
make laws that reflect the
needs of all people in
society
Agree Disagree

5. Religious beliefs should be a
factor in law-making
Agree Disagree

6. The more we know about
the world, the less we need
religion
Agree Disagree

7. Parameters of discussion – ‘religion’
“Religion is a system of
thoughts, feelings and actions
that are shared by a group…It
provides a system and
framework for considering
moral and social issues –
making it something relevant
to public affairs”
(Arthur et al, 2010,p11)

8. Parameters of discussion - ‘secular’
“Secular is derived from
the Latin word saeculum
meaning ‘the present
age’…the origins of our
current understanding of
‘secular’ lay within the
Christian tradition and
came to mean the
opposite of sacred.”
(Arthur et al, 2010, p26)

9. “God is dead…and we have killed him”
(Thus Spoke Zarathrustra, 1884)

10. The ‘Secularization Thesis’
Max Weber (1989, p29) wrote:
“the fate of our times is
characterised by
rationalization and
intellectualization and above
all the ‘disenchantment of the
world’.”
By which he was describing
the Secuarlization
Thesis, namely the idea that
modernity necessitates the
decline of religion.
(Arthur et al, 2010, p1)

11. Tension between Religion and Secularism

12. Tension between Religion and Secularism
Religion Secularism

13. For secularists, faith is counter to
rationality. Pinker (2006) states,
“Faith – believing something without
good reasons to do so – has no place
in anything but a religious institution.”
(Arthur et al, 2010, p99)
Tension between Religion and Secularism

14. In Watson (2012, p177) Lord Laws asserts:
‘The precepts of any one religion – any belief
system – cannot, by force of their religious
origins, sound any louder in the general law
than the precepts of any other. If they
did, those out in the cold would be less than
citizens, and our constitution would be on the
way to a theocracy, which is of necessity
autocratic.’
Tension between Religion and Secularism

15. Tension between Religion and Secularism
In 2003 the European Court for
Human Rights supported Turkish
government’s decision to dissolve and
Islamic party by affirming the view
that ‘the principle of secularism’ was
a necessary presupposition of
democracy. (ECHR, 2003)

16. Tension between Religion and Secularism
Religion Secularism

17. J M Roberts (1986, p37)
writes,
“We would none of us today
be what we are if a handful of
Jews nearly two thousand
years ago had not believed
that they had known a great
teacher, seen him
crucified, dead, and buried
and then rise again.”
Tension between Religion and Secularism

18. A history of tension: religion and secularism

19. European citizenship is generally regarded as
being identified with secular citizens. It is argued
that secular European citizenship requires nothing
but ‘reason’ to ensure progress and liberation.
“These secular self-understandings go on to
establish exclusively secular lineages between
themselves and the ancient Greeks who, they
claim, originated the concept of citizenship.”
(Arthur et al, 2010, p18)
A history of tension: Ancient Greeks

20. However, Sagan cites (1991), the classical reality
was that the Athenians regarded the divine and
democracy not as enemies but as close friends.
Athenian democracy was in no way a secular
affair – it was rooted in the deeply religious and
polytheistic universe. Being a good citizenship
meant being a good religious follower.
A history of tension: Ancient Greeks

21. Jesus’ social teaching
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is
the kingdom of God....But woe to you who
are rich, for you have already received your
comfort.” Luke 6:20-25
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will
be called children of God. Matthew 5:9
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged.
Do not condemn, and you will not be
condemned. Forgive, and you will be
forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you.”
Luke 6:37-38
“Love your enemies, do good to those who
hate you, bless those who curse you, pray
for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27-29

22. “Universalistic egalitarianism, from which sprang
the ideals of freedom and a collective life in
solidarity, the autonomous conduct of life and
emancipation, the individual morality of
conscience, human rights and democracy, is the
direct legacy of the Judaic ethic of justice and the
Christian ethic of love…To this day, there is no
alternative to it…we continue to draw on the
substance of this heritage. Everything else is just
idle postmodern talk.” Habermas (2006: 150ff)
Jesus’ teachings: western influence

23. After 3 centuries of
persecution, relationship between
Christian and politics became much
changed by Emperor Galerius’
deathbed Edict of Toleration
(311), followed closely by his successor
Constantine’s Edict of Milan (312/3)
where on calling for the Christian God
to assist in success in
battle, Constantine converted and the
age of Theocracy began – Christian and
Roman citizenship were effectively
unified.
The Roman Era

24. The Roman Era

25. Middle Ages (6th – 14th century)
In the post-Roman Empire period there was a reshaping
of Europe in the creation of nation-states unified by a
common Christian belief delivering considerable
intellectual, political and theological achievements in the
architectural glories of European cathedrals, universities
and the provision of schools.

26. Middle Ages (6th – 14th century)
In retrospect, Reformation thinkers believed Middle
Ages were neither political or theological
progressive, they tended to emphasize the
eschatological belief in heaven/hell over concerns
of this world.
Politically the monarch had control of the Church
but at the height of its power the Church could
trump the political authority by excommunicating
the king.

27. Reformation (16th century)
The Reformation did more than express
dissatisfaction with ecclesiastical politics of RC
Church – it created a break within the religio-
political paradigm greater than anything before.
The Reformation began by reversing the
balance, raising supremacy of state over religion
through national churches – England, Sweden
and Germany.

28. The Renaissance (14th-17th Centuries)
Until the Renaissance education
was largely dominated by
Christian theology and study of
Bible but at this time a
resurgence of classical
studies/traditions to develop
thinking of figures such as
Aquinas, Bacon, Machiavelli, Mon
taigne – it formed the
foundations of both the
Reformation and the
Enlightenment period.

29. Enlightenment: Descartes
The Cartesian shift of
epistemic focus from the
authority of received tradition
to reason and experience (or
experiment) as the key source
of human knowledge also
clearly opens the way to
subsequent radical scepticism
about such theological
‘proofs’. (Carr, 2012, p158)

30. Schonfeld (2007) contends that ‘Modern thought
begins with Kant…the appearance of Critique of
Pure Reason in 1781 marks the beginning of
modern philosophy.’
Like many enlightenment thinkers he stressed ideals
of autonomy, rationalism and the perfectibility of
human beings. With this came the pedagogy of
modernity: rationalist, instrumental and scientific in
an age of discovery and exploration.
Enlightenment: Kant

31. Hume argued, unless the
experience of the ‘invisible
world’ could be made clear
and immediate to human
perception, a matter of
empirical fact, then for him it
has no sense. He argued that
sense and understanding is
limited to those propositions
that could either be
empirically or logically verified.
(Radford, 2012, p233)
Enlightenment: Hume

32. Momentum of
reason’s supremacy
over religion
reached its peak
with Darwin’s Origin
of Species which
called into question
the Bible’s
authenticity based
on revelation.
Enlightenment: Darwin

33. The Enlightenment can be seen as the “restaging
of the battle between Christianity and the secular
(political and philosophical) authority in
antiquity, one in which, following in the wake of a
now divided and weakened post-Reformation
Christianity, the victory of religion would finally be
reversed and reason would reign…”
(Arthur et al, 2010, p65)
Enlightenment

34. Modern secularism
Dewey’s Democracy and Education (1916) represents the
culmination of a political and pedagogical movement whose
heritage is the Enlightenment, revolutionary democracy and
pre-Christian antiquity.
Dewey’s educational philosophy can be simplified around
three principles:
1. Politically, that education should reflect democratic
ideals;
2. Educationally, that democratic ideals should be reflected
in teaching and learning;
3. That both politics and education should be secular
(Arthur et al, 2010, p76)

35. Assumptions that all societies would naturally
become devoid of religion as a result of
democratization and development of human
knowledge have been confounded by the
continuation and resurgence of religion in the world.
Habermas (2006) used the term “post-secular to
describe a society that is epistemically adjusted to the
continued existence of religious communities.”
(Bowie et al, 2012)
Post-secular age?

36. Consider…
Is there still a place for
religion in the public
square
(politics, education
etc.)?

37. Arguments for secularism in public square
No country can make public laws or claims on the basis of
religious codes, values or ideas that are not held by all the
people – this is essentially un-democratic.
Laborde (2010) argues that the future of democracy depends
on secularism but is careful to note that:
“...secularism properly understood – as a political philosophy
– need not be anti- religious. The secular state is not a state
committed to substantive atheism or to the marginalisation
of religion from public and social life. It is, rather, a state in
which citizens share a language – a secular language – for
discussing political issues.”
(Laborde, 2010, p10 cited in Watson, 2012, p175)

38. Watson (2012) argues:
- Religion is too broad/complex to be seen as one thing to
be rejected
- It is hypocritical for secular thesis to claim to embrace
difference but in doing so reject large portions of society
- It is unrealistic to expect religious people (in political
positions) to divide their personality into public/private
spheres
- The rejection of religion can lead to fundamentalism –
pressure of not being heard in society leads to extremism
- Secularism has created a social vacuum – what will fill it?
Arguments for religion in public square

39. An inclusive via media?
Obama (2006) managed to include both religious and
non-religious fairly in this statement as a basis for
public policy-making:
“We value a faith in something bigger than
ourselves, whether that something expresses itself in
formal religion or in ethical precepts. And we value
the constellation of behaviours that express our
mutual regard for one another:
honesty, fairness, humility, kindness, courtesy and
compassion.”
(Cited in Watson 2012, p181)

40. Implications for education
“In the original political sense of a ‘secular
education’ it simply meant that public schooling
did not advantage any particular faith group.
Philosophically, there is an emphasis on neutrality
between varied religious and non-religious
worldviews; an education that neither promotes
not inhibits religion and schools that are not
institutionally biased.
(Arthur et al, 2010, p52)

41. Implications for education
The aims of sec education are premised on
the belief that there is nothing beyond the
natural physical world; no soul, no
mystery, no supernatural – Ultimate values
exclusively reside in human beings... In this
sense, secular education seems to nurture a
secular mentality that marginalises religion
from culture and intellectual life and
contributes to the secularisation of society. It
imposes a secular worldview that challenges
the religious commitment to believing
children. Martin (2005) calls it the ‘secularist
indoctrination of the state’ but Dawkins
(2007) counters with the assertion that
religious education is a form of ‘child abuse’.
(Arthur et al, 2010, p30)

42. Democratic Learning:
Community of Enquiry
How it works:
- Write down a question that you think would be
worth discussing as a whole group
- In small groups (4-5), share your questions
- Choose one question from your group and write
it nice and big on the paper provided
- As a whole group, read through the selected
questions
- Choose one question to discuss
*Adapted from Lipman, 1991

43. References:
• Arthur J, Gearon L and Sears A, (2010), Education, politics and religion:
reconciling the civil and the sacred in education, Routledge, London
• Bowie B., Peterson A. & Revell L., (2012) Post-secular trends: issues in
education and faith, Journal of Beliefs & Values: Studies in Religion &
Education, 33 (2), 139-141
• Carr, D. (2012) Post-secularism, religious knowledge and religious
education, Journal of Beliefs & Values: Studies in Religion & Education, 33
(2), 157-168
• Habermas, J. (2006) Time of Transitions, Polity Press, London, pp. 150-151
• Lipman, M., (1991) Thinking in Education Cambridge University Press, New
York
• Nietzsche, F., (1884), Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Cambridge Texts in the
History of Philosophy), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
• Radford M., (2012), Faith and reason in a post secular age, Journal of Beliefs
& Values: Studies in Religion & Education, 33 (2), 229-240
• Watson, B. (2011) Democracy, religion and secularism: reflections on the
public role of religion in a modern society, Journal of Beliefs & Values:
Studies in Religion & Education, 32 (2), 173-183