The classroom : place of interfaith encounters : an exploration of the complexity and the interrelatedness between theoretical concepts and practical situations of interfaith education in a secular(ized/izing) age

Religious Education is under pressure in a secular/secularizing age. Efforts are made to include in Religious Education non-religious and secular worldviews. Other scholars defend the inclusion of religious and other worldviews in citizenship education. In our presentation we start with revisiting the concept of faith as an encompassing concept for the different ways people commit themselves to particular value- and life-orientations. In the second section we present the disturbing quantity of different concepts used for the inter-aspect of education including and elaborating upon peoples’ different commitments. In the third section we take a look at two promising theoretical perspectives regarding classroom practices of ‘inter’-education. The fourth section is dedicated to the evaluation of ‘best practices’. We end our presentation with some preliminary conclusions and recommendations for further research.