Towards religious education for peace

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. The idea of the session was initially suggested both by Susumu Shimazono, president of the Congress Secretariat, and by Hans J. A. van Ginkel, United Nations Under‐Secretary‐General and Rector of the United Nations University located in Tokyo, who supported the conference. Satoko Fujiwara, a member of the Tokyo Congress's executive committee co‐ordinated the session, in collaboration with Robert Jackson, who was also planning a panel on religious education for the conference. 2. For the relevant web pages see ⟨http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/ch‐cont.htm⟩, ⟨http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/index.htm⟩, ⟨http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/e1cedaw.htm⟩, ⟨http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm⟩, and ⟨http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/JOMTIE_E.PDF#search=%22World%20Declaration%20on%20Education%20for%20All%22⟩. 3. The Journal of Peace Education is sponsored by the Peace Education Commission of the International Peace Research Association. Details can be found at:⟨http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=1740‐0201&linktype=1⟩. 4. See also the special issue of the American journal Religious Education on Religious Education for Peace and Justice (101 [3], 2006), the Australian Journal of Religious Education special issue on Religious Education for Tolerance (54 [3] 2006) and the issue of World Religions in Education (journal of the UK‐based Shap Working Party on World Religions in Education ⟨http://www.shap.org/⟩) on Human Rights and Responsibilities (2006/7). The 14th session of the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values, held in Villanova, Pennsylvania, USA in July 2004 was on ‘Religion and Violence: The Role of Religious Education and Values’ (see ⟨http://www.isrev.org/⟩). Selected papers from the conference are published in Astley, Francis & Robbins (2006 Astley, J., Francis, L. J. and Robins, M., eds. 2006. Peace or violence: the ends of religion and education?, Cardiff: University of Wales Press. [Google Scholar]). 5. See ⟨http://www.evrel.ewf.uni‐erlangen.de/pesc/pesc.ppt#2⟩. 6. See ⟨http://www.oslocoalition.org/html/project_school_education/index.html⟩. 7. The crude distinction between ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘integration’ made by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Ruth Kelly, and others, takes a simplistic view of cultures as separate and bounded entities and ignores years of research and scholarship on different meanings and uses of the terms ‘multicultural’ and ‘multiculturalism’ (e.g. Leicester, 1992 Leganger‐Krogstad, H. 2003. “Dialogue among young citizens in a pluralistic religious education classroom”. 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The stated shift in policy away from ‘multiculturalism’ to ‘integration’ has been widely interpreted, especially in many parts of the media, as a statement of disapproval towards difference within society and as an appeal for cultural assimilation. 8. See, for example, ‘Ban it!’, Daily Express, 21 October, 2006. 9. See Religion & Education, 32 (1), 2005 for papers from the 2004 American Academy of Religion symposium on religious education held at the AAR meeting in San Antonio, Texas (http://fp.uni.edu/jrae/Spring%202005/Spring%202005%20Issue%20Contents.htm).