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Panoramic view on the North Campus © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund
STRENGTHENING THE DEMOCRATIC UNDERSTANDING OF VALUES

European Network Develops New Concepts for Religious Education

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Portrait of JProf. Alexander Unser © Aliona Kardash​/​TU Dortmund
Alexander Unser is junior professor for religious education at TU Dortmund University.
Populist movements and a loss of acceptance in parts of the population are threatening liberal democracies in Europe. That is why one of the main challenges of the education system is to foster the development of a democratic understanding of values and to strengthen social cohesion. Here, religious education must also make a significant contribution because for many people in Europe religion shapes their individual moral concepts. Alexander Unser, junior professor for religious education at TU Dortmund University, is in the process of building up an EU-wide interdisciplinary network on “Religion and Citizenship” in order to analyze the challenges at the interface between religious and civic education and to develop new solutions. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding his project with around € 210,000 within the funding line “Strengthening European Collaboration in Education Research”.

Religious traditions often have an ambivalent relationship to democratic values. “On the one hand, religions contain notions of justice and the common good of all,” explains Alexander Unser, junior professor, researcher and lecturer at the Department of Humanities and Theology. “On the other hand, there are traditions and doctrines that are in tension with democratic values, such as equal rights for women or homosexuals.” Special educational interventions are therefore required that strengthen religion’s potential for fostering democracy as well as counteract and prevent anti-democratic developments.

Interdisciplinary collaboration between science and practice

Previous approaches have focused on imparting knowledge, dialogue between members of different religions and encouraging tolerance. “Efficacy studies show, however, that this is rarely successful – with the exception of imparting knowledge,” says Unser. In order to develop new solutions, he is focusing on interdisciplinary collaboration between experts and young talent in science and practice. “Findings, for example, on radicalization, interreligious communication or the influence of religion on people’s attitudes towards democracy indeed exist in individual disciplines, but they need to be brought together systematically.”

The aim is therefore to establish a European network within three years that will systematically advance the exchange of knowledge on “Religion and Citizenship” and develop innovative ideas as to how religious education can make an effective contribution to civic education. Among others, the project will analyze the specifics of national education systems and take into account the country-specific contexts in which religious and civic education takes place. The medium-term objective is a joint application for EU funding by the network partners. Funding from the Ministry of Education and Research will continue for three years.

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